At every step of the music industry's evolution, from songbooks to sheet music to radio to vinyl, Amazing Grace benefitted. "There's an element of serendipity at every point," says Walvin.

BALABAN: Reginald Golding, the music director of the Howard Gospel Choir at Howard University, says it's not surprising, then, that "Amazing Grace" would become a staple of the civil rights movement.

Many people think they know the story of the hymn,"Amazing Grace ... Drawing from a broad swath of sources, including published sheet music and personal diaries, Walvin's book is a testament ...

How did that come about? The music that we associate with “Amazing Grace” today is not what people sang for 60 years after Newton wrote it in (December) 1772. We know from the Lomax family ...

At every step of the music industry's evolution, from songbooks to sheet music to radio to vinyl, Amazing Grace benefitted. "There's an element of serendipity at every point," says Walvin.