Sacred Harp Singing in Alabama

Sacred Harp singing is an unaccompanied, four-part singing tradition that uses shape-notes, in which each pitch has a note shape that helps singers read music without standard notation [1]. Alabama is one of the main centers of the tradition: the Denson family of Alabama published the best-known twentieth-century editions of The Sacred Harp, and Alabama has hosted major singings and a lively Black Sacred Harp community in the southeast [1][2][3]. In Alabama the practice is often called fasola or shape-note singing [2].

Shape-note origins

Shape notes trace to eleventh-century Italy, where shapes and syllables taught pitches, and an American tradition took hold in eighteenth-century New England under teachers such as William Billings [1]. The shapes helped singers who could not read standard notation, and the system became known as fasola singing [1]. In 1835 Benjamin Franklin White and William Walker, brothers-in-law in Spartanburg, South Carolina, fell out after Walker published Southern Harmony; White moved to Georgia and produced the first Sacred Harp in 1844 with E. J. King [1]. It is the only one of 38 shape-note tune books published between 1798 and 1855 still in common use [3].

The Denson family and the Denson Edition

In 1933 Alabama singing-school teacher Tom Denson organized the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, which bought the rights to the book [1]. In 1936 it issued the first Denson Edition, The Original Sacred Harp; another edition followed in 1971 [1]. Tom’s daughter Ruth Denson Edwards and Bob Denson, son of Tom’s brother Seaborn, helped keep the tradition alive [1].

A committee chaired by Hugh McGraw prepared the 1991 Denson Edition: it deleted 46 rarely sung songs, added 62 and reached a total of 554, with newly typeset scores and tune-title headings [1]. The book was presented at Samford University near Birmingham in 1991; the committee proposed naming it the McGraw Book, but McGraw declined, so it stayed the Denson Book [1].

Singings and conventions

Singing is a cappella, with singers seated in a square and a leader standing in the center [2]. The Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture have held two singings each year in Montgomery, in January at the Alabama Department of Archives and History and in July at Old Alabama Town [1]. The National Sacred Harp Singing Convention was held in Alabama every June from 1980 until 2023; it began at Samford University, established by Hugh McGraw with help from Claude Rhea and Gene Black, and typically drew more than 500 singers, including visitors from the United Kingdom [1][2]. It charged no dues, took a daily collection and recorded every song and leader in annual minutes [2].

Black Sacred Harp in southeast Alabama

Southeast Alabama is the only area in the country with a vibrant Black Sacred Harp tradition, and the earliest documented Black convention dates to 1880 [3]. Dewey Williams, born March 6, 1898, near Ozark in Dale County, learned the music from his grandmother and began teaching singing school at about 40, traveling across southeast Alabama [3]. Judge Jackson edited The Colored Sacred Harp (1931), the only Black Sacred Harp hymnal ever published, which has 77 songs [3]. Williams hosted a Sunday radio program on WOZK from 1956 and a monthly television program on WTVY in Dothan from 1964, and in 1971 organized the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers, who toured to Washington, D.C., Montreal and Kentucky [3]. In 1983 he received the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship [3].

FAQs

What is the Denson Book? The Denson revision of The Sacred Harp, first issued in 1936 and revised in 1991 [1].

Is Sacred Harp accompanied? No, it is sung a cappella [1][2].

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Denson Edition of The Sacred Harp
2. Encyclopedia of Alabama: National Sacred Harp Singing Convention
3. National Endowment for the Arts: Dewey Williams, National Heritage Fellow

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue