A BLIND BOYS CHRISTMAS ALABAMA SINGERS HERE TO SPREAD GOSPEL CHEER.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

When he was ``a little fellow,'' Jimmy Carter, a founding member of the Blind Boys of Alabama, looked forward to his mom's home-cooked Christmas meals.

He still does.

But this year the septuagenarian - not to be confused with the former president of the same name - has informed his 100-year-old mother that he might be a little late because the Blind Boys will be performing in Los Angeles through Christmas Eve, starting tonight.

That's when the blues-infused gospel singers from Alabama trot out seasonal favorites from their 2003 ``Go Tell It on the Mountain'' CD, along with other Blind Boys' fare at Walt Disney Concert Hall. And at 8:05 p.m. Saturday, the group puts in an appearance for a couple of songs at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion during the 46th annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration, a free, six-hour event simulcast live on KCET.

``It's going to be a challenge to get back to Alabama in time for Christmas, but I'm going to try,'' says Carter, who admits that, despite having to spend part of the night on an airplane, he really enjoys the Christmas shows because, ``We never got to do them before. And so, it's kind of a new experience.''

The Blind Boys have encountered lots of ``new experiences'' in recent years. Never mind that the group formed in 1939 at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind.

That's where Carter teamed up with his choir mates Clarence Fountain and George Scott (who suffered a fatal heart attack in March 2005) and became the Blind Boys.

They made their debut in summer 1944 on a Birmingham, Ala., radio station. And from there, the Southern gospel group went on to entertain at schools and churches, becoming a sensation on through the '50s.

Over the years, the Blind Boys appeared on Broadway in the 1983 Obie Award-winning ``The Gospel at Colonus,'' earned Grammy nominations and flirted with contemporary sounds.

But 2001 proved to be the turning point.

On 2001's ``Spirit of the Century,'' the Blind Boys not only delivered a stunning version of ``Amazing Grace,'' refit with the melody of ``The House of the Rising Sun,'' but won the first of its four consecutive Grammys in the category of Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album.

Acclaim was also given to 2002's ``Higher Ground,'' 2003's ``Go Tell It on the Mountain,'' and 2004's ``There Will Be a Light,'' the Blind Boys' collaboration with Ben Harper.

Carter says that getting to work on projects with other artists, including Tom Waits, Solomon Burke and Randy Travis, has been one of the perks of all that acclaim.

``They come in, and they think it's an honor to (collaborate) with the Blind Boys, but they don't understand,'' he says. ``We think it's an honor to do it with them.''

Helping the Blind Boys out on its latest foray into pop - 2005's ``Atom Bomb,'' its last record with Scott - are musicians David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Charlie Musselwhite and Billy Preston.

The Gift of Gab from the hip-hop outfit Blackalicious, meanwhile, lends vocals to the Blind Boys' version of Fat Boy Slim and Macy Gray's ``Demons.''

``It might look like a secular song,'' adds Carter. ``But when the Blind Boys get through with it, it's a gospel song.''

Still, the group does like to mix it up, as it will when the Blind Boys - Carter, Fountain, Joey Williams, Ricky McKinnie, Bobby Butler, Tracy Pierce and new addition Billie Bowers - return to the studio sometime in March.

``I heard it through the grapevine, and I hope it's true - we're doing a country-gospel album,'' says Carter, a self-described country music fan.

So, what if it is true?

``I'm going to lobby for George Jones,'' he says, with a chuckle. ``He's my favorite.''

Sandra Barrera, [phone]

sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com

THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA

Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 8 tonight.

Tickets: $26 to $77. [phone]. www.ticketmaster.com.

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The Blind Boys of Alabama will be home for Christmas, but they're spending all the time until then performing at concerts and on television in Los Angeles.