Performing at Aviva Studios Manchester, UK on 15,16 and 20-24 November, 2024.

After posting about an impressive installation work in London, and a new play in Australia, I was fascinated to learn about Laurie Anderson’s newest work, ARK: United States Part 5, which includes a collaboration with shape-note singers. Premiering in Manchester last week, and ending Nov. 24th, the show is a multimedia exploration of America’s identity in the 21st century. Anderson’s avant-garde approach, blending music, performance art, and cutting-edge technology, feels like an unusual yet intriguing match for the raw, unvarnished sound of Sacred Harp singing.

Sacred Harp, a participatory tradition of shape-note singing that dates back to the 18th century, is deeply rooted in American history. Its full-bodied harmonies and unapologetically communal ethos are rarely found outside church halls and local singings. For Anderson to pull this music into a contemporary performance setting feels bold and unexpected—exactly what you’d expect from an artist who has spent her career pushing artistic boundaries.

Laurie Anderson is a groundbreaking artist known for her innovative work in music, performance, and multimedia. She gained fame with her 1981 hit O Superman and has created notable projects such as the performance epic United States and the VR experience Chalkroom. Her experimental use of technology and storytelling has made her a notable figure in contemporary art. Anderson was married to the late Lou Reed, whose influence and collaboration further shaped her creative journey.

Reviews of ARK describe a sprawling production, one that the Guardian calls “a whirlwind of poetry, protest, and performance.” The show weaves together AI-generated visuals, beat poetry, and even a communal scream, which the Times notes is inspired by Yoko Ono. Amid the chaos, Sacred Harp makes its entrance as part of the finale. The Guardian describes the effect as “soul-stirring,” while the Times observes that the inclusion of a 20-member Sacred Harp group is “unexpectedly grounding in a piece that sometimes spirals into abstraction.”

A summary by The Arts Desk reads: “ARK is in a similar format to United States Parts 1-4. Anderson moves around the stage playing keyboard and violin, singing songs and telling stories in a voice electronically modified to transform her into characters including a Russian troll, a naive young man, a Trump devotee, Lou Reed and even God. But if its predecessor held up an ironic mirror to America in the early 1980s, ARK is both more universal (climate change affects us all) and more personal (this time many of the stories are autobiographical).”

This mix of chaotic creativity and rooted tradition has me curious about the role Sacred Harp plays within the work. Does it act as a counterbalance to the more frenetic elements? A moment of clarity amidst the noise? Or perhaps it’s a commentary on America’s own layered, contradictory identity. The Arts Desk suggests that Anderson uses these juxtapositions deliberately, writing that “she steers the viewer into the emotional power of collective voices—an act of rebellion in a fractured time.”

Sacred Harp’s raw sound and its participatory nature feel like a natural metaphor for Anderson’s broader themes. The singing itself is communal by design; you sit in a square and sing for the joy of it, without a traditional audience or soloist. To see it brought into a production that embraces the experimental and the multimedia is thrilling—and, admittedly, a bit nerve-wracking. Will it feel authentic, or will it be reduced to a decorative echo of Americana?

Interestingly, the inclusion of Thom Metzger’s book Strong Songs of the Dead in the gift shop alongside Anderson’s albums and books underscores the care the production has taken to respect the role of shape-note singing in ARK. Metzger’s book is a recent release, and while not as wildly eclectic as Anderson’s show, it treats Sacred Harp singing not as a preserved relic but as a living, powerful artistic expression within a larger cultural landscape. Metzger gives full credit to the Southern roots of the tradition while shifting focus to the singers themselves, emphasizing that the heart of Sacred Harp lies in the body and voice of each participant. This perspective reinforces the idea that the tradition can authentically flourish anywhere, even as its diaspora spreads. The inclusion of this book demonstrates the producers’ effort to support both the singers and the broader tradition, presenting Sacred Harp as an integral, evolving art form rather than a static historical curiosity.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to experience ARK in person. But I’ll be eagerly following the conversations that emerge, especially from the Sacred Harp singers involved. Their reflections will no doubt offer insight into what it was like to bring this centuries-old tradition into such an innovative and ambitious context.

For now, I’m simply heartened to see Sacred Harp making an appearance in a work as high-profile and daring as ARK. It’s a reminder that this music, which has been sustained through grassroots efforts for generations, can resonate just as powerfully in a cutting-edge performance as it does in a humble church hall.

