Northern Neck Chantey Singers

he African American tradition of chantey-singing is being kept alive by the Northern Neck Chantey Singers, former watermen who perform around the country. We are fortunate that seven of the members of this group, led by Elton Smith, Jr. of Shacklefords, Virginia, carry on this storied singing tradition, keeping these chanteys alive.

October 4, 2010; 11:17 AM • by RVANews staff

Menhaden Fishing Chanteys

Menhaden fishing has been a significant economic engine on Virginia’s Northern Neck since shortly after the Civil War. Menhaden are bony, oily fish in the herring family. Unfit for human consumption, they have had many practical uses in products such as fertilizer and animal feed, paint, cat food, and fingernail polish. Reedville, Virginia, has long been the center of the menhaden processing industry, although the industry has declined in recent years. Menhaden travel in large schools and are most efficiently caught in nets. Traditionally, the work of pulling up these large heavy nets was carried out predominately by African American crews, hauling thousands of tons of menhaden every year. Drawing upon the deeply-rooted African American work song tradition employed for many types of manual labor, the workers accompanied the back-breaking hauling with call-and-response-style singing. These work songs, known as chanteys, provided the net workers with energy, camaraderie, distraction, and spiritual encouragement. In the mid-twentieth century, hydraulic power blocks to pull up the nets replaced the large fishing crews and eclipsed the unique musical tradition that accompanied their work. The African American tradition of chantey-singing is being kept alive by the Northern Neck Chantey Singers, former watermen who perform around the country. We are fortunate that seven of the members of this group, led by Elton Smith, Jr. of Shacklefords, Virginia, carry on this storied singing tradition, keeping these chanteys alive.