Program 3

Program 3: Religion in Appalachian Music (CS 103)

Description: This hour we will explore the deep connections of religion and spirituality in Appalachian music including Shape Note, Lined-Out Hymns, and Gospel singing.

Intro: Sitting in the back of the Basement of Hutchins Library in Madison County Kentucky is the Berea College Sound Archives, home to 20,000 hours of non-commercial and field recordings of Appalachian music. In the back office is where I work archiving these recordings. And this is where we will explore the world of Appalachian music and discover many recordings that may have only ever before been heard by a hand full of people. This is me John King and if you are ready, let’s begin an hour tour of a musical Appalachia on this: Celebrated Sounds Of Appalachia. 

Part One: The Changing and Constant Nature of Gospel Music
Track List: 1) Theme song ‘Sail Away Lady’ played by Carl Johnson 2) Wade In the Water' preformed by the Berea College Black Ensemble 3) "Go Tell It On The Mountain" preformed by The Davis Family 4) "I Can't Sit Down" written and preformed by Wade & Julia Mainer 

Berea College Black Music Ensemble

Music is a way for people to come together, to forget about their trials, to not feel so alone in their burdens, and to gather strength to carry on. The oldest lasting music on earth is spiritual music, and you'll be hard pressed to find a wider scope of religious genres than in the appalachian mountains. so this hour; we're going to church.
('Wade In the Water' preformed by the Berea College Black Ensemble)

That was Berea College's very own Black Music Ensemble recorded back in 1971. they say folk music changes widely over space and little over time; so We'll move over a little bit to Independence virginia just a year earlier hear a slightly different version of the song played by family band The Davis Family called "Go Tell It On The Mountain."  
("Go Tell It On The Mountain" preformed by The Davis Family)
Some of my favorite gospel songs are from family bands, I like how all you need in a family is to be moved by the holy spirit to be a part of it. We'll hear a bit more from The Davis Family later, but first let's hear from another family band of sorts, husband and wife Wade & Julia Mainer sing their own retooled version of this song, and a little introduction about the changing and constant nature of gospel music. 
("I Can't Sit Down" written and preformed by Wade & Julia Mainer) 

Part Two: Constant Natures In Gospel Music
Track List: 1) "Where he Leads Me I will Follow" Preformed by Rita and Gertrude Emerson 2) "I Am Not Ashamed Of Jesus" preformed by  Dewey and Mrs. Williams, Henry Jackson, Bernice Harvey, and Leon and Mrs. Harvey (3 Interview With Jesse Karlsberg 4)"Amazing Grace" preformed by by Elwood Cornett and others from the Mt. Olivet Regular Baptist Church at Blackey, Letcher County, Kentucky 5)"A Few More years" preformed by Howard Chalmer and others 6) 
"Wake Up Ye Muse" preformed by Howard Chalmer and others

As I said before, some musical traditions in Appalachia change little over time, in this segment we will look at some of these traditions. And to look at little changing traditions, we should go back to the late 1700s to the first Post-Colonial American musical Genre, Shape Note Singing.  Shape Note, or Sacred Harp style singing was developed in Massachusetts by John Tufts, a minister and Harvard Graduate who set out to solve the problem of music illiteracy.  He published a song book with four shapes that represented four syllables so all you needed to do was know which symbols represented which syllables. This style quickly took off and was expanded into 7 shapes, and is still found in the Appalachian region in Southern Baptist and Pentecostal choirs.  Let's hear sisters Gertrude and Rita Emerson from West Virginia in 1965 explain the segments of a Shape Note song. 
("Where he Leads Me I will Follow" Preformed by Rita and Gertrude Emerson) 

When a shape note song begins, the melody is sung first followed by the words. we will hear a group preform a Shape Note song recorded by William Tallmadge followed by an interview with Berea College Sound Archive Fellow Jesse Karlsberg about Shape Note Singing.

("I Am Not Ashamed Of Jesus" preformed by  Dewey and Mrs. Williams, Henry Jackson, Bernice Harvey, and Leon and Mrs. Harvey)
(Interview With Jesse Karlsberg)
("Amazing Grace" preformed by by Elwood Cornett and others from the Mt. Olivet Regular Baptist Church at Blackey, Letcher County, Kentucky) 
That was an interview of Jessie Karlsberg followed by an example of a lined-out  Amazing Grace. Let's hear two more Lined-out hymnodies lead by Howard Chalmer and recorded by William Tallmadge.
("A Few More years" preformed by Howard Chalmer and others) 
("Wake Up Ye Muse" preformed by Howard Chalmer and others)


Part Three: The Changing Nature 

Track List 1) "Jesus Is Coming Soon" preformed by The Davis Family 2) "By Faith of Jesus" preformed by Lotus Dickey 3) "Amazing Grace" preformed by by members of the First Baptist Church, Ozark AL

Lotus Dickey

Recently I heard In a recording in our archives a man said "Every folk song was written by somebody, and here's mine." This is also true of Gospel. along side of hymnodies sung for hundreds of years, new songs spreading the word of God everyday. I know I promised you another Davis Family song, so we'll hear their "Jesus Is Coming Soon" followed by Lotus Dickey's By Faith Of Jesus" and perhaps some of these new gospel songs will still be sung in a couple hundred years in the mountains. 

("Jesus Is Coming Soon" preformed by The Davis Family)

("By Faith of Jesus" preformed by Lotus Dickey)

Well That will about do it for us this hour, but even though we heard Amazing Grace earlier, it can't hurt to hear another version, this one sung by members of the First Baptist Church, in Ozark AL from 1968. 

("Amazing Grace" preformed by by members of the First Baptist Church, Ozark AL)

Resources:

Biggers, Jeff. The United States of Appalachia. Counterpoint Press. 2006. P.13-14

Lornell, Kip. Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grass Roots, and Regional Traditions in he United States. University Press of Mississippi. 2012. P.118-124.