AP PHOTOS: A 180-year-old singing tradition is getting a new edition of its beloved hymnal

BREMEN, Ga. (AP) — A Christian hymnal called “The Sacred Harp” is at the heart of a more than 180-year-old American singing tradition that is as much about the community as it is the music.

Initially published in 1844, a new edition of the songbook — the first in 34 years — is being released later this year by the Sacred Harp Publishing Company. The refresh is meant to breathe new life into the hymnal while preserving its history and role in the a cappella group practice known as Sacred Harp singing.

“The Sacred Harp” is a shape-note songbook, which aims to make singing accessible. Its musical notation uses notes that look like triangles, ovals, squares and diamonds, and it's sung in four-part harmony.

The book is precious to its singers, who are excited and nervous about how the 2025 edition will turn out. The nine-member revision committee working on the new version feels a tremendous responsibility to get it right. Some songs will be cut and others by living composers will be added as happened in previous revisions.

Sacred Harp singers are not historical reenactors, but part of a living worship and music tradition. Their copies of the songbook are well-used. Memories and emotions get attached to specific songs, and favorites in life can become memorials in death.

The songs are sung in a hollow square formation. Singers organize into four voice parts: treble, alto, tenor and bass. Each group takes a side, facing an opening in the center where a rotating song leader guides the group and keeps time as dozens of voices come from all sides.

Sacred Harp singing events are not performances. “The Sacred Harp” is meant to be sung by everyone and loudly.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

In this photo provided by the Library of Congress, Hugh McGraw leads singers at the South Georgia Sacred Harp Singing Convention in Tifton, Ga., on May 1, 1977. (Howard W. Marshall/Library of Congress via AP)

In this photo provided by the State Archives of Florida, M.L. Long leads sacred harp singers at the S.E. Alabama & Florida Union Sacred Harp Sing in Campbellton, Fla., on Nov. 24, 1980. (Peggy A. Bulger/State Archives of Florida via AP)

A historical image of a group of Sacred Harp singers is seen at the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrollton, Ga., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

A 1911 edition of "The Sacred Harp," a shape-note hymnal from the 1800s, opened to song No. 43, "Primerose Hill," at the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrollton, Ga., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

David Ivey, a longtime singer and chair of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company's revision and music committee, looks through "The Sacred Harp," shape-note songbook at the Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrollton, Ga., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Sacred Harp singers sit among the headstones at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church for a midday potluck in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Nathan Rees, a committee member and Sacred Harp museum curator, at The Sacred Harp Publishing Company and Museum in Carrolton, Ga., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Matt Hinton, left, bows his head as Shane Brown, right, leads a group of Sacred Harp singers in prayer at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Bridge Hill Kennedy, left, and Jesse Roberts, right, laugh between songs from the bass section at a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Sacred Harp singers pray at the end of a session at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Sacred Harp singers lead from the hollow square, a special formation in which singers, organize into four voice parts and face each other to create an open center, at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Sarah George, who met her husband through Sacred Harp singing, holds their son while leading a song from the hollow square at a Sacred Harp gathering in Bremen, Ga., at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Winfred Kerr, left, Jesse Roberts, and Oscar McGuire stand outside during a break at a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Rodney Ivey keeps time while singing from the tenor section at a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Sheri Taylor, left, sits with her daughter, Laura Wood, and granddaughter, Riley McKibbin, 11, while singing from "The Sacred Harp" in the tenor section at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

From left, Lisa Bennett, Wade Kotter, and David Stead, Bennett's husband, sing in the alto section during a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Isaac Green, 34, sings in the tenor section during a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Isaac Green, 34, covers his eyes while praying before a Sacred Harp singing event at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Bridge Hill Kennedy of Alabama stands in the hollow square and leads a song from "The Sacred Harp," at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Isaac Green, 34, flips through his personal copy of "The Sacred Harp," a shape-note hymnal linked to a more than 180-year-old American folk singing tradition, at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. The 1991 edition has undergone a multi-year revision process conducted by a nine-member committee and will be released by the Sacred Harp Publishing Company in September. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Chris Wilhelm of Black Mountain, N.C., participates in a Sacred Harp singing at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Trees encircle Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church, which has been a historical meeting site for Sacred Harp singers for generations, in Bremen, Ga., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Matt Hinton, a shape-note singer, leads a song at a Sacred Harp singing event held at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Andy Ditzler stands in the center of a hollow square, "The Sacred Harp" formation in which singers organize into four voice parts and face each other to create an opening in the middle, at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in Bremen, Ga., on Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday in hopes of securing $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum — a plan that rides on their comfort in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

Since the U.S. military raid to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as a newfound economic opportunity for the U.S., seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, saying the U.S. is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil and will be controlling sales worldwide indefinitely.

On Friday, U.S. forces seized their fifth tanker over the past month that has been linked to Venezuelan oil. The action reflected the determination of the U.S. to fully control the exporting, refining and production of Venezuelan petroleum, a sign of the Trump administration's plans for ongoing involvement in the sector as it seeks commitments from private companies.

It's all part of a broader push by Trump to keep gasoline prices low. At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

The meeting, set for 2:30 p.m. EST, will be open to the news media, according to an update to the president's daily schedule. “At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Trump is set to meet with executives from 17 oil companies, according to the White House. Among the companies attending are Chevron, which still operates in Venezuela, and ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, which both had oil projects in the country that were lost as part of a 2007 nationalization of private businesses under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

The president is meeting with a wide swath of domestic and international companies with interests ranging from construction to the commodity markets. Other companies slated to be at the meeting include Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Singapore-based Trafigura, Italy-based Eni and Spain-based Repsol.

Large U.S. oil companies have so far largely refrained from affirming investments in Venezuela as contracts and guarantees need to be in place. Trump has suggested on social media that America would help to backstop any investments.

Venezuela’s oil production has slumped below one million barrels a day. Part of Trump's challenge to turn that around will be to convince oil companies that his administration has a stable relationship with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez, as well as protections for companies entering the market.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are slated to attend the oil executives meeting, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, the United States and Venezuelan governments said Friday they were exploring the possibility of r estoring diplomatic relations between the two countries, and that a delegation from the Trump administration arrived to the South American nation on Friday.

The small team of U.S. diplomats and diplomatic security officials traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.

Trump also announced on Friday he’d meet with President Gustavo Petro in early February, but called on the Colombian leader to make quick progress on stemming flow of cocaine into the U.S.

Trump, following the ouster of Maduro, had made vague threats to take similar action against Petro. Trump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart after a friendly phone call in which he invited Petro to visit the White House.

President Donald Trump waves as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)