The New Sacred Harp was a seven-shape note

Shape note

Shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational and community singing. The notation, introduced in 1801, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools...

 tune book released in 1884 through S.P. Richard & Son of Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

.

It was compiled by brothers James Landrum White

James Landrum White

James Landrum White was a shape note singing teacher, composer, and a reviser of his father's shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp.-Musical career:...

 and Benjamin Franklin White, Jr., the sons of Benjamin Franklin White

Benjamin Franklin White

Benjamin Franklin White was a shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp. He was born near Cross Keys in Union County, South Carolina, the twelfth child of Robert and Mildred White.-Musical career:White and Elisha J...

, the compiler and editor of The Sacred Harp

Sacred Harp

Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...

song book.

The New Sacred Harp was 192 pages long, including rudiments, 206 songs, and an index. The songs of the book tended towards the more "modern" gospel

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 style of Kieffer-Showalter-Vaughan publications (7-shapes, closer subdued harmony

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

, etc.). Yet songs were included by composers of the Sacred Harp tradition, including D. P. White

David Patillo White

David Patillo White was a shape note singing teacher, composer, and a co-issuer, with his father, of the 1870 Sacred Harp. He was the second child of Benjamin Franklin White and Thurza Melvina Golightly, whose other children were William Decatur, Robert H., Mary Caroline, Nancy Ogburn, Thurza...

 (J. L. White's elder brother), J. P. Rees, S. M. Denson

Seaborn McDaniel Denson

Seaborn McDaniel Denson was a notable Alabama musician and singing school teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. He was a son of The Rev. Levi Phillips Denson, a Methodist minister, and Julia Ann Jones Denson. Seaborn Denson was born April 9, 1854 in Arbacoochee, Alabama. He married Sidney...

, T. J. Denson

Thomas Jackson Denson

Thomas Jackson Denson was a notable Alabama musician and singing school teacher within the Sacred Harp tradition. He was the youngest of the four sons of the Levi Phillip Denson, a Methodist minister, and Julia Ann Jones Denson. Thomas J. Denson was born in 1863 in Arbacoochee, Cleburne County. He...

and Absalom Ogletree.

About a dozen compositions were by J. L. White, though none were written by B. F., Jr. His contributions were apparently only editorial and financial. Fewer than 20% of its songs were found in the "old" Sacred Harp, and less than 5% of the songs were written in a minor key. These brothers probably hoped to profit from the name connection to their father's popular song book.