Eastern students and the local community members can listen to gospel and bluegrass music from a group that has been performing for about 72 years.

Five-time Grammy Award winners The Blind Boys of Alabama will be performing on Eastern’s campus Sunday.

The members of The Blind Boys of Alabama include: Jimmy Carter, a founding member on vocals; Ben Moore on vocals; Eric “Rickey” Mckinnie on vocals; Joey Williams on lead guitar; Tracy Pierce on bass; Peter Levin on organ; and Austin Moore on drums.

The Blind Boys of Alabama was founded in 1939 at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind, but they were only prominently known in the black gospel circuit until almost 40 years later.

Most of the founding members are no longer touring with the band.

Clarence Fountain, vocals and Jimmy Carter, vocals, still tour with the band on occasions. The other founding members include: Johnny Fields (deceased), vocals; George Scott (deceased), vocals; Ollice Thomas (deceased), vocals; JT Hutton, vocals; and Vel Bozman Traylor (deceased), vocals.

Siblings Sara and Sean Watkins from Nickel Creek, a progressive bluegrass band will open show will be opened by.

Dwight Vaught, the assistant dean of the Doudna Fine Arts Center, said the experience of the group has grown because of the years they have been playing.

“Their history and their lineage reaches back into some really great and some really troubling time in American history,” Vaught said. “They have been going forward through musical and social changes that have happened in America. They don’t just sing about it, they lived it.”

Vaught said even though some of the members have been replaced, they are still a historical band.

“There are still some original members floating in and out,” Vaught said. “The great thing about the arts is that you can pass a lot of this down, and it’s actually strengthened because it’s presented in a different way for a new generation.”

Vaught said the name and music is not diminished when new members take over, but actually add to the music.

Vaught said that throughout the years, The Blind Boys of Alabama have influenced modern music.

“The impact and the influence cuts across age gaps, generations, artistic genres and that is what makes them so influential,” Vaught said.

The Blind Boys of Alabama will be performing at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Dvorak Concert Hall in Doudna. Tickets are $20.

Vaught said he is happy to have the Blind Boys of Alabama play at Eastern.

He said they play predominately in big cities and thought it was a great opportunity.

“We knew what an opportunity it was to have a band like that stop in Charleston on a tour,” Vaught said. “We have to take advantage of this, what could be, a once in a lifetime opportunity to get them right here on our soil.”

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812

or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.