My entire master bibliographic timeline of Sacred Harp books is overwhelming in the number of items listed, and while them being in strict chronological order provides interesting perspective, so would a more focused, narrower perspective. I’ve decided to make a dedicated post for just the “Denson” books, since that’s the most popular version and they’re very close to releasing a new edition.

Right now there are two unresolved chronological issues: the 1936 and the 1971 edition. Both have three known cover variants, and it is easy to interpret the one that came first, but I have no clue the order or dates of the subsequent two. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Do you have a book that doesn’t appear to be on this list? PLEASE CONTACT ME: baltimoreshapenote@gmail.com

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1936 – “Original Sacred Harp” – Denson Revision – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Haleyville, Alabama / (PRINTER)
There are three distinct variants I have documented that have been noted as being a 1936 edition. The first cover shown has a very distinctive typography, that reflects the title page inside the book, but also the title page of the red/orange cover. The photo showing the third variant was published in a recent online story and had the caption: “Two women sing from the 1936 revision of The Sacred Harp at the United Sacred Harp Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, 1940s.”

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1960 – “Original Sacred Harp” – “1960 Revision” – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc. & Denson Music Publishing Co. Cullman, Alabama Owen W. Denson- Owner. (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

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1960 – “Original Sacred Harp” – “1960 Supplement” – “Denson Book”
Published by Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Cullman Alabama / (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

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1966 – “Original Sacred Harp” – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Cullman, AL. / (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

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1971 – “Original Sacred Harp” – 1971 Edition, First printing – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Bremen, GA. / Kingsport Press, Kingsport Tennessee
(NOTES)
LINK: INTERNET ARCHIVE

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1977 – “Original Sacred Harp” – 1971, Second Printing? – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Cullman, AL.
The cover reads “(Denson Revision) 1844-1977”, so I’m assuming the end date was the year of printing and not a typo. The Cullman, Alabama address seems like it might imply an earlier printing, as a previous and subsequent books are out of Bremen, Georgia.

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1980 – “Original Sacred Harp” – 1971, Third Printing – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Bremen, GA. / (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

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198_ – “Original Sacred Harp” – 1971 Ed., 4th or 5th Printing – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Bremen, GA. / (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

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198_ – “Original Sacred Harp” – 1971 Ed., 4th or 5th Printing – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Bremen, GA. / (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

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1987 – Original Sacred Harp – Denson Revision 1987 – “Denson Book”
(PUBLISHER) / (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

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1991 – A Proposed Selection of Music 1991 Revision of The Sacred Harp – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Bremen, GA / (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

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1991 – The Sacred Harp – 1991 Revision – “Denson Book”
Sacred Harp Publishing Company, Inc., Bremen, GA / (PRINTER)
(NOTES)

As a shape note singer interested in its history, I’ve always found beauty and power in this unique American tradition. To see this 19th-century, Southern form of spiritual folk music continually finding new life in the 21st century, especially outside the US, is deeply moving. Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst’s new exhibit “The Call” at the Serpentine in London does just that, using Sacred Harp as a springboard for a thought-provoking exploration of artificial intelligence and its role in artmaking.

What particularly excites me about “The Call” is the artists’ decision to use actual Sacred Harp singing as the foundation for their AI model. By recording 15 professional and community choirs from around the UK singing hymns, exercises, and improvisations based on the Sacred Harp tradition, Herndon and Dryhurst created a rich and unique dataset. This data was then used to train AI models to compose new pieces in a similar style, effectively creating a “new polyphonic language”.

While I don’t know how many people who are regular shape note singers participated, it’s apparent from images of the show that the four shape note tradition is used. While the tunes used originate (in some form) from The Sacred Harp, “a mix of professional and community choirs” were contacted to participate. Holly states in one interview “I wrote into the songbook [the idea of] ‘please take these hymns. and interpret it to the aesthetic of your group’”.

About the unique songbook, the artist elaborates: “We worked with a team (that) research(es) AI music notation—and we wrote a program based on a subset of the Sacred Harp canon. It can write infinite hymns. The songbook could be a thousand hymns, it could be two thousand.” While that might seem astounding to a casual reader, Sacred Harp singers know that just holding The Sacred Harp and The Shenandoah Harmony means they have over a thousand first rate tunes already at hand–no team of computer researchers needed!

