Acclaimed stewards of the ring shout, the McIntosh County Shouters keep alive the faith, form,fervor of "the oldest surviving African-American performance tradition of any kind" (New York Times). Smithsonian Folkways will release its second recording of the McIntosh County Shouters, 'Spirituals & Shout Songs from the Georgia Coast,' on January 20. 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. The McIntosh County Shouters originally formed in the 1980s in Coastal Georgia and consisted of family members -- related by blood and marriage -- all belonging to the third generation out of slavery. They released 'Slave Shout Songs from the Coast of Georgia' through Folkways in 1983, and now, almost 35 years later, the next generation carries the ring shout tradition into a new day.
The group is led by "energized charismatic songsters" (Atlanta Journal Constitution) Freddie Palmer, Brenton Jordan, Venus McIver and Carletha Sullivan, with other members including Carla Johnson, Carolyn Palmer, Alberta Allin, and L.C. Scott (basers, clappers, and shouters) plus Brenton Jordan (stick-man and tambourine). In traditional ring shout, the "songsters" will "set" or begin a song, slowly accelerating to an appropriate tempo. Their lines are answered in a call-and-response pattern by the "basers," who deliberately step and shuffle, adding to the rhythm with hand-clapping and foot-patting. Seated next to the songster would be the "stick-man," who beats a simple rhythm with a broom or wooden stick. This marriage of singing, percussion and movement endures in the current generation of Shouters.
