The Arhoolie Foundation’s Robert Stone Sacred Steel Archive consists of over 150 recorded interviews and over 6,510 photographic negatives documenting the Sacred Steel gospel music tradition. Folklorist and preeminent Sacred Steel historian Robert Stone donated these materials in 2020.
Sacred Steel Interviews
Sacred Steel Projects
Robert Stone has published a new book from the University Press of Mississippi, which the Arhoolie Foundation was honored to sponsor for publication through a grant. The book, Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus! Photographs from the Sacred Steel Community, is now available for pre-order!
The Arhoolie Foundation, in cooperation with the Documentary Arts Foundation, produced this documentary film under the direction of Robert Stone. Sacred Steel shows the development and use of the steel guitar in assisting the services and leading the “praise music” in the House Of God denomination of these Holiness-Pentecostal churches. Featuring the Campbell Brothers with Katie Jackson, Elder Maurice “Ted” Beard, Calvin Cooke, Willie Eason, Elder Aubrey Ghent, Rev. Glenn Lee, the Lee Boys, Robert Randolph, historic footage of Henry Nelson, and much more.
The first in-depth look at a unique sacred music tradition.
In this book, Robert L. Stone follows the sound of steel guitar into the music-driven Pentecostal worship of two related churches: the House of God and the Church of the Living God. A rare outsider who has gained the trust of members and musicians inside the church, Stone uses nearly two decades of research, interviews, and fieldwork to tell the story of a vibrant musical tradition that straddles sacred and secular contexts.
