The McIntosh County Shouters are the renowned performing artists of the authentic ring shout. It is North America’s oldest living African American musical tradition. The ring shout was part of the Gullah-Geechee culture formed by enslaved people brought from West Africa to the coastal regions of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Florida.

Freed people continued to pass the ring shout to their descendants following the Civil War. But by the 20th century, it was feared that the tradition had been lost. In 1980, music historians discovered a family living in the Briar Patch Community of Bolden, Georgia, who were still practicing the ring shout as their ancestors had.

The McIntosh County Shouters and the congregation of the Mt. Cavalry Baptist Church strive to keep the original, unbroken ring shout tradition alive. Our mission is to preserve and share Gullah-Geechee culture and the ring shout with a new generation. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.