KLOF Mag announced the release of a video of an English musician Sam Carter performing a simple acoustic version of “White” from The Sacred Harp.

Carter states:

Long Time Travelling is better known to some as White, as that’s the name it appears under in shapenote tunebook The Sacred Harp, originally published in 1844. The name is a tribute to B.F. White, one of the original compilers of the book. This is the same book where I got the tune for Dreams Are Made of Money, amongst other songs over the years.

White was one of the first shapenote songs I ever heard around 15 years ago, and the raw, open harmonies and existential themes of this tradition continue to be a source of inspiration.

“White” is a terrific tune and has been covered by a number of musicians. Not to take anything away from Mr. Carter’s video, I wanted to present another take from Canadian banjo-picker Kaia Kater that had been passed along to me some time ago:

It is nice to see that this American tradition, nearly lost multiple times over the many years, has such profound and wide influence in the modern world.


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