John Gordon McCurry

Compiler of The Social Harp (1855), a "collection of tunes, odes, anthems, and set pieces" John Gordon McCurry's camp-meeting spiritual "Zion's Walls" was immortalized in Aaron Copland's Old American Songs, Set 2.

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John Gordon McCurry was a Presbyterian from Georgia who became a Baptist. The Social Harp was “the last new Southern four-shape tunebook published before the Civil War.” There are 222 pieces in the book.

–Christie Finn Source: David W. Music and Paul A. Richardson’s book “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story: A History of Baptist Hymnody in North America

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