Harold DeCou

Harold DeCou arranged a considerable volume of hymn tunes which were published by Singspiration in the 1960s and 1970s. The original titles include:


 * The Sunday Morning Organist, Volumes 1-6, containing works based on traditional hymns
 * The Gospel Organist, Volumes 1-5, based on hymns from the Southern Gospel movement from about 1920-1950.

These are now out of print and unlikely to be republished because of the difficulty and cost of achieving copyright clearance. Copies come up regularly on eBay, however.

Later anthologies drawn from these original publications were also produced. One might speculate that their contents were chosen based on expedience of copyright clearance rather than upon artistic merit.

These works are the high-water mark for the Gospel organ style because unlike most other such compositions they are not edited for ease of playing. DeCou was a recording artist in his day, and a few of his recordings have been re-released on CDs. His style is influenced by the popular music of the 1920s-1950s and indirectly by the jazz and blues idioms upon which the popular music of that era was based.

DeCou also wrote some excellent piano solos, most of which were published through Singspiration. The quality of his composing and arranging work remained consistently high and true to his original style. His last publisher was a small firm called Bible Truth Music. He passed on December 28, 2008.