When I was a child of 5 or 6, I loved my little record player, but other than children’s storytelling albums, I owned only two albums, both gospel."Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash from The Holy Land.

COLUMBIA — When the Columbia Shape-Note Singers get together, no one knows exactly what they will sing. They arrange themselves in a square according to vocal range, wait for suggestions and begin.

The crowded room echoes with lilting voices raised in a simple, timeless song. There are no instruments, no audience. Just a chorus of four-part harmonies sung from a book that's as thick as a Bible.

Surrounded by other singers arranged in a square, Judy Hauff rocks her feet heel to toe, rhythmically slashes the air with her arm and sings “Fa la sol la sol.” This is “shape note” music, an a ...

PITTSBURGH – Alexa Kay is a Quaker, a denomination which has embraced simplicity and shunned more extravagant forms of worship, even singing. Nevertheless, Kay likes to sing, and that’s what led her ...

Shape note singing is one of the oldest musical traditions in this country. It’s a practice that began in colonial America, and after centuries of ups and downs in ...

Area singers find meaningful sounds in shapes Paul Waterman might not recommend sitting in a church pew for exercise -- unless you want to join him for a session of shape-note singing. Last week, ...

Shape-note singing is what democracy actually sounds like. Well, maybe anarchism, says Karen Stingle, who has sung with the Eugene Sacred Harp Singers since it started in Eugene in the early 1990s.

A unique form of shape-note singing that’s been a tradition in the Blue Ridge Mountains for more than 100 years will be performed and taught in Henderson County again this year during an annual event ...

When Diane Ober sings shape-note music, she does it not to be heard, but to be singing. “You sing at the top of your voice, with your whole being,” she said. “It’s not meant to be a performance; it’s ...

BRATTLEBORO -- When the Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival kicks off at noon this Saturday, Brendan Taaffe will be one of the first voices heard -- he shares leadership of the Song Panel with ...