Arts & Culture

Singletary Center to Present Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show

Watch above a performance of "Last Month of the Year" by Blind Boys of Alabama.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 4, 2019) As part of the University of Kentucky’s Singletary Center for the Arts 40th anniversary year, the Signature Series will get in the yuletide spirit as it welcomes Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show to the Bluegrass. These worldwide living legends of gospel music will take center stage 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, in the Singletary Center Concert Hall.

Celebrated by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and winners of five Grammy® Awards, the Blind Boys of Alabama have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 70 years.

The Blind Boys are known for crossing multiple musical boundaries with remarkable interpretations of everything from traditional gospel favorites to contemporary spiritual material by songwriters like Eric Clapton, Prince and Tom Waits. In addition to the group’s own recordings, they have appeared on projects for such artists as Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Susan Tedeschi, Ben Harper, Patty Griffin and Taj Mahal. The Blind Boys of Alabama have also appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” “Late Night with David Letterman,” “The Grammy Awards,” “60 Minutes” and “The Colbert Report.” Recent collaborations include work with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Merrill Garbus (tUnE-yArDs) and MC Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger), further expanding the Blind Boys’ generation-crossing influence.

General tickets for the concert are $46-$36 depending on seating location. UK faculty, staff and student tickets are $20 with a valid UK ID when purchased at the box office. Tickets can be purchased online at www.SCFATickets.com, by phone at 859-257-4929 or in person at the venue. 

A part of the College of Fine Arts and essential to the UK School of Music, the Singletary Center for the Arts presents and hosts artistic, cultural and educational events for the university community, Lexington community and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Named on April 16, 1987, for the retiring eighth president of the university, Otis A. Singletary, the center has become a major cultural resource for the Commonwealth. From its opening on Nov. 1, 1979, the center has accomplished Singletary's wish to provide a succession of brilliant performances in its Concert and Recital Halls, which constitute impressive evidence of the University of Kentucky's continuing commitment to the arts. Hosting an average of 400 events annually, the Singletary Center has served over 3.7 million patrons in its history. The center provides professional, full-service venues for the creation, practical application and dissemination of artistic, cultural and educational expressions by international, national, regional, university and student performers, artists and speakers.

photo of Blind Boys of Alabama in silver suits
Singletary Center's Signature Series will include a holiday offering this year with the Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show on Dec. 11.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.