David Warren Steel

Since 2015 I am retired from full-time teaching at the University of Mississippi, where I taught courses in music history, ethnomusicology and applied organ and harpsichord. My wife Anne is also retired from teaching Latin at Oxford Middle School in Oxford, Mississippi. We both enjoy Sacred Harp singing, as you can see from this YouTube clip. I attended Harvard College and the University of Michigan. I perform with the “Mockingbird” early music ensemble. My book The Makers of the Sacred Harp was published in 2010 by University of Illinois Press. Other books include an edition of the collected works of American composer Daniel Belknap (1771-1818) from Garland Publications and an edition of the works of Stephen Jenks (1772-1856), published by A-R Editions in 1995. My organ CD Baroque Pearls was issued on Centaur Records. You can find information about my publications, research, and other activities in my curriculum vitae.

For twenty-one years I created and maintained a web site for the Department of Music at the University of Mississippi. I continue to maintain a web site for Sacred Harp singing. You’re welcome to enjoy some of my favorite net-spots.

My Corner of the Web

Sacred Harp singing, a form of traditional music
Sacred Harp singing, Taylor, Mississippi, October 11, 2025
October 19, 3:00 PM: Will Fraser, organist in recital, Paris Yates Chapel.
Department of Music, University of Mississippi
Curriculum vitae
The Makers of the Sacred Harp (University of Illinois Press)
Historic organs of Oaxaca
Twelve Preludes for Organ
John Wyeth and southern folk hymnody
Reviews of books and recordings
Recent performances
Sanger – Steel – Warren family information
Religious freedom or hypocrisy? an essay
My YouTube channel
My Flickr photos

Favorite Links

Music: Fasola home page; IMSLP, Sharing the world's public domain music.; Early Music America; Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca (IOHIO); Folkstreams, American roots documentaries; Dust to Digital, "the authentic digital universe"

Local and regional: City of Oxford home page; Oxford, MS weather forecast (Google); Visit Oxford (tourism); First Regional Library; United Way of Oxford & Lafayette County; Yoknapatawpha Arts Council; University of Mississippi Museum; Burns-Belfry Museum and Multicultural Center; Bike Ole Miss (and Oxford); Square Books, Oxford’s independent bookseller; Yoknapatawpha Press, works by southern writers; Oxford Community Market, open year-round; Midtown Farmers Market, open May to October; Fat Possum Records, "We're trying our best"; Thacker Mountain Radio, live weekly music and literary variety show; Living Blues magazine; Southern Spaces, a journal of the U.S. South; Mississippi Public Broadcasting online (MPB); MPB Think Radio and Music Radio listen live; The Local Voice, events and entertainment biweekly; The Oxford Eagle, weekly newspaper; The Daily Mississippian, Ole Miss student newspaper
A few local blogs: Mississippi Today, nonpartisan Mississippi news; Mississippi Free Press, solutions journalism; Oxford, Mississippi blog; John T. Edge on Southern food; Oxford Artists Guild; The End of All Music; The Crime Scene (interactive fiction from Tom Arriola)
Reference: Google search; Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; Epicurious, for people who love to eat; Library of Congress; National Public Radio; The Jargon File

Warren Steel (mudws@olemiss.edu)