Gospel icons Blind Boys of Alabama and Blues Hall of Famer Bobby Rush have collaborated on a recording of the sacred soul classic “99 ½ Won’t Do,” with proceeds to support the Mid-South Food Bank in Memphis, TN. The traditional song has been recorded by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mavis Staples with Ry Cooder, Steve Cropper, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hezekiah Walker, Wilson Pickett, and Eddie Floyd.
Both Rush and the Blind Boys won GRAMMY Awards this year; the Blind Boys appeared on the Today Show in April, sat in recently with Tom Jones, and are set to receive an Americana Music Award Lifetime Achievement Award this fall. A video of Blind Boys of Alabama rehearsing went viral recently, with over eight million views (across platforms).
Also joining the recording are “one of the most accomplished American Folk Artists” (MOJO) Dom Flemons; and beloved folk-rock band the Dustbowl Revival. The artists and producers who performed on this new version have won a combined eleven GRAMMY Awards. The release celebrates the ten-year anniversary of DeLia’s 72 Music Management.
The song was co-produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Colin Linden (Bob Dylan, Keb’ Mo’, T-Bone Burnett, and others, and music director for ABC’s Nashville) and Jeff DeLia. The artists’ unique voices blend seamlessly together in this call-and-response arrangement with Bobby Rush as the call and the chorus of artists responding.
“We wanted to choose songs that connected to each of the artists currently and historically,” writes co-producer DeLia in his liner notes to the 45, continuing, “This project is a celebration of the artists, the music, and their legacies. This is the first time these artists have been on record together. This is a conversation of artists with nearly a century of history within roots music genres especially blues and gospel, and with an impact that reaches globally.
“99 and a ½ Won’t Do” was recorded throughout the United States in 2023 with initial tracking in Nashville with Linden on guitar, Dominic Davis on bass (Jack White, Beck), and Bryan Owings on drums (Tony Joe White, Shelby Lynne). The Blind Boys session was recorded in Minneapolis, Dom Flemons in Chicago, and Dustbowl Revival in Los Angeles. The single was first released as a randomly-colored 45rpm record on Record Store Day in the US and Europe and physical copies have sold out.
