Religion Is a Fortune

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 24, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: County Records
• ASIN: B0002RQ3CA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,094 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gospel music like you've never heard it before, September 29, 2004

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Religion Is a Fortune (Audio CD)

More rare old 78s, profiling the arcane art of shape-note, or sacred harp, gospel singing, an unusal and distinctive American style. These are all artists from the 1920s and '30s that very, very few people have ever heard of, vocal groups such as the Fa-So-La Singers, Dye's Sacred Harp Singers, Daniels-Deason Sacred Harp Singers, Lee Wells Sacred Harp Singers and others. The music is alien and bizarre, rough-hewn harmonies that tear across standard tonality in odd, zig-zag patterns, a sound so unusual it is one of America's great "outsider" art styles. The Allison's Sacred Harp Singers ensemble is the subject of an entire separate disc (also out on the County Records label), though they are represented here by several tunes as well... The sacred harp style is still kept alive by devoted churchgoers throughout the South, but here is a chance to hear some of its earliest recorded examples, some spooky old music that definitely has the Holy Spirit surging through it. Recommended!