| Sacred Ground | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1995 | |||
| Genre | A capella, gospel | |||
| Label | EarthBeat! [1] | |||
| Producer | Bernice Johnson Reagon, Toshi Reagon | |||
| Sweet Honey in the Rock chronology | ||||
| ||||
Sacred Ground is an album by the American a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, released in 1995. [2] [3] The group supported the album with a North American tour. [4]
The album was produced by Bernice Johnson Reagon and her daughter, Toshi Reagon. [5] It was inspired by the group's work locating religious songs for NPR's "Wade in the Water" program. [6] Eight of the songs are originals; of the covers, one dates to the late 1940s, while the others are traditional gospel songs with unclear authorship. [7] The group recorded the album over a period of more than six months, beginning in December 1994. [8]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
| MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide | [1] |
| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | [11] |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | [12] |
The Washington Post concluded: "On Sacred Ground, Sweet Honey in the Rock turns its attention to an older approach that stresses smoother, longer vocal phrases, gentler rhythms and fuller, more sustained harmonies. On both the traditional 'Jordan River' and Aisha Kahlil's 'Mystic Oceans', the group's voices actually imitate the overlapping ripples of water." [7] The St. Petersburg Times wrote that the album "traces a capella gospel's progression from ancient cotton fields to modern-day urban landscapes." [6]
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette thought that "the songs resonate with a spiritual respect and are universal: identifying with the struggle against slavery everywhere and on any level." [11] The Sydney Morning Herald called the album "the most emotionally persuasive recording the group has released so far... Voices rise and fall, cry out, whisper, pulsate with the rhythms, harmonise with rare unity of purpose and rejoice in a sense of shared optimism." [12]
AllMusic wrote that, "rooted in spiritual music and steeped in African-American tradition without being preachy or heavy-handed, Sacred Ground pulls from the various faiths and life experiences of the women of Sweet Honey in the Rock." [9]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Remember, I Believe" | |
| 2. | "No More Auction Block" | |
| 3. | "Would You Harbor Me" | |
| 4. | "Prayer" | |
| 5. | "Sing Oh Barren One" | |
| 6. | "Mystic Oceans" | |
| 7. | "Jordan River" | |
| 8. | "Stay on the Battlefield" | |
| 9. | "Can't Hide Sinner" | |
| 10. | "Jesus Is All" | |
| 11. | "Inner Voices" | |
| 12. | "Prayer to the One" | |
| 13. | "Balm in Gilead" | |
| 14. | "We Are" |
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an American three-time Grammy Award–nominated troupe who express their history as black women through song, dance, and sign language. Originally a four-person ensemble, the group has expanded to five-part harmonies, with a sixth member acting as a sign-language interpreter. Although the members have changed over five decades, the group continues to sing and perform worldwide.
Bernice Johnson Reagon is a song leader, composer, scholar, and social activist, who in the early 1960s was a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) Freedom Singers in the Albany Movement in Georgia. In 1973, she founded the all-black female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, based in Washington, D.C. Reagon, along with other members of the SNCC Freedom Singers, realized the power of collective singing to unify the disparate groups who began to work together in the 1964 Freedom Summer protests in the South.
"After a song", Reagon recalled, "the differences between us were not so great. Somehow, making a song required an expression of that which was common to us all.... This music was like an instrument, like holding a tool in your hand."
Carol Lynn Maillard is an American actress, singer, and composer. She is one of the founding members of the Grammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Thomas Andrew Dorsey was an American musician, composer, and Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them gospel, including "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" and "Peace in the Valley". Recordings of these sold millions of copies in both gospel and secular markets in the 20th century.
The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocalion Records, Stop Records, and many other smaller independent labels.
Toshi Reagon is an American musician of folk, blues, gospel, rock and funk, as well as a composer, curator, and producer.
We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder is an African American slave spiritual based in part on the Biblical story of Jacob's Ladder. It was developed some time before 1825, and became one of the first slave spirituals to be widely sung by white Christians. A number of artists have recorded notable versions of it, and it was used as one of the main themes in the critically praised documentary The Civil War.
The Partland Brothers are a Canadian pop/rock band, best known for their 1986 hit single "Soul City". Originally fronted by brothers Chris and G. P. Partland with supporting session musicians, more recently they have recorded and performed as a trio with their brother Robin Partland.
Sacred Ground may refer to:
"Up Above My Head" is a gospel song of traditional origin, first recorded in 1941 by The Southern Sons, a vocal group formed by William Langford of the Golden Gate Quartet. In the version that is now the best-known, it was recorded in 1947 by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight as a duo.
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Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice is a 2005 television documentary. It was produced by Firelight Media and directed by Stanley Nelson for the PBS series American Masters.
"Go with Me to That Land" or "Come and Go with Me (to That Land)" is a traditional gospel blues song recorded on April 20, 1930 by Blind Willie Johnson with backing vocals by Willie B. Harris, who may have been his first wife. It was released as a single on Columbia 14597-D, backed with "Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right".
Radical Harmonies is a 2002 American independent documentary film directed and executive produced by Dee Mosbacher that presents a history of women's music, which has been defined as music by women, for women, and about women. The film was screened primarily at LGBTQ film festivals in 2003 and 2004.
Yasmeen Williams is an American gospel singer and former member of the African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Connected is an album by the American musician Allen Toussaint, released in 1996. It was released through NYNO Records, a label cofounded by Toussaint, and was his first new album in almost 20 years. Toussaint supported the album with a North American tour.
American Babylon is an album by Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers, released in 1995. Grushecky supported the album by playing some East Coast and Midwest shows with Bruce Springsteen, his producer.
Jou a Rive is the debut album by the Haitian band Boukan Ginen, released in 1995. It was originally released in Haiti in 1993. Most of the lyrics were sung in Creole.
Two Worlds One Heart is an album by the South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, released in 1990. The first single was "Township Jive", which the group had performed on the Graceland tour.
Annunciation is an album by the American band the Subdudes, released in 1994. The album title refers to Annunciation Street, in New Orleans; the album was originally intended to be released on Annunciation Day. Annunciation was the band's first album for High Street Records. The Subdudes supported the album with a North American tour. Annunciation sold more than 120,000 copies in its first eight months of release.