Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the United States Appalachian region. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in traditional English, Scottish and Irish ballads and dance tunes, and in traditional African-American blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as: "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."
Marshall County is a county located in far western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 31,448. Its county seat is Benton.
Benton is a U.S. home rule-class city in Marshall County, Kentucky. The current mayor of this city is Rita Dotson. The population was 4,349 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Marshall County.
Simpsonville is a home rule-class city in Shelby County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is located 8 miles west of Shelbyville, Kentucky and 23 miles east of Louisville situated along U.S. 60. The population was 2,484 during the 2010 U.S. Census.
The Barbershop Harmony Society, legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. (SPEBSQSA), is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form. Founded by Owen C. Cash and Rupert I. Hall in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1938, the organization quickly grew, promoting barbershop harmony among men of all ages. As of 2014, just under 23,000 men in the United States and Canada were members of this organization whose focus is on a cappella music. The international headquarters was in Kenosha, Wisconsin for fifty years before moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 2007. In June 2018, the society announced it would allow women to join as full members.
Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteheads in written music to help singers find pitches within major and minor scales without the use of more complex information found in key signatures on the staff.
A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook. Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts ; written melodies are extra, and more recently harmony parts have also been provided.
Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era (1930s–present), is a style of a cappella close harmony, or unaccompanied vocal music, characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture. Each of the four parts has its own role: generally, the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord, usually below the lead. The melody is not usually sung by the tenor or baritone, except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags or codas, or when some appropriate embellishment can be created. One characteristic feature of barbershop harmony is the use of what is known as "snakes" and "swipes". This is when a chord is altered by a change in one or more non-melodic voices. Occasional passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts.
The Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion is a shape note hymn and tune book compiled by William Walker, first published in 1835. The book is notable for having originated or popularized several hymn tunes found in modern hymnals and shape note collections like The Sacred Harp.
William Walker was an American Baptist song leader, shape note "singing master", and compiler of four shape note tunebooks, most notable of which are the influential The Southern Harmony and the Christian Harmony, which has been in continuous use.
Kentucky Wesleyan College (KWC) is a private Methodist college in Owensboro, Kentucky. The college is known for its liberal arts programs. Fall 2018 enrollment was 830 students.
Ananias Davisson was a singing school teacher, printer and compiler of shape note tunebooks. He is best known for his 1816 compilation Kentucky Harmony, which is the first Southern shape-note tunebook. According to musicologist George Pullen Jackson, Davisson's compilations are "pioneer repositories of a sort of song that the rural South really liked."
The Kentucky Harmony is a shape note tunebook, published in 1816 by Ananias Davisson. It is the first Southern shape-note tunebook.
Bagdad is an unincorporated community in northeastern Shelby County, Kentucky, United States. It was founded at what is currently the intersection of Kentucky Routes 12 and 395.
The American Elm cultivar Ulmus americana 'New Harmony' was raised by the Maryland Agricultural Research Service and released by the United States National Arboretum in 1995, along with 'Valley Forge'.
The Kentucky Governor's Mansion is a historic residence in Frankfort, Kentucky. It is located at the East lawn of the Capitol, at the end of Capital Avenue. On February 1, 1972, it was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places.
Crossroads is the barbershop quartet that won the International Quartet Championship for 2009 at the Barbershop Harmony Society's annual international convention, in Anaheim, California. Bass singer Jim Henry also directed the Ambassadors of Harmony chorus to their international championship at the same event with the highest chorus score ever obtained.
Harmony Lane is a 1935 low-budget American film directed by Joseph Santley, based upon the life of Stephen Foster, released by Mascot Pictures.
Cross Keys is an unincorporated community located in Rockingham County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is located on State Route 276 south of Harrisonburg.
New Harmony is an unincorporated community in western Pike County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. The community is on a county road just east of Missouri Route V about six miles east of Vandalia and four miles south-southeast of Curryville.
