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"Called ""The Poet Laureate of the Burnt Over District,"" Th. Metzger is a writer and teacher who has sung Sacred Harp music for decades. He has chronicled the birth of Mormonism, the electric chair, heroin's early days, the Calico Indians, the ancestors of H. P. Lovecraft in Rochester, the Moorish Orthodox Church, and various renegade holy men who haunted his region. As Leander Watts, he published five young adult novels, all set in his imaginal - though no less real - landscape."
"""Thom's book is an authentic and emotional journey into shape note singing. He provides a realistic interpretation of a very personal and profound practice which reflects my own experience of this music. Thom has a writer's eye to pounce on the strongest lyrics which are powerful and full of meaning. I loved this book.""-Kelly Macklin, editor, Shenandoah Harmony ""An instant classic. Recalling Nick Tosches' Country and Dennis Covington's Salvation on Sand Mountain, Th. Metzger's immersive and confessionally textured study of marginalized American hymnody comes as near as words can to capturing the ungovernable spirit-essence of backwoods-protestant song and ritual.""-Chip Smith, publisher, Nine-Banded Books ""Metzger weaves the long past and the present with a gem-studded, coal choked narrative that tells the reader everything they need to know about who sang, who sung, who sings Sacred Harp, and what happens when they do, and why."" -Steven Sherrill, author of The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break ""Th. Metzger's Strong Songs of the Dead succeeds spectacularly in juxtaposing the fiercely living world of Sacred Harp singing with his parallel theme: ever-present death that resonates through lyrics, rural cemeteries, and the singers themselves.""-Christian Goodwillie, Director and Curator of Special Collections and Archives, Hamilton College"
