Storied group’s winding road leading to the Northshore Performing Arts Center

One of the original Blind Boys of Alabama, Jimmy Carter, gives his age as “past 50.”

You can be the judge as to how far past 50 and to what extent being past 50 hasn’t exactly slowed him down.

Now five-time Grammy winners — including taking home a Lifetime Achievement Award last year — the Blind Boys first got together at a school for the blind in the small town of Talladega, Ala., in 1939. Carter said they first “hit the road” in 1944. That’s a road, by the way, he added, the Blind Boys have been on ever since.

Most recently, the road took them to China. Later this month, it will steer them to New York City and the “Late Night with David Letterman Show” where they will perform, somewhat surprisingly, with classic rocker Lou Reed. Next month, they will be making at least their third appearance at the White House.

Not incidentally, the Blind Boys will be in Bothell at the Northshore Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Carter said, fresh back from China and resting up at a hotel room in New York. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to Seattle… I have a lot of friends there.”

So one obvious question: How does a 70-plus-year-old gospel and blues group, no matter how well respected, end up performing in English, in communist China? Carter laughs.

“The trip was a new experience for me,” he said. Carter added he’d visited Hong Kong before, but never mainland China. He didn’t really say how the trip came about, but added the audiences at their three shows were very receptive. A translator explained the history and content of each song to those audiences.

“It kind of throws your rhythm off, having to stop between every song, but we managed it,” Carter said.

OK. Another obvious question: How does a gospel group that doesn’t mince words about carrying a Christian message end up performing, not for the first time, with a rocker like Reed, somebody who at one time may have been better known for his drug abuse than his music?

“I have to admit, it surprised me, too,” Carter said. But he also added the Blind Boys have a creative, resourceful producer who does a good job of spreading the musical gospel of his charges.

“He just asks and people want to be a part of it. They say, sure, we’ll perform with the Blind Boys… that’s just the way it is,” Carter said.

As evidence, Carter need simply point to the Blind Boys’ latest CD, appropriately titled “Duets.” The compilation consists of collaborations with Reed, former Eagle Timothy B. Schmidt, Randy Travis, Bonnie Raitt and numerous other well-known performers.

As for that White House appearance, Carter said the group has performed for George Bush and Bill Clinton in the past. And, yes, he is looking forward to hopefully meeting President Obama and his family.

The Blind Boys now consist of seven singers, four blind, as is Carter. They will bring with them to the Bothell show a four- or five-piece band.

“We are a gospel group,” Carter said. “We carry a gospel message. We’re not perfect, but we are Christian gentlemen… We believe in Jesus Christ. That’s what we want to convey, the importance of Jesus Christ in your life.”

As the founder is “past 50” and has some 70 years of performing under his belt, how much longer can he and the Blind Boys stay on that road mentioned earlier?

“I’ve been doing it for so long now, I don’t know what else I would do,” Carter said. “It gets pretty hectic sometimes… You know the older you get, the harder it gets. But we love it. We all do. And as long as we can keep doing it, we will.”

• Tickets for the Blind Boys of Alabama show in Bothell are $45 for adults, $38 for seniors, $15 for youths. Local blues guitarist Del Ray opens.

To order tickets, visit www.npacf.org or call (425) 408-7988, noon to 4 p.m., Monday-Friday.