Frank, thanks for your comment, though I confess that I don't understand what you mean by "phenotypical aspects of African-American music", and "The facial construction of singers make a difference in vocal quality and tone production."

Because I know too little about this subject, I'm not sure if I agree with you or not. On the face of it {no pun intended}, I'm prone to agree with Alan Lomax's position that the music is cultural. But then again, not knowing what you mean, I'm not sure if the truth is one or the other, or both of these positions.

I'm sure that other people besides me would be interested in you posting more on this subject.

**

I want to give a shout out to TinDor for refreshing this thread that I had forgotten about. Thanks!

This thread was started before YouTube videos exploded on the scene. It's hard to imagine a time when there was no YouTube. I think that this thread would be enriched by links to any videos of African American secular songs from slavery or the late 19th century or early 20th century.

I'm going to look for such songs and post their links.

Of course, people are still welcome to post any comments or song lyrics in this thread.