These tunes have been taught to singers of every age, ability, background and musical taste. They work. There is, perhaps, no other easily accessible choral music that is as much fun to sing. The music is stark, rhythmic, frequently modal, and very distinctive, set to the fierce rhymed poetry of Issac Watts and others. We recommend this volume to singers and conductors everywhere, first and foremost because it is a collection of powerful and exciting music. In the last two decades, there has been a tremendous resurgence of shape-note singing all over the country. This shape-note revival has inspired an outpouring of splendid new songs by young singer/composers. Over a third of this edition is accounted for by contemporary compositions.The largest part of this volume presents a selection of plain tunes, fuging tunes, and anthems written by American composers during the years 1770-1810, most of them hitherto unavailable in modern editions.