Popular Songs in the J. L. White Sacred Harp

The following is a list of popular songs unique to the J. L. White Sacred Harp Book. These are songs that were not in the Sacred Harp books edited by W. M. Cooper and J. S. James – though, because of their popularity and because the book was difficult to find, several of them were added to the Cooper Revision in 1992. We Sacred Harp singers in Texas did not use this book in my lifetime, but I have sung from it in other places. I have compiled this list in consultation with singers in areas where it was used more often (Sand Mountain, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Hoboken, Georgia; and north central Mississippi). Some of the songs are popular in local areas, while many are popular in all these areas.

These are not all the songs that are popular; there are many others. However, many of those are the songs common to the 19th century Sacred Harp editions, and the current revisions of Cooper (2012) and Denson (1991).

• New York Tune, p. 38a
• Georgia, p. 54a
• Paris, p. 55a
• Nearer Home, p. 60
• Solon, p. 91b
• Noah’s Dove, p. 264b
• I Will Arise, p. 317
• Harman, p. 389a
• Brown, p. 478a
• Fleming, p. 484a
• Trusting, p. 486a
• Manoah, p. 487a
• Lisbon, p. 487b
• All-Saints, p. 490b
• Just For a Day, 491a
• Jesus Died for Me, p. 491b
• Love At Home, p. 492
• Don’t Grieve Your Mother, p. 494
• Mother, Tell Me of the Angels, p. 495
• Mary, p. 498a
• Poyner, p. 503
• The Love of God, p. 504
• Roll On, Dark Stream, p. 505
• Laurel Hill, p. 507
• The Better Country, p. 508a
• Ostend, p. 509
• We Will Gather Sheaves for Jesus, p. 510
• Willie, p. 511
• Pray On, p. 512
• Happy Day, p. 513
• Gone to Rest, p. 515
• Not Made with Hands, p. 517
• Land of Beulah, p. 519
• Gospel Waves, p. 526
• Lady, Touch Thy Harp Again, p.527
• It is Well with My Soul, p. 540
• The Hebrew Children, p. 542
• Alone, p. 543a
• Zion, p. 544a
• Just As I Am, p. 545a
• Sessions, p. 547a
• Evening Song, p. 26 (back of book)

Some of these songs appeared first in The New Sacred Harp of 1884, J. L. White and B. F. White, Jr. John Plunkett has pointed me to the J. L. White Book singing at Lookout Mountain, March 16, 2008.