For our first release of 2017, to be released on January 20, Smithsonian Folkways is proud to be sharing Spirituals and Shout Songs from Coastal Georgia, new music from the McIntosh County Shouters nearly 35 years after their first Folkways album in 1983. Acclaimed stewards of the ring shout, the McIntosh County Shouters keep alive the faith, form, and fervor of “the oldest surviving African-American performance tradition of any kind” (New York Times).

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The Shouters were one of the first groups to perform this religious ritual outside of the Gullah/Geechee region in Georgia. This 17-track, 61-minute album is accompanied by a 40-page book chronicling the history of the group and the heritage of this transcendent ritual. The collection will be released as part of the African American Legacy series, co-produced by Smithsonian Folkways and the newly opened Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.