There were many people involved in shape-note traditions in the Shenandoah Valley throughout the nineteenth century, some of them are listed below. Some of them were music teachers, sometimes called traveling singing masters, music compilers, composers, and editors. Some of them were also businessmen and book salesmen and used their business skills to create music companies throughout the valley and the United States. These are a few of the names mentioned in the documents located in the shape-note collection on Histories Along the Blue Ridge. There are many other key contributors to shape-note music traditions in the Shenandoah Valley and these are only a few of them.

Ananias Davisson  published Kentucky Harmony in 1816 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Kentucky Harmony is generally considered the first shape-note songbook published in the Southern United States and was a foundation for many of the following shape-note hymnals in the 1800s. He later moved near Grottoes, Virginia about 14.5 miles away from Harrisonburg and became a farmer there.

Joseph Funk (1778–1862) was a music teacher, publisher, and an early American shape-note music composer. He belonged to the Mennonite Church. In 1847, he established the first Mennonite printing house in the United States, at Mountain Valley, Virginia (renamed Singers Glen in 1860). Funk and his sons were active in organizing and teaching many singing schools in Virginia.

Aldine Silliman Kieffer was the grandson of Joseph Funk. He got his start in music early on in life from his parents and went on to be one of the founders of the Ruebush-Kieffer Company.

Ephraim Ruebush was the grandson-in-law of Joseph Funk. He was one of the founders of the Ruebush-Kieffer Company.