The exhibit itself is a multi-sensory experience, with installations designed to evoke the feeling of being in the center of the hollow square. Visitors can listen to compositions generated by the AI, interact with the models through their own voice, and even explore the process of training data through visual elements like a chandelier representing the microphone rig used in recording sessions.

What I find particularly interesting is the artists’ focus on the collective and collaborative nature of both Sacred Harp and AI. Just as Sacred Harp singing involves a group of individuals coming together to create a unified sound, “The Call” explores the potential of AI as a “coordination technology” to facilitate collective art-making. The exhibit also addresses important questions about the ethics of AI and data ownership, with Herndon and Dryhurst working to create a data trust that gives the participating choirs control over how their recordings are used.

This aspect of “The Call” is particularly relevant to the history and spirit of Sacred Harp singing. Sacred Harp is all about community, with singers gathering in a square, facing each other and creating music together. There’s no audience, no performer hierarchy—just a shared experience of creating harmony. Herndon and Dryhurst have attempted to honor this in their exhibit, recognizing that both Sacred Harp and AI, when used thoughtfully and ethically, can be powerful tools for human connection and creative expression.

The UK and Ireland seem to have a particularly active community of Sacred Harp singers, and I’ve seen videos from Ireland All Day singings shared very often as some of the most compelling examples of the tradition. Writing about Sacred Harp and museums immediately evokes in my mind some of the near-cinematic videos by Manchester Sacred Harp of their monthly singings at an Art Gallery. The sound is just at home there as a clapboard Primitive Baptist Church in Alabama, or an 1840s stone Quaker meeting house in Maidencreek, PA.

The choice to feature Sacred Harp in a prominent London gallery is a testament to the enduring power of this musical tradition. It’s a powerful reminder that even a seemingly niche, very old, and regional art form can have a global impact and inspire creative exploration in unexpected ways. “The Call” is more than just an art exhibition—it’s a conversation starter, prompting us to think about the possibilities and challenges of AI, and the role of collective creation in the 21st century. It’s also an inspiring sign that this beloved tradition continues to resonate with artists and audiences across the globe.

“United Sacred Harp Musical Convention in Fyffe, Alabama”

“The Sacred Songs Roll Like Thunder” reads the title of an article by Ted Strongin that appeared in the “Chattanooga Times” of September 20, 1959. The kind of singing the article described often leaves even the best writers grasping for words that do justice to it, but invoking the sound of thunder is a good start. Strongin was writing of a two-day meeting, or “convention,” of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association, held in Fyffe, Alabama, the previous weekend, that drew a few hundred singers ranging in age from 12 to 90, singing beloved hymns full bore all day long.

… In 1959, Lomax had another opportunity to record Sacred Harp singing, thanks to a contract with Atlantic Records to produce a series of albums of southern field recordings. Armed with an early portable Ampex stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder and two RCA ribbon microphones, and assisted by English folksinger Shirley Collins, Lomax came to Fyffe to record the United Sacred Harp Musical Association’s 46th annual convention.

… Lomax and Collins arrived in the late morning of the second day. They recorded 32 hymns in the 90 minutes or so before the lunch break. Then, over the course of about five hours, a further 130 hymns were sung and recorded before the convention adjourned in the early evening.

… Three hymns from the 1959 convention were included in Atlantic Records’ seven album series “Sounds of the South,” which included three hymns from the Sacred Harp. In 1962, the Prestige Folklore label released an entire album of 18 hymns recorded by Lomax and Collins in its “Southern Journey” series. A revised version of this album that included words and notation for the songs was released on vinyl by New World Records in 1977 and then on CD in 1992. In 1997, two full CDs with many previously unreleased songs were released in Rounder Records’ expanded reissue of the Southern Journey series.

–Matthew Barton, “United Sacred Harp Musical Convention in Fyffe, Alabama“

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Baltimore Editor’s Note

The preceding paragraphs, excerpted from a linked essay about the recordings, gives larger context to the following news report of a singing that Alan Lomax recorded. The past grows before us. While we venture further away from that event, it is more approachable now than the seconds and hours and days after it completed.

In addition to transcribing the article, I’ve included recordings of the entire convention, available for the first time, I believe, when the Lomax Figital Archive put them online and then Jeremiah Ledbetter put them on YouTube in 2022, stitched together with a timestamped track listing.

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The Sacred Songs Roll Like Thunder

By TED STRONGIN

THE SUN was shining. The church door were open. Inside all the benches were filled. Up front In the church one man stood beating time. He was surrounded on four aide by tenors, trebles, altos, and basses arranged in sections.

