Shape note bonanza!

For everyone out there who have never sung shape-note music but are dying to hear what it sounds like (all three of you), look no further.  Pilgrim Productions has assembled a dazzling online catalog of shape-note songs in mp3 format, all available for download at no charge.

There's so much good stuff there I don't know where to start.  I would definitely recommend newbies who would like a good sense of what an "archetypal" Sacred Harp sing sounds like to check out the tracks recorded at the 150th Chattahoochee Convention, in particular New Jerusalem, Mear, and Vilulia.  Since the songs, style, and sound vary from singing to singing, region to region, it's fun to compare and contrast the Chattahoochee recording of "Mear" with the recording of the same song made by the Old Harp Singers of Wears Valley, TN.  For a sound that is quite different from both of those, listen to the prettified -- but pretty -- rendition of Walpole by Village Harmony, an impossibly cute gaggle of fresh-scrubbed New England teenagers.

I was particularly excited to learn about an Anglo/Choctaw singing in Union, Mississippi where songs from the Sacred Harp and the Christian Harmony are sung in both English and Choctaw.  According to the site, missionaries introduced shape-note hymnody to the Choctaws in the early 19th century, and the tradition has persisted to this day, complete with hymn texts written out in native language.  Listen to the hauntingly beautiful Christmas song 'Star In the East,' first in English, then in Choctaw.

Choctaw shape-note singers in Union, MS.  Photo credit: Pilgrim Productions.

There's a bunch of other cool sacred music on the Pilgrim Productions site, including blues, bluegrass, conventional choral music, etc.  I'm looking forward to browsing the other categories, but I think the shape-note stuff is going to keep me occupied for a while.  Happy listening!

Comments

[June Melton]

Just read your website and it was excellent! My name is June Melton and I have traveled around the country recording Christian music wherever I could find it. You have links to my site which I greatly appreciate.
I also have an identical mirror site, www.pilgrimproduction.org, and am in the process of sending all the traffic to that site. For two years I have had two servers and would like to simplify my life by having only one site
to maintian and also cut down on costs.
If you would change your links from .net to .org, I would apprectate it and your viewers will still be able to hear the music.
Thank you and God bless, June

[Kevin]

June,

I appreciate your letting me know about the domain change. Yours is a great site, a vital resource for lovers of homegrown American music. Thank you for stopping by, and for your comment!