Musically gift­ed, by age 18 Walker was lead­ing con­gre­ga­tion­al sing­ing at the First Bap­tist Church in Spar­tan­burg. He col­lect­ed and ar­ranged folk tunes, and with his brother-in-law, Ben­jamin Frank­lin White, par­ti­ci­pated in sing­ing schools and com­pil­ing mel­o­dies from south­ern Ap­pa­la­chia and camp meet­ings. Af­ter mov­ing to Hart­ford, Con­nec­ti­cut, Walk­er pub­lished The South­ern Har­mo­ny and Mu­sic­al Com­pan­ion in 1835, but gave no credit to White, who pub­lished The Sac­red Harp, a com­pet­ing vol­ume, in 1844. Both used the shaped note music nota­tion system.

Sources

Music

1. Middlebury
2. Paula
3. Restoration
4. Samanthra
5. Wondrous Love