Hugh W. McGraw obituary

[Rvaughn]

Hugh McGraw may not be all that well-known among Baptists generally, but he was a Baptist and well-known to a subset of us Baptist who participate in Sacred Harp Singing (which book was published by two Georgia Baptists in 1844). I know there are a couple other Baptist Life members who know who he is, and posting his obituary here.

[Haruo]

I thought he was a Baptist but couldn't find specific documentation the last couple days. Thanks, Robert.

And not just Baptist, but Primitive Baptist, I see, to judge by the church the funeral will be at.

[Haruo]

I've posted several threads on Facebook the last few days memorializing Hugh McGraw, but probably the most widely read would be , since Fox mentioned it on the FB group (inducing me to repost the lead-off there).

I'm still working on the comment thread, where I attempt to respond to my friend Paul Richards' (whose father was a music teacher in the high school he, I, and Mrs H all graduated from) question about the definitions of and distinctions between "Sacred Harp" and "shapenote". My comments there were done mostly off the cuff, without research, and I know my use of the term "moribund" was too strong in characterizing the decline from which Hugh McGraw was instrumental in rescuing the Sacred Harp tradition/movement. I am hoping to get some comments from RVaughn in or on that thread.

[Rvaughn]

[Rvaughn]

[Haruo]

[Rvaughn]

Looks good to me. There are a few things I might say differently.

I'd agree that "moribund" was too strong a word. But there is no doubt that Sacred Harp was in decline.

The yielding of too much ground to "gospel" is something of a partisan matter of opinion -- at least the "too much" part. All books have yielded some ground to Gospel music styles. To some degree this is used as a "selling point" of one book over others. In the 1991 revision there was an effort to exclude "gospel music style". In the last SH newsletter, though, Raymond Hamrick said of the 1991 revision "Some elements of modern composition did creep in inevitably as some of the new composers were trained musicians rather than the amateurs of previous generations."

Bob's observation that "There is almost no interaction between the two traditions [i.e. gospel & Sacred Harp] reflects his experience, and may be generally true. But both in the past and in the present there have been folks -- some of them very important folks -- who were or are active in both. One prime example is the S. M. Denson family, at least one of whom is even in the gospel music hall of fame. Leading SH singers today who move in both circles include Henry Johnson, Dennis & Tom George, Stanley Smith, to name just a few.

[Haruo]

Glad to hear I didn't make huge numbers of egregious errors. You're much better versed in the history than I am.

[Rvaughn]

[Rvaughn]