BREMEN, Ga. (AP) — A Christian hymnal called “The Sacred Harp” is at the heart of a more than 180-year-old American singing tradition that is as much about the community as it is the music.
Initially published in 1844, a new edition of the songbook — the first in 34 years — is being released later this year by the Sacred Harp Publishing Company. The refresh is meant to breathe new life into the hymnal while preserving its history and role in the a cappella group practice known as Sacred Harp singing.
“The Sacred Harp” is a shape-note songbook, which aims to make singing accessible. Its musical notation uses notes that look like triangles, ovals, squares and diamonds, and it’s sung in four-part harmony.
Matt Hinton, a shape-note singer, leads a song at a Sacred Harp singing event held at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Trees encircle Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church, which has been a historical meeting site for Sacred Harp singers for generations, in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Chris Wilhelm of Black Mountain, N.C., participates in a Sacred Harp singing at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Isaac Green, 34, flips through his personal copy of “The Sacred Harp,” a shape-note hymnal linked to a more than 180-year-old American folk singing tradition, at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. The 1991 edition has undergone a multi-year revision process conducted by a nine-member committee and will be released by the Sacred Harp Publishing Company in September. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Bridge Hill Kennedy of Alabama stands in the hollow square and leads a song from “The Sacred Harp,” at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Isaac Green, 34, covers his eyes while praying before a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Isaac Green, 34, sings in the tenor section during a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
From left, Lisa Bennett, Wade Kotter, and David Stead, Bennett’s husband, sing in the alto section during a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Sheri Taylor, left, sits with her daughter, Laura Wood, and granddaughter, Riley McKibbin, 11, while singing from “The Sacred Harp” in the tenor section at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Rodney Ivey keeps time while singing from the tenor section at a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Winfred Kerr, left, Jesse Roberts, and Oscar McGuire stand outside during a break at a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Sarah George, who met her husband through Sacred Harp singing, holds their son while leading a song from the hollow square at a Sacred Harp gathering in Bremen, Ga., at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Sacred Harp singers lead from the hollow square, a special formation in which singers, organize into four voice parts and face each other to create an open center, at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Sacred Harp singers pray at the end of a session at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Bridge Hill Kennedy, left, and Jesse Roberts, right, laugh between songs from the bass section at a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Matt Hinton, left, bows his head as Shane Brown, right, leads a group of Sacred Harp singers in prayer at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Nathan Rees, a committee member and Sacred Harp museum curator, at The Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrolton, Ga., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Sacred Harp singers sit among the headstones at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church for a midday potluck in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
David Ivey, a longtime singer and chair of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company’s revision and music committee, looks through “The Sacred Harp,” shape-note songbook at the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrollton, Ga., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A 1911 edition of “The Sacred Harp,” a shape-note hymnal from the 1800s, opened to song No. 43, “Primerose Hill,” at the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrollton, Ga., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A historical image of a group of Sacred Harp singers is seen at the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrollton, Ga., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
In this photo provided by the State Archives of Florida, M.L. Long leads sacred harp singers at the S.E. Alabama & Florida Union Sacred Harp Sing in Campbellton, Fla., on Nov. 24, 1980. (Peggy A. Bulger/State Archives of Florida via AP)
In this photo provided by the Library of Congress, Hugh McGraw leads singers at the South Georgia Sacred Harp Singing Convention in Tifton, Ga., on May 1, 1977. (Howard W. Marshall/Library of Congress via AP)
The book is precious to its singers, who are excited and nervous about how the 2025 edition will turn out. The nine-member revision committee working on the new version feels a tremendous responsibility to get it right. Some songs will be cut and others by living composers will be added as happened in previous revisions.
Sacred Harp singers are not historical reenactors, but part of a living worship and music tradition. Their copies of the songbook are well-used. Memories and emotions get attached to specific songs, and favorites in life can become memorials in death.
The songs are sung in a hollow square formation. Singers organize into four voice parts: treble, alto, tenor and bass. Each group takes a side, facing an opening in the center where a rotating song leader guides the group and keeps time as dozens of voices come from all sides.
Sacred Harp singing events are not performances. “The Sacred Harp” is meant to be sung by everyone and loudly.
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