SAVAE is well-known for its meticulous research into the history and dialects of the music it records, and this album is no exception. For Revival Tonight! SAVAE artistic director Christopher Moroney consulted Southern music and dialect experts — the ensemble’s own members!

SAVAE Tenor Jody Noblett, who was raised in a Southern Baptist community in Mississippi, created most of SAVAE’s arrangements based on his personal experiences singing at Baptist revivals and youth camps. Alto Tanya Moczygemba, whose parents led music for their Southern Baptist congregation, brought her distinctive Bay City (Texas) dialect to the project. Tenor Lee P’Pool, raised in Kentucky and Tennessee, inspired the music with the same heart that his own father brought to the churches where he led revival music. And sopranos Kathy Mayer and Sonya Yamin, whose grandfathers were preachers, brought their early tent revival experiences and love for the “good old hymns” to the project.