Outside across the street dry cornstalks were rustling. The singing rolled and thundered out over the green. In front of the church Two men were out there listening.

One of them talked between tunes and phrases a sort of running commentary. He kept Interrupting to point out a note or a verse or to sing along with a favorite line.

He was T.C. Bailey from Arab, Ala. The church was the Corinth Baptist on top of Sand Mountain in Fyffe Ala.

“My granddaddy was a great treble singer,” Bailey said. “A fellow once asked him In a small town ‘Why do you sing those old songs over and over again every year?’

“‘It’s like this Joe’ my granddaddy said ‘when better songs are made we’ll sing em’

‘‘I love baseball about as well as anything In the world” said the Arab man. “But I’m sacrificin’ television all weekend just to hear the singing.”

Uncle Tom Denson, a famous Sacred Harp leader, expressed everybody’s opinion a while ago.

“If some of you don’t like this music” Uncle Tom said, “all I’ve got to say to you is you’d better get out. If you stay here, it’s going to get a-hold of you and you can’t get away”

There are many Sacred Harp groups singing around the South. All do not use the same tunes but they resemble each other in style. The one at Fyffe last weekend was the United Sacred Harp Musical Association, with members in most Southern States even over to Texas.

The book used by United is “Original Sacred Harp” published at headquarters in Haileyville, Ala. All the songs they sing hundreds of them are in the book.

“There’s a song In this book for every human idea” said Bailey “If you can’t find It I’ll find it for you In other words It’s based on life.

“Members of all denominations wrote these songs.

“To me the sacred singing la really dear” Bailey said on the green knoll outside the church.

“I love music the birds too Sacred singin’ means more to me than any other kind.

“Listen to that” he said “It’s ‘The Church’s Desolation.’”

THE HYMN rolled out of the open church doors, leathery and intense, with a penetrating edge to the sound.

“Well may thy servants mourn my God,
The Church’s desolation.
The state of Zion calls aloud
For grief and lamentation.”

It thundered over the knoll. It was not like opera-singing. It was deep and moving.

“Listen to the woman” said Bailey.

“Once she was all alive to Thee
And thousands were converted
But now a sad reverse we see
Her glory is departed.”

“They were wrote back centuries ago,” Bailey said, “as far back as the 16th and 17th Centuries.

“This one here is an old funerial song,” he said “They don’t sing it so loud at funerals.

“They don’t have to have an organ, do they?” The songs went on:

“At Thy command the winds arise
And swell the tow’ring waves
The men astonished mount the skies
And sink in gaping graves.”

The broad band of sound that Sacred Harp singers make is solid and fundamental. It grips the stomach. Harmonies are rough and open. Words are hit with force.

There were a few hundred singers present at Fyffe. A committee had picked leaders, each one of whom took two songs. Over two full days of singing that’s a lot of leaders of all ages teen to ninety.

“We had 400 in Arab In 1956,” said Bailey of an earlier convention.

“One flew In here today from Texas, a doctor. He got up and led a while ago.”

Singers sing most weekends all year “They come to conventions to take part not to listen .

“No money is involved other than the expense,” Bailey said. “No one Is paid. They come on their own.

“They take up a little money for what they call the minutes of singing. They keep track of the numbers they sing. They like to know what their buddies are singin’.

“Never did go to a singin’ school. I’ve been goin’ at it 40 years now,’’ said Bailey.

I go to those old fasola singin’s” He pronounced it “fossil-la”.

“Listen to that high note there”.

It swelled over the countryside:

“Remember you are hast’ning on
To death’s dark gloomy shade
Your joys on earth will soon be gone
Your flesh in dust by laid.”

“There’s another mountain they call Lookout Mountain across here,” Bailey said pointing. “It’s near Chattanooga. They sing there too.

“Makes the grass on the mountains and corn in the valleys grow,” sang Bailey.

“Ain’t no more truer words They’re wrote by inspired people.”

The songs went on:

“Oh let us meet in heav’n
The Christian’s happy home
The house above where ail is love
There’ll be no parting there”

“This is pretty country up here,” Bailey said. “Corn is surroundin’ the churches. There’s three churches here in a row.

“A bunch of singers went’ up to New York” he continued. “A New York newspaper sent for them and paid everything. Forty of them, some of them here today. They went over to a big music hall m New Jersey. They sang at the Waldorf Astoria.

