| Introduction | Alabama Music Sampler Playlist | Notes for Teachers | Documentary Resources | Other Resources |

Alabama's Musical Heritage: Documentary Resources

CDs and cassettes with essay booklets

• Spirit of Steel”: Music of the Mines, Railroads and Mills of the Birmingham District. Essays on gandy-dancer tunes, fiddle music, blues, labor songs and gospel quartet singing are presented in the context of industrial Birmingham in the early twentieth century. Includes a CD with 21 songs. This book and CD are not for sale but will be given to schools and libraries while the supply lasts. Contact Sloss Furnaces at (205) 324-1911.

• In the Spirit: Alabama’s Sacred Music Traditions. Essays on shaped-note singing, Dr. Watts hymns, Psalm singing, bluegrass gospel, a capella gospel quartets, moaning, and more. Packaged with a cassette or CD providing beautiful examples of the various forms of sacred music. Order from the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 410 North Hull Street, Montgomery, AL 36104; (334) 242-3601. Checks made payable to the Alabama Folklife Association; $15.00. (Add $2.50 for postage).

• Benjamin Lloyd’s Primitive Hymns. A book of essays with enclosed CD exploring Alabama’s oldest hymnal, published in 1841. Order from Jackie Ely, Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 410 North Hull Street, Montgomery, AL 36104; (334) 242-3601. $18.00 paper; $25.00 hardcover (add $2.50 for postage).

CDs with liner notes

• Possum Up A Gum Stump”: Home, Field, and Commercial Recordings of Alabama Fiddlers. This award-winning CD contains rare archaic tunes and is accompanied by an informative and attractive 24-page booklet. Order from Tannehill State Park, 12632 Confederate Parkway, McCalla, AL 35111; (205) 477-5711. Checks made payable to Tannehill State Park; $15.00.

• Traditional Music from Alabama’s Wiregrass. Bluegrass, gospel, blues, and Sacred Harp recordings from a ten-county region of southeast Alabama. Order from the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 410 North Hull Street, Montgomery, AL 36104; (334) 242-3601. Checks made payable to the Alabama Folklife Association; $10.00 (add $2.50 for postage).

• Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb,. Dynamic a capella gospel singing by John Alexander’s Sterling Jubilee Singers, who have performed for 67 years. Order from the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 410 North Hull Street, Montgomery, AL 36104; (334) 242-3601. Checks made payable to the Alabama Folklife Association; $15.00 (add $2.50 for postage). Also available on cassette under the title, “John Alexander’s Sterling Jubilee Singers.”

• Desire for Piety. Ozark’s Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers sing from The Sacred Harp. Order from H. J. Jackson, 27 Willa Street, Ozark, AL 36360; (334) 774-8145. $12.50.

• The Colored Sacred Harp. Ozark’s Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers sing from The Colored Sacred Harp. May be available on cassette. Order from H. J. Jackson, 27 Willa Street, Ozark, AL 36360; (334) 774-8145. $12.50.

• White Spirituals from The Sacred Harp: The Alabama Sacred Harp Convention. (Also available on cassette.) Order from the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 410 North Hull Street, Montgomery, AL 36104; (334) 242-3601. Checks made payable to the Alabama Folklife Association; $10.00 (add $2.50 for postage).

• The Alabama Sampler. An uplifting, exciting CD featuring live performances at City Stages in Birmingham of Alabama blues, bluegrass, Sacred Harp, gospel, railroad calls, etc. Order from Jackie Ely, Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 410 North Hull Street, Montgomery, AL 36104; (334) 242-3601. Checks made payable to the Alabama Folklife Association; $12.00 (add $2.50 for postage).

Cassettes with liner notes

• Bound for Canaan: Sacred Harp Singing from Sand Mountain, AL. An outstanding folk recording by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. Order from Buell Cobb, 2216 Shady Dell Lane, Birmingham, AL 35216; (205) 822-2316. Checks made payable to Buell Cobb; $10.00.

• Wiregrass Notes: Black Sacred Harp Singing from Southeast Alabama. African American Sacred Harp hymns sung by Dewey Williams, Japheth Jackson and the Wiregrass Singers. Order from H. J. Jackson, 27 Willa Street, Ozark, AL 36360. Checks made payable to the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers; $10.00.

• Cornbread Crumbled in Gravy: Historical Alabama Field Recording from the Byron Arnold Collection of Traditional Tunes. Beautifully sung folk songs performed by black and white Alabamians in 1947. Extensive notes included. Order from Jackie Ely, Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 410 North Hull Street, Montgomery, AL 36104; (334) 242-3601. Checks made payable to the Alabama Folklife Association; $12.50 (add $2.50 for postage).

• White Spirituals From The Sacred Harp: The Alabama Sacred Harp Convention. Order from Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, 410 North Hull Street, Montgomery, AL 36104; (334) 242-3601. Checks made payable to the Alabama Folklife Association; $10.00 (add $2.50 for postage).

• Rich Amerson: Selected Songs & Stories. Rich Amerson was one of Alabama’s best-known and most frequently recorded singers of spirituals and teller of tales. He was first recorded by John Lomax for the Library of Congress and later by Harold Courlander for Folkways Records. He was brought to the attention of these folklorists by Ruby Pickens Tartt of Livingston. These recordings were made by Ruby Tartt and Nathaniel Reed in 1961 and are part of the Tartt collection at the University of West Alabama. Available from: Dr. Alan Brown, UWA English Department, Livingston, AL 35470; (205) 652-3521.

• Mobile: Unforgettable Lore & Legend. Julian Lee Rayford. Great American House of Folklore, Coden, Ala. Besides his extraordinary writing career, Julian “Judy” Rayford collected and performed street cries and folktales from his native Mobile. Street cries were once a familiar sound on town streets, docks, and markets throughout the United States. They were a vocal advertisement for the small vendors and peddlers. These were recorded in the 1970s.

• Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Volume 1, Smithsonian Folkways Cassette Series: 04417. Recorded by folklorist Harold Coulander in 1950.

• Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Volume 2, Smithsonian Folkways Cassette Series: 04418. Recorded by folklorist Harold Coulander in 1950.