An Explanation, and other music links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• An Explanation of The Sacred Harp -- “J. S. James shares his opinion concerning his and the other Sacred Harp revisions.”
• Awake Thy Soul: Singing the Centuries-Old ‘Sacred Harp’ in Baltimore -- “Raucous at times, haunting at others, shape-note singing can come across as an indecipherable wall of sound at first because of its polyphonic harmony singing.”
• Biblical Standards for Musical Choices -- “Our music should also be spiritual rather than carnal. Much of today’s music is simply Pop, Rock and Roll, or Country Music repackaged with a religious theme.”
• Bruce Johnson Sacred Harp Recordings -- “Recordings made by Bruce Johnson of Morgan County, Alabama, in the 1950s.”
• Buck Owens: From Sherman Sharecropper to the Bakersfield King -- “...during the 1960s and 1970s Owens soared to a level of success and influence that had scarcely been experienced by other country stars.”
• Charles Wesley and the Hymns of Methodism -- “The hymnody of the Wesley brothers, Charles and John, has resulted in some of the best-loved hymns within the Christian tradition.”
• Earthquake hymn 354t LEBANON -- “In the final months of 1755...a great earthquake in Lisbon that killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed most of the city...”
• How Sacred Harp Singing Took Shape in Texas -- “For Texan singers, culinary hospitality is a point of pride. Anyone fortunate enough to attend a Texas all-day singing or convention will be hard-pressed to come away hungry.”
• J. T. Allison’s Sacred Harp Singers -- “...the 1927-1928 recordings by J. T. Allison’s ensemble represent a curious anomaly...of the convergence of two important cultural movements of the southeastern U.S.-the emerging country music recording industry and the impressive tradition of singing religious folk music from shape-note tunebooks...”
• Our Treasury of Medieval Hymns -- “By the fifteenth century, themes congenial to Luther’s coming Reformation were already being sung, such as the text attributed to the Imitation of Christ author Thomas à Kempis.”
• Singing is good for you. Singing with others may be even better. -- “The ‘Sing With Us’ study...linked singing in the choir to reduced stress hormones and increased cytokines, proteins that can boost the body’s ability to fight serious illness.”
• The Colored Sacred Harp -- “Compiled by Judge Jackson of Ozark, Alabama.”
• The Sacred Harp Cookbook? Which one? -- “But there’s not just ONE, I know of THREE different ‘Sacred Harp Cookbooks’...”
• Traveling to Camp -- “The camp meeting was an innovation of the Second Great Awakening in the United States in the early 19th century.”