I Belong to This Band: Eighty-Five Years of Sacred Harp Recordings
Despite a momentary flash of national exposure when its plain, hearty choruses were heard on the T-Bone Burnett-produced Cold Mountain soundtrack, sacred harp music never turned into the next NPR-approved genre for grown-ups--unlike the pre-Castro Cuban fare of the Buena Vista Social Club or the bluegrass vogue that followed O Brother, Where Art Thou? (also nurtured by Burnett). It's just too raw and gnarly, and you certainly can't dance to it. But its unrefined power has been a mainstay in the lives of many Southerners (and many others) since long before the Civil War. --Time Out Chicago, Dec 14, 2006, Steve DollarMaybe the very best thing about shape-note singing is the croaky, full-body hollers the form demands; because the end result is one voice, shape-note singers don't worry so much about tone and pitch, bellowing and shouting with big, unabashed confidence. I Belong to This Band coughs up some appropriately stellar performances... --Pitchfork, January 16, 2007, Amanda PetrusichMost anything, even a tune called "Save, Lord, or We Parish," sounds more awesome when hollered by a room full of people. Indie rock's glee club (hello Sufjan) could learn a lot from this. --Spin, March 2007, Will HermesTo quote Leonard Cohen, 'God is alive, magic is afoot' in the soaring magnificence of Southern sacred-harp choirs, a robust, harmonically intricate blend of country joy and unearthly drone. It is living worship, too. --Rolling Stone, February 8, 2007, David Fricke