On any Sunday afternoon a traveler through the Deep South might chance upon the rich, full sound of Sacred Harp singing. Aided with nothing but their own voices and the traditional shape-note songbook, Sacred Harp singers produce a sound that is unmistakable--clear and full-voiced. Passed down from early settlers in the backwoods of the Southern Uplands, this religious folk tradition hearkens back to a simpler age when Sundays were a time for the Lord and the “singings.” Illustrated with forty-one songs from the original songbook, The Sacred Harp is a comprehensive account of a unique form of folk music. Buell Cobb’s study encompasses the history of the songbook itself, an analysis of the music, and an intimate portrait of the singers who have kept alive a truly American tradition.

Publication is an act of power. It brings a piece of writing to the public and identifies its author as a person with an intellect and a voice that matters. Because nineteenth-century Black Americans knew that publication could empower them, and because they faced numerous challenges getting their writing into print or the literary market, many published their own books and pamphlets in order to garner social, political, or economic rewards. In doing so, these authors nurtured a tradition of creativity and critique that has remained largely hidden from view. Bryan Sinche surveys the hidden history of African American self-publication and offers new ways to understand the significance of publication as a creative, reformist, and remunerative project. Full of surprising turns, Sinche's study is not simply a look at genre or a movement; it is a fundamental reassessment of how print culture allowed Black ideas and stories to be disseminated to a wider reading public and enabled authors to retain financial and editorial control over their own narratives.

Throughout history men and women have expressed their deepest religious experiences with songs. In this thoroughy researched survey the author examines the development and expansion of gospel music, an often-neglected area in church hymnody research. The author's thesis is that American hymnody has reflected the independence of churchgoers, and that the birth and development of the gospel song coincided with a grass-roots rebellion against traditional religious forms. The chapters cover four broad categories: evangelistic hymnody in the eighteenth century; American departures from psalmody; the culmination of evangelistic hymnody; the gospel song (1875-1975). The appendix contains a musical and textual analysis of the gospel song. A comprehensive bibliography is also included. As the author traces the development of the gospel song, he touches on many of the movements and personalities that shaped American religious history: John and Charles Wesley, camp meeting revivals, George Whitefield, D. L. Moody, the Sunday school movement, Billy Sunday, etc.