Gee, what a wonderful thread! All sorts of interesting tidbits hidden here. I think this is the first time I've heard a song with the name of George Henderson mentioned, and George is certainly worthy of mention. John, might you like to post the lyrics for us? I also hadn't heard of Songmakers in the Los Angeles area, and I've spent a lot of time without music in LA because I didn't know of them. And Dick Miles, I very much enjoyed your performance of Foggy Dew.

I think there's more unaccompanied singing in the U.S. than one would expect. Although instruments generally aren't discouraged in the U.S., I've rarely come across a session in the U.S. where I've felt unwelcome as an a cappella singer - and a number of U.S. sessions I've attended are mostly a cappella. A number of times in my early years at the Getaway (Washington DC) and once or twice at Camp Harmony (San Francisco), I've encountered uninvited guitar accompanists who tried to lead me where I didn't want to go. They don't do that any more.

For twenty years, I've been a member of the Sacramento Family Song Circle, which sings mostly out of the much-maligned Rise Up Singing songbook. The emphasis is on community singing, instead of on people singing solo with the group joining on choruses and occasional well-known songs. The previous Alpha Male of the group was a guitarist, so the group sang almost exclusively with guitar accompaniment for its first ten years or so. I guess I have to admit that I'm his successor, so people tend to follow my lead instead of a guitar nowadays - although we do have guitars about half the time.

When I first met her about seven years ago, our Catholic church choir director wouldn't dream of singing without accompaniment. Once she heard a duffer like Joe Offer singing a cappella, she figured out she could do it, too. Now she does it all the time, and she sounds absolutely stunning.

-Joe-