Editing William Walker (composer) (section)

== Legacy ==
[[File:Grave of William Walker (composer).jpg|thumb|left|upright|William Walker's grave in [[Spartanburg]], South Carolina]]
Two of Walker's tunebooks remain in print. Facsimiles of his ''[[Southern Harmony]]'' (1854 edition) continue in use at an annual singing in [[Benton, Kentucky]]. Until 2010, Walker's ''Christian Harmony'' existed in two editions: a facsimile reprint of the 1873 edition, and a revision by O.A. Parris and John Deason first published in 1958, employing the more familiar note-shapes of [[Jesse B. Aikin]].

In 2010, a combined version of the ''Christian Harmony'', known as the ''Georgia Christian Harmony'' or the ''Christian Harmony 2010'', was published, using Aikin's shape-note system. The ''Christian Harmony 2010'' incorporated the entire contents of both the 1873 edition and the 1958 Deason-Parris edition, plus a number of new songs.

Walker's compositions and arrangements are widely sung today by [[Sacred Harp]] singers as well as others. His work is represented by 13 songs in the current 1991 "Denson" edition of ''The Sacred Harp'', and by 12 in the "Cooper" edition. According to the collated minutes kept by the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fasola.org/minutes/|title=fasola.org - Sacred Harp and Shape Note singing|work=fasola.org|access-date=24 February 2015}}</ref> his song "Hallelujah" is sung more frequently at Sacred Harp conventions than is any other. The Walker songs are generally sung in four-part versions, with alto parts that were added by early 20th-century composers.