In the early 1870s my great-grandfather emigrated from Germany to the Gulf Coast of Alabama, and later to Mississippi, where in 1887 his daughter, Sophie, was born. My grandmother grew up listening to hymns, spirituals, and popular songs performed by local musicians on the front porch of their home in the small town of Escatawpa, Mississippi. When I was a child my grandmother often sang to me, usually hymns and popular songs from her own childhood. I remember first hearing Swing Low, Sweet Chari...