On the fourth Sunday of each May, The Big Singing, an all-day sing-along program of Southern Harmony shape note gospel music is held at the county courthouse. The Big Singing, begun in 1884, has a special claim to fame: in 1933 George Pullen Jackson drew attention to the fact that this is the only regular event that sings from William Walker's Southern Harmony;"As early as 1933 G. P. Jackson noted that Benton held the only regular Southern Harmony singing in existence." this remains a living tradition to the present day.A widely-used directory of annual Shape Note singings lists three other singings that use Southern Harmony together with other tunebooks, but the Benton Big Singing is the only singing that uses the Southern Harmony exclusively.
on the fourth sunday of each may the big singing an all-day sing-along program of southern harmony shape note gospel music is held at the county courthouse the big singing begun in 1884 has a special claim to fame in 1933 george pullen jackson drew attention to the fact that this is the only regular event that sings from william walker's southern harmony;"as early as 1933 g p jackson noted that benton held the only regular southern harmony singing in existence" this remains a living tradition to the present daya widely-used directory of annual shape note singings lists three other singings that use southern harmony together with other tunebooks but the benton big singing is the only singing that uses the southern harmony exclusively