This digital collection contains digitized versions of fifty-two audio cassettes of mostly shape note singing in north Mississippi, north Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky recorded in the 1960s by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., an English professor at Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College) and a self-trained folklorist.

Wolf began recording regional folk musicians in the 1950s and discovered several important singers, including Jimmy Driftwood. He also recorded a number of Memphis area blues and jug band musicians like Bukka White, Gus Cannon, and Furry Lewis. In the 1960s, Wolf recorded many shape-note singers in north Mississippi and Alabama.

Image Credit: Morning Star, from The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion... / William Walker (Philadelphia: E.W. Miller, 1847). p. 115

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2019

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary #1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary #1, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary #1, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary #2, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary #2, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) [untitled], Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) [untitled], Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Mantachie (Miss.) Pleasant Hill, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Mantachie (Miss.) Pleasant Hill, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Mantachie (Miss.) Pleasant Hill, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Memphis (Tenn.) 1st Baptist Church, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Memphis (Tenn.) 1st Baptist Church, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Memphis (Tenn.) 1st Baptist Church, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Rivers of Delight, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp Revival Anthem, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp Revival Anthem, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp Revival Anthem, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp Revival Anthem, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp Tape B, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp Tape B, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) Salem Reel 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) Salem Reel 1, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) Salem Reel 1, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) Salem Reel 2, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) Salem Reel 2, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Unmarked tape, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Unmarked tape, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

1968

 

Houston (Miss.) Stewart's Chapel Reel 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Houston (Miss.) Stewart's Chapel Reel 1, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Houston (Miss.) Stewart's Chapel Reel 1, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Houston (Miss.) Stewart's Chapel Reel 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Houston (Miss.) Stewart's Chapel Reel 2, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Houston (Miss.) Stewart's Chapel Reel 2, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Mantachie (Miss.) Pleasant Hill, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

1967

 

Salem (Ala.) Morning Session, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) Morning Session, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) Morning Session, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) Morning Session, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

1966

 

Ozark (Ala.) Black Sacred Harp Interview, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

1965

 

Anthem and Sermon, First Baptist Church, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Anthem and Sermon, First Baptist Church, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Anthem and Sermon, First Baptist Church, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Germantown (Tenn.) New Bethel Baptist Church Choir, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Ozark (Ala.) Negro Sacred Harp, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) [untitled], John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) [untitled], Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) [untitled], Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) [untitled], Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Salem (Ala.) [untitled], Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

1964

 

Fulton (Miss.) Fulton Courthouse Reel 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) Fulton Courthouse Reel 1, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) Fulton Courthouse Reel 1, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) Fulton Courthouse Reel 2, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) Fulton Courthouse Reel 2, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) [untitled], Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) [untitled], Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

1963

 

Arab (Ala.) Poke Sallet Festival Reel 1, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Arab (Ala.) Poke Sallet Festival Reel 1, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Arab (Ala.) Poke Sallet Festival Reel 2, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Arab (Ala.) Poke Sallet Festival Reel 2, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Arab (Ala.) Poke Sallet Festival Reel 4, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Benton (Ky.) "Big Singing," Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Benton (Ky.) "Big Singing," Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Carbon Hill (Ala.) Flatwoods Church, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Carbon Hill (Ala.) Flatwoods Church, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Christian Harmony Ebenezer Church, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) Reel 1, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) Reel 1, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) Reel 2, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Fulton (Miss.) Reel 2, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Sacred Harp, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

1962

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary, Side 1, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.

 

Bruce (Miss.) Calvary, Side 2, John Quincy Wolf Jr.