Critical Review - G.J. Campbell, "Old Can Be Used Instead of New"

In "Old Can Be Used Instead of New," Gavin James Campbell examines crises in shape-note music after the Civil War and around the turn of the 20th century. In particular, he highlights the tension between the desire to preserve tradition and the desire to incorporate new musical styles, as exemplified in various revisions of Sacred Harp songbooks and music publications of the era. Seven-shape notation was associated with gospel music, and more generally the modernizing tendencies of the New South, while four-shape notation was considered traditional. Reformers like E.L. White and Aldine Kieffer fell in the former camp, and their efforts to innovate were generally met with resistance. In contrast, revisions by William Cooper and Joseph James, who aligned themselves with traditional values, were more widely accepted. Campbell notes, however, that the degree of acceptance may have been affected as much by the presentation of the new songbooks as by the content. Joseph James, for example, seems to me to have been successful in selling gospel music to the more traditional Sacred Harp singers largely because he was the first to present the new music in the older four-shape notation.

This question is somewhat difficult to answer without access to firsthand accounts, but: To what degree do you think the shape-note singing public's reception of new songbooks at the time was the result of manipulation by the publishers? For example, were James' publications successful because they were in line with the values of the public, or simply because they bore had names like "The Original Sacred Harp," biblical quotations on the back cover, etc.? (After asking those questions, I realize that we really can't know how much manipulation was actually involved. I guess I want to open up a general discussion about the commercial influence on the discourse of progress in shape-note singing at the time.)