Shape-note tunebooks from the Shenandoah Valley

In 1816, a Virginia singing master named Ananias Davisson printed Kentucky Harmony — a tunebook that mixed European hymns and New England singing-school music with the new sound of frontier folk hymns and camp-meeting songs. Davisson and his Valley contemporaries left their mark on every shape-note book that followed, including The Sacred Harp.

The Shenandoah Harmony (2013) was compiled in that spirit: a tunebook drawing the best of this early Valley repertoire — much of it long out of print — alongside newer compositions in the same idiom. The Valley Pocket Harmonist (2022) is its smaller, portable companion.

These are working books, made for the hollow square. Singers gather around four sides — treble, alto, tenor, bass — call out a page number, and sing. No audience, no rehearsal, no audition. If you’ve never tried it, you’re welcome at any singing on our calendar; bring nothing but a willingness to make a joyful noise.