The Song Index features over 150,000 citations that lead users to over 2,100 song books spanning more than a century, from the 1880s to the 1990s. The songs cited represent a multitude of musical practices, cultures, and traditions, ranging from ehtnic to regional, from foreign to American, representing every type of song: popular, folk, children's, political, comic, advertising, protest, patriotic, military, and classical, as well as hymns, spirituals, ballads, arias, choral symphonies, and other larger works. This comprehensive volume also includes a bibliography of the books indexed; an index of sources from which the songs originated; and an alphabetical composer index.

During the American Civil War, songs united and inspired people on both sides. The North had a well-established music publishing industry when the war broke out, but the South had no such industry. The importance of music as an expression of the South's beliefs was obvious; as one music publisher said, "The South must not only fight her own battles but sing her own songs and dance to music composed by her own children." Southern entrepreneurs quickly rose to the challenge. This reference book is distinguished by three major differences from previously published works. First, it lists sheet music that is no longer extant (and listed nowhere else). Second, it gives complete lyrics for all extant songs, a rich source for researchers. And third, a brief historical background has been provided for many of the songs. Each entry provides as much of the following as possible (staying faithful to the typography of each title page): the title as published, names of all lyricists, composers and publishers; dates of publication; cities of publication; and if applicable, the names of catalogs or magazines in which the song appeared. Music published in Southern cities under Federal occupation is excluded.