In 1974, Crown & Covenant had half its recordings on vinyl long-playing albums and half on cassettes. Most readers younger than 20 years old won’t remember carefully placing the record players needle on the outer hand of the vinyl so that it wouldn’t fall off the edge of the record and dull the needle or skate across the grooves and make a skip producing scratch.

In 1984, C&C offered everything on cassette, except for one vinyl album and an eight-track tape. The eight tracks were revolutionary at the time. One didn’t have to fast forward for the whole side of tape to find a song. Switching tracks skipped the tape ahead to where one wanted to go. Today, the standard is the compact disc. Two thirds of C&C’s offerings are now on CD, one third are on cassette only, and vinyl albums or eight tracks are historical curiosities.

Recording media isn’t the only thing that is changing. Demand for psalm singing recordings has increased over the years, mostly because more people are interested in learning how to sing psalms. Recordings used to be predominately for Reformed Presbyterians to learn new arrangements or for listening enjoyment. Now, they are also used to introduce new churches of all denominations to a cappella psalm singing and its harmonies. More than half of C&C music sales are to non-RP customers.

In 1974, Crown & Covenant Publications only had four recordings altogether.

In contrast, this year alone, C&C released five new recordings, bringing its total offerings to 19. In addition, C&C now imports psalm recordings from Ireland. Scotland, and Australia. A newer goal of the Education & Publication Board is eventually to have all the selections of The Book of Psalms for Singing recorded or at least enough selections to represent all the Scripture verses, and to compile them into a library of consecutive psalms. This is an ambitious goal, since there are over 125 selections in the current psalter and most recordings have 15-30 selections.

Psalms of the Kingdom

Australian singer Jason Coghill marches to his own tempo. He literally harmonizes with himself. With the help of whiz-bang technology, Jason is able to record himself singing each of the four parts of a psalm on 8-track digital audio tape.

Jason says he usually starts by singing the lead melody. Then he rewinds the tape and records the tenor, then adds bass and alto. “I use headphones for monitoring,” explains Coghill. “The actual syncing of the voices depends on my timing and pitch. He then mixes the individual and overall parts and has a master tape made. If the recording is for a C&C label, he sends it to the office in Pittsburgh to begin design and manufacturing.

Jason produced two psalm CDs on his own before releasing an album exclusively under the C&C label. The recently released Psalms of the Kingdom is Jason’s second album for C&C. It is unique because Jason added Shandelle Cooke. a female alto, to the mix. This adds the new dimension of another octave to the harmonies of his lower register.

All of the psalm selections on Psalms of the Kingdom are from The Book of Psalms for Singing and have never been available on a recording before. There are 16 selections, including psalms 49, 108, 141, 3, 43, 104, 142, 39, and 117.

Coghill is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia and received a diploma of theology from the Reformed Theological College in Geelong last year. He says that he first heard about salvation in Jesus Christ through a youth club. His hobbies include surfing, golf, and drums. “I play drums in a jazz trio with two [brothers named Gear]… We call it Cog’n’Gear Trio.”

Sing a New Song

In 1973. Charles Mc Burney directed a 70-voice choir in the sanctuary of the College Hill RP Church in Beaver falls, Pa. The choir sang the newest arrangements from the burgundy psalter that was first printed in that year. Al Wissner recorded the beautiful music. Twenty-eight years later, this recording is the most popular psalm cassette that C&C produces. This past year, Al Wissner agreed to digitally remaster the recording so that it could he released on CD. The newly repackaged, remastered CD sounds better than the original record and cassette. It is one of the few C&C cassette recordings that has a big, congregational sound. And, it still has a booklet of music and words that can partner with it for the psalmody newcomer.

Through Fire and Water: Psalms of Deliverance

Over two years ago, C&C was asked to record the first quartet that had been sent out on a music ministry tour for Geneva College. The group, which first toured in 1947 under the name Covichords, wasn’t able to record until the fall of last year. The original Covichords—Norman Carson, Don McCracken, J. Paul McCracken, and Kenneth Smith—came to Pittsburgh to sing for two days in the fall of 2000 and two more days in the spring of 2001. On their feet all day in the small, hot booth of a studio, the men put forth an energetic effort, and spent breaks reminiscing and teasing each other about that first concert tour across the United States. There was at least one argument that included a certain amount of eye rolling regarding whether J. Paul frequently fell asleep in the 1946 Ford club coupe in which they toured or whether he was just “resting with his mouth open.” Sixteen psalms are in the final recording. Many of them have never been recorded before. It wasn’t until the staff was editing the recording that they realized that many of the psalms were about deliverance—a comforting theme in the wake of Sept. 11. The recording was in its final edit by that time and was released Nov. 30.

Covichords: A Golden Reunion

As part of their recording sessions with C&C, the Covichords sang some of their famous barbershop songs. The idea was to compile them in a private recording for the quartet and their families. The results were so satisfying that C&C mastered them into a professional style recording. Because so many Reformed Presbyterians have enjoyed the entertainment of the Covichords quartets over the years at international conferences and presbytery camps, the Education & Publication Board made an unprecedented decision for C&C to produce and carry the barbershop music. Songs on the recording include Geneva College campus songs like the Alma Mater and the Whiffenpoof Song adapted by classmate Willard McMillan, romantic songs like Aura Lee and My Little Margie, silly songs like George Jones, and classics like All Through the Night and Battle Hymn of the Republic. The result is entertainment that the whole family can enjoy.

Enter His Presence

New Song, the contemporary music ministry of Geneva College, has been doing recordings for C&C for over 10 years. The last four albums have been exclusively psalms. The newest is no exception. The nine-member 2001 New Song group generously recorded in studio on the students’ fall break. Their album includes selections from The Book of Psalms for Singing, some contemporary arrangements from other sources, and some original arrangements and compositions, including one of Psalm 2 by Dr. Robert Copeland that was commissioned exclusively by and for New Song. The composition is entitled, “Bent Outa Shape.” The unique arrangement employs the original Hebrew in its underlying harmonies. This year’s group has five students from the Reformed Presbyterian Church and four students from other denominations, such as Lutheran and Mennonite.

Because the group had been singing together all summer, their harmonies were tight and warm in the studio. The recording engineer was pleased with how quickly the group of students was able to lay each song on tape in its final form. Even the restaurant where the students ate during the recording thanked the C&C staff for bringing in “such a nice group of young people—now, where are they from?” More than half of the psalms on Enter His Presence are ones that have never before been recorded from The Book of Psalms for Singing.