Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early America presents two hundred and fifty tunes and texts of the religious folk song that flourished in the rural United States, gathered with an introduction and scholarly notes. The collection documents the white spirituals, camp-meeting songs, and shape-note hymnody of early America.
The songs preserve a vigorous tradition of communal religious singing rooted in oral practice and the singing schools of the frontier and the South. The editor supplies historical and musical commentary tracing their sources and variants. As an important record of a distinctive American folk repertory, the book remains a valued resource for students of folk song, hymnody, and the nation’s musical heritage.