(Awakemysoul.com, 240 minutes)

www.awakemysoul.com

America may not have many chanting monks or throat singers, but we do boast the tradition of the Sacred Harp style of a cappella shape note singing. A not-quite-but-almost lost art, Sacred Harp has survived for 200 years in churches throughout America, mainly in the deep South, but also in such seemingly strange locales as New Jersey (though Sacred Harp has roots in New England) and the UK.

Matt and Erica Hinton's Awake My Soul, narrated by Americana artist Jim Lauderdale, documents the origin and status of the music as well as the lives of its practitioners. Singular individuals, they congregate-altos, baritones, basses and tenors separated into groups, around a leader-to create a melodious hullabaloo both spooky and serene. Not to mention emotionally powerful-even for the least religious people, which is why it is called America's oldest roots music. While half of the country constantly trumpets "United We Stand" and the other ridicules them for it, one wonders if this film, by introducing us to Sacred Harp singing, can't achieve that which our government has so miserably failed to do: bring us together.

Special features: Deleted scenes, extended interviews, two hours of singing from 1998-2006 RANDY HARWARD