Spiritual (music)

A spiritual is a African-American song with a religious text. Traditionally monophonic and a cappella, these songs are antecedents of the blues. They began on Southern slave plantations as work songs, sometimes with hidden messages of rebellion and escape from the slaves' owners.

Samples

• of "My Good Lord Done Been Here" spiritual song from the Library of Congress' John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip; performed by Aunt Florida Hampton on May 29, 1939 at the home of Mr. and Mrs. P.W. Tartt in Livingston, Alabama