One of the most beloved traditional gospel groups and the musical laureate of New Orleans celebrate the sounds of the Crescent City. The Blind Boys of Alabama is still creating bold new music a full 70 years after its founding at the Talladega Institute for the Blind, finding the soulful core of songs by Tom Waits, Prince and others. As a composer, producer and musician, Toussaint was behind “Mother-in-Law,” “Workin’ In a Coal Mine,” “Lady Marmalade” and dozens of other hits, as well as an acclaimed collaboration with Elvis Costello, “The River in Reverse,” recorded after Hurricane Katrina. On his new album “The Bright Mississippi,” his elegantly spirited piano playing honors Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and other New Orleans legends.

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