Big Singing

About this singing

The Big Singing in Benton, Kentucky, dates back to 1884 (?). And for all of that time, they have sung from William Walker's The Southern Harmony, usually on a Sunday.

In 2017, the singing changed to a two-day format, with Sacred Harp singing on Saturday, and Southern Harmony singing (as before) on Sunday.

Sunday morning was considered a practice session; the real thing was in the afternoon.

Our Big Singing “minutes” come from multiple sources: (1) normal regular minutes; (2) pre-prepared programs [more below]; (3) recordings or other supplementary material.

The Big Singing had pre-prepared programs beginning in the early to mid-1940s. (The practice does not continue.) The idea was that people had favorite songs that they absolutely wanted to hear, so leaders were asked in advance to lead one specified favorite song, which was then printed in the program. This gives you pseudo-minutes for about half of the afternoon session. For years when we have info beyond the program, we find there are often discrepancies in songs expected to be sung and songs announced to be sung, and for expected leaders to be unexpectedly absent!

(In the latter days of programs, the community was very dispersed, and so the officers would call ahead to out-of-town singers and ask if they were coming and felt competent to lead ALABAMA, or whatever.)

Info very substantially from Erin Fulton (2026).