For his tireless efforts in keeping the traditions of Sacred Harp singing strong, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized Hugh McGraw in its first class of Nation Heritage Fellows. The 1982 class also included musicians Bessie Smith, Bill Monroe, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Dewey Balfa. Hugh McGraw
The latest edition of the Sacred Harp was published in 1991, but before being sent to press, a group of Sacred Harpers – including those who had written songs for the new addition – gathered in Birmingham, Alabama to sing the proposed selections for the new book. Hugh McGraw served
Each year, on the first Sunday (and the Saturday before) in June and again on the first Sunday of November, Sacred Harp singers gather at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church for an all-day singing out of the Sacred Harp hymnbook. The singings regularly draw visitors from across the United States,
African American shape-note singers in West Georgia arrange themselves in the same hollow square as Sacred Harp singers, and they also ‘sing the notes’ before proceeding to the words of a song. However, the United Shape Note Singers have a decidedly different feel to their singings. For one, they use
Members of the United Shape Note singers use a variety of songbooks for their singings. Not all members of the group use the same selection of books, so photocopies are made to pass out for certain songs. These books and copies are carried to each singing in suitcases like the
Before opening their songbooks and singing the notes, the United Shape Note Singers go through a selection of warm-up songs in a call-and-response pattern. Here, they perform a version of the popular “Come and Go with Me to That Land.” Each song at a USNS singing begins with a
The United Shape Note Singers Travel to different churches around West Georgia on most Sundays of the year. Use this map to find the next singing.
Southern Gospel singers that call West Georgia home are also influenced by the convention songbooks that regional music publishers so heavily promoted in the early part of the 20th century as well as by the many gospel quartets that were traveling the country during that time. They use the same