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Shape-note singing may be fading, but can still be heard inside of the white churches of the American South. The style, also called sacred harp singing after an influential songbook published more than 100 years ago, has elements that stretch back at least to Elizabethan England, maybe even to Medieval chants. It flourished in colonial New England and in its present form took deep root in the rural South, where it is still sung today in four-part harmony in full, loud voices.

Sacred harp practitioners, whose grandparents and great-grandparents sang on worn church pews, are documented in the film Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp. A new, two-CD set draws music from the film, along with interpretations by contemporary musicians, giving us a fine reason to revisit the film, co-directed by Erica Hinton and Matt Hinton.

Matt Hinton joins us from Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta to explore one of the country’s earliest indigenous musical traditions.

Watch the trailer for Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp:

(Photo by squashpicker)