I will be singing my way through them. With all due respect to Jerry, he does black gospel-- later versions of what frequently started out as spirituals, but utually in a much faster tempo than the originals. I do spirituals. I'll comment on tempo of course, to guide the next batch.
As far as voices, I'm mulling that, too, and I can adjust them as needed, for instance two voices on a call/response would make sense for contrast.
Lemme have a day with the ones already done, OK????!!!!???
Mark-- they were aurally transmitted. If you read Allen's notes, and others from the time, they frequently were made up on the spot when the inspiration struck, and learned only by the people of the immediate area. Like sea chanties (they are after all work songs as well as their other purposes), these songs lived in the moment.