The black community in Alabama has a deep, long tradition of spiritual music. Combining native Carib, African, and hymnal traditions, what originated in those sweltering, backbreaking fields remains some of the most haunting songs of hope and faith. Beginning as field songs to pass the time or work in unison, or simple ways to pass along biblical parables, those a capella call-and-responses and field hollers speak to something inextinguishable within the human spirit.
One group that has tried to keep that tradition alive, combining traditional black gospel harmony with the sorrowful touches of those old field hollers and slave songs, is the Birmingham Sunlights — a vocal ensemble so influential they are cultural ambassadors of the United States and have been archived by the Library of Congress as one of America’s cultural touchstones:
The dynamic Birmingham Sunlights are dedicated to carrying on the art of unaccompanied gospel harmony singing that has an especially brilliant heritage in their home place of Jefferson County, Ala.