Mack Wilberg has few peers as an arranger of American folk hymns, so it was fitting that one of Wilberg's first tasks after being named music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir last year was to oversee the recording of "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," an album of American folk hymns and spirituals. The disc hits stores March 24, and it's one of the choir's strongest.

The album is unusual, Wilberg said, in that he determined the sequence before the choir and Orchestra at Temple Square recorded the music. "I planned for continuity and flow, hoping it might be a little bit of a journey" for the listener, he said.

He acknowledged that narrowing his favorite hymns down to 17 tracks was a challenge. In addition to Tabernacle Choir favorites such as Moses Hogan's arrangement of "The Battle of Jericho" and Wilberg's signature arrangement of "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," the album includes three tunes he had long wanted to arrange: "His Voice as the Sound," "How Bright Is the Day" and "Softly and Tenderly."

Most of the selections come from well-known hymn collections such as "Southern Harmony" and "The Sacred Harp"; there are also a handful of spirituals, a genre that the liner notes call a "close cousin" of the folk hymn. Rousing anthems such as "Saints Bound for Heaven" and "Bound for the Promised Land" alternate with serene and plaintive hymns such as "My Song in the Night" and "Softly and Tenderly." The choir and orchestra perform with conviction throughout. Choir member Alex Boye delivers impassioned solos on two of the spirituals; bagpipers from the Wasatch District & Pipe Band are featured on "Amazing Grace."