Center For Church Music, Songs & Hymns
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NETTLETON
The hymn tune NETTLETON, to which we sing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" was first published as a new tune without any composer listed in John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, published in 1813. Originally, the tune was called HALLELUJAH or GOOD SHEPHERD.
It has been attributed to Wyeth (1770-1858), a printer by trade, who was known in the history of hymnody as a compiler and publisher of early shape-note tune books. However there is no evidence that he also wrote music, as he was not himself a musician.
NETTLETON has also been attributed to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), who was a well-known evangelist of the early nineteenth century for whom it was named. Nettleton published Village Hymns (1825), but this compilation had no music and there is no indication that Nettleton wrote any tunes at any time.