Category: Friends Who’ve Gone Before
Tributes to recipients of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company’s posthumous citation “for outstanding work in the company and untiring support of and dedicated service to the cause of Sacred Harp music.”
Remembering Toney Smith: Singer, Leader, Teacher, Organizer, Reviser, and Encourager
Editors’ note: Toney Smith, a member of the seven-person music committee that revised The Sacred Harp: 1991 Edition, received the Sacred Harp Publishing Company’s posthumous citation in 2017. In this tribute, David Ivey, who served with Toney Smith on the 1991 Edition music committee, attests to the many ways Smith contributed to Sacred Harp singing in his West Alabama region and…
B. M. Smith: A Loving, Caring Spirit and Front Bench Stalwart
Micah 6:8He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.And what does the Lord require of you?To act justly and to love mercyAnd to walk humbly with your God. B. M. Smith of Silver Creek, Georgia, personified this Bible verse. He was a man who willingly accepted the responsibilities life brought him, and who gave…
In Memory of Earlis McGraw, July 27, 1935–June 8, 2016
Editor’s Note: United Kingdom–based singer Rebecca Over fell in love with the songs of the McGraw family soon after she began singing Sacred Harp in 2009. An avid researcher, Rebecca got to know living McGraws such as Earlis during trips to the United States following the footsteps of singers and composers from past generations such…
Raymond Cooper Hamrick, a Tribute
A note from the editor: Raymond Hamrick taught Mary Brownlee and her sisters Rosemund Watson and Martha Harrell to sing, and for many decades Hamrick joined Brownlee and Watson to practice shape-note songs old and new at Brownlee’s home in Barnesville. Brownlee read this tribute to Hamrick at the 2015 Emmaus Primitive Baptist Church Singing,…
Raymond C. Hamrick’s Contributions to Sacred Harp Singing and Scholarship
Raymond Cooper Hamrick (1915–2014), of Macon, Georgia, was a well-loved singer, composer, and scholar whose intellectual curiosity, generosity of spirit, and kindness seemed boundless. Perhaps the greatest Sacred Harp composer of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Hamrick imparted to his music a distinctive voice that recalls the earliest American composers while embracing a…
Remembering Carlene McGraw Griffin, a Lifelong Sacred Harp Singer
In 2015, Carlene McGraw Griffin became the eighty-eighth recipient of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company Citation, an award presented posthumously to “honor and express appreciation to loyal supporters and dedicated singers for outstanding work in the company and untiring support of and dedicated service to the cause of Sacred Harp music.” A resource page from the…
The Embodiment of Love and Fellowship: Honoring Billy Joe and Evelyn Harris
In October, 2015, the members of the Board of Directors of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company voted unanimously to present a citation to the descendants of Billy Joe and Evelyn Harris. The practice of awarding citations to outstanding deceased members of the Company was begun in 1969. This joint award was only the third one…
Honoring William J. Reynolds, A Behind the Scenes Contributor to the 1991 Edition
The Sacred Harp Publishing Company presented a citation award honoring the contributions of William J. Reynolds to Sacred Harp singing on January 31, 2015 at the William J. Reynolds Sacred Harp Singing in Fort Worth, Texas. Bill Reynolds became the eighty-seventh recipient of the citation, given since 1969 to “honor and express appreciation to loyal…
Honoring Jeff and Shelbie Sheppard: 2014 Citation Awards
On April 12, 2014, at the annual State Line Singing, the Sacred Harp Publishing Company presented Pam Nunn and Rene Greene with citation awards recognizing the contributions of their parents, Jeff and Shelbie Sheppard, to Sacred Harp singing. Jeff and Shelbie became the eighty-fifth and eighty-sixth recipients of the citations, given since 1969 to “honor and…
Remembering Those Who’ve Gone Before: Sacred Harp Publishing Company 2013 Citation Awards
On October 11, 1969, the Sacred Harp Publishing Company began a practice that continues to this day. The Board of Directors voted to present citations to “honor and express appreciation to loyal supporters and dedicated singers for outstanding work in the company and untiring support of and dedicated service to the cause of Sacred Harp…
