Hugh McGraw
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hugh McGraw | |
|---|---|
 McGraw in 1982 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | February 20, 1931 Centralhatchee, Georgia, U.S. |
| Origin | Bremen, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | May 28, 2017 (aged 86) |
| Genres | Sacred Harp |
| Occupations | Businessman, singer, composer |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 1953–2017 |
Hugh McGraw (February 20, 1931 – May 28, 2017)[1] was a leading figure in contemporary Sacred Harp singing. He was the General Chairman of the committee that created the 1991 Denson revision of The Sacred Harp and played an important role in promoting the spread of Sacred Harp singing. Sacred Harp scholar Buell Cobb has called him "perhaps the chief promoter and good will agent of Sacred Harp music".[2]
He was born in Centralhatchee, Georgia to John Wesley McGraw, a railroad worker, and Lillie Ashley, who worked as a seamstress at the Sewell Manufacturing Company. When he was about three months old, his family moved to Villa Rica, Georgia, where he lived to the age of 12. At that time, the family moved to Bremen, Georgia.[1] In adulthood he pursued a career in business in Bremen, managing a clothing manufacturing plant.
While he grew up, he was not a Sacred Harp singer, but was acquainted with the tradition. In an interview conducted in connection with his award of a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship (1982), he remarked:
The McGraw family has been involved in Sacred Harp music for well over a hundred years, but I didn't get involved until I was 25 years old. I'd go to a singing with my mother and father, but I thought it was more important to stay outside and play in the spring and run around the house than it was to learn this tradition.[1]
His involvement with Sacred Harp singing began when he attended a singing session in 1953. There, he developed an instant strong enthusiasm, and persuaded a second cousin (his "Uncle Bud" McGraw, a singing school teacher) to teach him about Sacred Harp music.[3] He also sought out lessons from A. M. Cagle.[4] McGraw then became a Sacred Harp composer, several of whose songs appear in the 1960 and subsequent editions of The Sacred Harp.[5]
