NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Laura Atkinson and Justin Hicks of Louisville Public Media about shape note singing and its influence across the American musical tradition. Shape note singing is one of ...

Shape note singing is one of America's oldest musical traditions, and it is having a bit of a revival now because of an updated songbook. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) SIMON: Laura Atkinson and Justin Hicks, ...

The crowded room echoes with lilting voices raised in a simple, timeless song. There are no instruments, no audience. Just a chorus of four-part harmonies sung from a book that's as thick as a Bible.

In a disused chapel in Gateshead, the chairs have been set out for an unusual form of service. Members of the congregation sit on four sides of a square, facing each other. Anyone is free to walk to ...

It’s a Friday afternoon at Wesleyan University’s Memorial Chapel, and the students in Neely Bruce’s class “Hymnody in the United States” are preparing chairs for a shape-note sing in the chapel’s ...