Five Blind Boys of Mississippi
Formed by blind students at Mississippi's Piney Woods School, the group turned professional gospel singers in the mid-1940s under the searing, gospel-shouting tenor of Archie Brownlee. Their 1950 single "Our Father" was among the first gospel records to chart on Billboard's R&B chart, and Brownlee's raw, hoarse-and-holy lead became one of gospel's most widely emulated voices.
Under the direct influence of R.H. Harris of the Soul Stirrers, lead singer Archie Brownlee moved the group away from restrained jubilee-style singing and toward the harder, more emotionally unleashed hard-gospel lead style Harris had pioneered.
listen forThe ad-libbed, straining intensity Harris brought to lead vocals on "By and By" is pushed even further and rougher in Brownlee's shouted, rasping lead on "Our Father."