Sacred harp music is more and less than what it sounds like. At once, any listener is going to be struck by the power put behind every note and breath that’s necessitated by singing this music. But at the same time, it needs to be figured that this is a tradition as opposed to some creative outburst of new ideas. That shouldn’t lessen the enjoyment that anyone is able to have at the altar of I Belong To This Band: Eighty-Five Years Of Sacred Harp Recordings, but being aware of the fact that the artfulness in these works is imbued in the arrangements as opposed to the conception needs to be understood.

On the Dust to Digital (pseudo) imprint, I Belong To This Band: Eighty-Five Years Of Sacred Harp Recordings announces its purpose immediately. What’s so astounding about this music is that it can occur today in the same manner – or at least be captured in a studio. Today, posturing and marketing concerns seem to obscure some of the intent to this kind of music. Peppered throughout the compilation, though, are in fact, a series of recordings dating from 2006. Of all the tracks represented here, it’s somewhat difficult to pick out which tracks are from what era – some of the offerings included on the disc were snatched from 78s and digitally re-mastered, although the scratches, bumps and imperfections are still well audible.

I Belong To This Band: Eighty-Five Years Of Sacred Harp Recordings, regardless of which track or what time it comes from, is as guttural a music as has it the market in a good long while. When singing in this fashion, it’s easy to imagine all involved, not quite channeling any great power, but so engulfed it the moment, that the only concern on the mind of any participant moving only to an explication of faith or whatever tale is being related to listeners.

It’ll be hard for the uninitiated – that includes myself – to discern between works here. The swell of the congregated, though well conceived and executed, can sometimes be overwhelming. I suppose, though, that that’s the point. This is a music for the devoted to explicate something pretty heavy. And while a few speakers and sets of ears might not be able to handle it all, the Henagar-Union Sacred Harp Convention going over “Ninety-Fifth” is unquestionably a work that should instill a lump in your throat, whether or not one’s in agreement with what’s being related.

It seems though – unfortunate or not – that the more modern of these recordings is going to be maintained for posterity as opposed to listening to in the parlor with a family gathered around speakers. That, in and of itself, might be a comment upon the times in which we live, but doesn’t lessen the validity or beauty of this music. It might perceived as an exercise in futility, but what’s here is still a remarkable thing to achieve with nothing other than faith, some friends and family and a microphone around which to gather.