Overview

Some have called Sacred Harp singing America's earliest music. This powerful nondenominational religious singing, part of a deeply held Southern culture, has spread throughout the nation over the past two centuries. In A Sacred Feast, Kathryn Eastburn journeys into the community of Sacred Harp singers across the country and introduces readers to the curious glories of a tradition that is practiced today just as it was two hundred years ago. Each of the book's chapters visits a different region and features recipes from the accompanying culinary tradition--dinner on the ground, a hearty noontime feast. From oven-cooked pulled pork barbeque to Dollar Store cornbread dressing to red velvet cake, these recipes tell a story of nourishing the body, the soul, and the voice. The Sacred Harp's deeply moving sound and spirit resonate through these pages, captured at conventions in Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, Colorado, and Washington, conveyed in portraits of singers, and celebrated in the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of all-day singing and dinner on the ground echoing through generations and centuries.

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9780803218314

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Reviews

""Filled with harmony, heartache, and home cooking, A Sacred Feast is at once the best-ever culinary travelogue about singing and a soul-searching look at the heart of America."" Tim Eriksen, singer, song-writer, ethnomusicologist, and Sacred Harp teacher and enthusiast ""An affectionate, even loving portrayal of a tradition of song and community by a journalist who came to take a quick look --and ended up staying--to feed her 'heart's hunger.""--Buell Cobb , author of The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and Its Music ""Kathryn Eastburn has done us all a great service with this wonderful book about Sacred Harp singing. With curiosity and humanity, she tells the story of a community of people held together by the most powerful of bonds--tradition, song, and food. She writes in elegant, crystal-clear prose, and it is a pleasure to be transported by her all across America to gathering after gathering, learning and celebrating as we go."" Richard Goodman , author of French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France ""A wonderful,well-written description of twenty-first-century Sacred Harp singing from coast to coast through the eyes of a first-generation Sacred Harp singer. Marvelous recipes!"" Amanda Denson Brady, recording secretary, Sacred Harp Publishing Company

Filled with harmony, heartache, and home cooking, A Sacred Feast is at once the best-ever culinary travelogue about singing and a soul-searching look at the heart of America. Tim Eriksen, singer, song-writer, ethnomusicologist, and Sacred Harp teacher and enthusiast An affectionate, even loving portrayal of a tradition of song and community by a journalist who came to take a quick look --and ended up staying--to feed her 'heart's hunger. --Buell Cobb , author of The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and Its Music Kathryn Eastburn has done us all a great service with this wonderful book about Sacred Harp singing. With curiosity and humanity, she tells the story of a community of people held together by the most powerful of bonds--tradition, song, and food. She writes in elegant, crystal-clear prose, and it is a pleasure to be transported by her all across America to gathering after gathering, learning and celebrating as we go. Richard Goodman , author of French Dirt: The Story of a Garden in the South of France A wonderful,well-written description of twenty-first-century Sacred Harp singing from coast to coast through the eyes of a first-generation Sacred Harp singer. Marvelous recipes! Amanda Denson Brady, recording secretary, Sacred Harp Publishing Company

Author Information

Kathryn Eastburn, a journalist and freelance writer, is the founding editor of the Colorado Springs Independent. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the Denver Post, Texas Highways, and the Santa Fe Reporter.

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