The McIntosh County Shouters are renowned for preserving the authentic tradition of ring shout, one of the oldest forms of African American cultural and religious expressions.

Originating on plantations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and often biblical in nature, the songs and vignettes created out in the fields could range from spirituals to talking about a child's illness or even the death of a loved one.

Call-and-response, cries, hollers, blue notes and rhythmic aspects of ring shout have been credited with laying the foundation for black music styles through the present day.