“One of them went to sing. He was so staled that when lie whacked down on the first note his voice wouldn’t even squeak”

Coy Putnam, the man with the squeak, was at Fyffe during the convention last weekend. Putnam remembers that the power of the old songs drove the squeak away. His voice returned in time.

They sang all during the trip on the train everywhere It was the New York Herald Tribune that brought them up in 1932 to a forum.

Earlier another group was brought to New York by Columbia University where it was the wonder of a folk music festival.

The music went on.

“Now that song there,” said Bailey, “believe it or not I don’t believe I ever heard it before.”

“Farewell my dear brethren, the time is at hand
When we must be parted from this social band
Our several engagements now call us away
Our parting is needful and we must obey”

“They’ll spread dinner today,” the Arab man said.

“We want you to enjoy yourself. Everybody’s welcome

‘‘I’ve been to places where you couldn’t eat a 10th of what was put out” he said.

“… to see the wicked things on high” he sang.

“At 3:30 pm tomorrow evenin’ they’ll be going just as strong as right now,” Bailey said. “They’ll be a bit hoarse.

“Come on up and meet Brother Brown,” said he. “He’s president.”

“SACRED Harp is non-sectarian and non-denominational,” said Leman Brown, retiring president “Anyone can sing.”

Sacred Harp came over with the Pilgrims, most people agree. It was sung through New England and then migrated down the mountains with the early settlers.

Now it exists mainly in the Southeast.

Up north, it was gradually overwhelmed by the importation of high class “European” music: Handel, Haydn, and so on, at the turn of the 18th-19th century.

It did not depart unmourned, however.

Benjamin Franklin, more than once in letters, spoke of the “old tunes” that he was sad to see disappearing.

And he described vividly the sound of congregation singing during his boyhood in Boston.

Franklin felt that this music had a special power, its harmonies were exciting, it had crude ranging energy it should have been allowed to develop. It was not “wrong” except by arty European standards said Franklin.

There seems little doubt that Franklin was talking about Sacred Harp or music much like it.

Indeed many of the names In “Original Sacred Harp” are those of New England hymn writers of Revolutionary times.

The hardy stock of early amateur composers included William Billings, Timothy Swan, Nehemiah Shumway, Daniel Reid, Jeremiah Ingalls.

Up north Billings is now famous again. He was rediscovered in the 20th Century. Several composers have used his hymn tunes as the basis for contemporary works.

Genuine Billings, as he wrote the notes himself, is still sung in the Southeast as passed down from generation to generation.

Tape recorders spun busily at Fyffe. Tape is rescuing “Original Sacred Harp” from the threat of oblivion due to radio and TV. And young people are getting interested too in greater numbers according to many at Fyffe.

“Sacred Harp is a-growin’,” said R.H. Burnham, an 89-year-old veteran from Jacksonville, Ala.

One high school student wrote a thesis, Sacred Harp.

“Sacred Harp remains unchangeable” he said “It is like a rock in a desert…

“My maternal grandfather N.E. Denney,” continued the student “taught a Sacred Harp singing school for many years. He was a good teacher and I loved to sit on his knee while he patted his feet and sang his favorite hymn. I still love to hear his bass voice as he lets those notes roll out.”

Carrying on the mighty tradition of Sacred Harp today are thousands of countryfolk scattered over the Southern Highlands.

Among these are famous families of singers and composers: the Densons, Odems, Cagles, all represented at Fyffe last weekend.

Though the tradition is mighty, it is not awesome awful or overbearing. On the contrary Sacred Harpers groups are surelv among the most democratic music groups going.

Practically everyone has a chance at being a leader, as said. Even the Times photographer when he arrived at Fyffe was offered the job (he refused).

The spirit of Sacred Harp is as sturdy and independent now as it was in 1798, when Deacon Janaziah composed an “Ode to Science.”

“The British yokes the Gallic Chain,” wrote the deacon.
“Was surged upon our neck in vain
All haughty tyrants we disdain.”

The Ode is still sung, as it us one of hundreds, new and old, in “Original Sacred Harp”.

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The Raw Alan Lomax Recordings

Recordings from the 56th Annual Convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association. Recorded by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins at Corinth Baptist Church in Fyffe, Alabama on Saturday September 12, 1959.

Recordings from the 56th Annual Convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association. Recorded by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins at Corinth Baptist Church in Fyffe, Alabama on Sunday September 13, 1959.