Born: Oc­to­ber 29, 1905, near Spi­ro, Ok­la­ho­ma.

Died: No­vem­ber 15, 1977, Spring­field, Mis­so­uri.

Died: In a cem­e­te­ry over­look­ing Mike’s Creek, nort­heast of Pow­ell, Mis­so­uri.

Brumley at­tend­ed the Hart­ford Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute in Hart­ford, Ar­kan­sas, and sang with the Hart­ford Quar­tet. He went on to teach at sing­ing schools in the Ozarks, and lived most of his life in Pow­ell, Mis­sou­ri. He re­cord­ed “I’ll Fly Away” (one of his most pop­u­lar songs) in 1931. He worked for 34 years a staff writ­er for the Hart­ford and Stamps/Bax­ter pub­lish­ing com­pan­ies, then found­ed the Al­bert E. Brum­ley & Sons Mu­sic Com­pa­ny and Coun­try Gen­tle­men Mu­sic, and bought the Hart­ford Mu­sic Com­pa­ny. He wrote over 800 Gos­pel and other songs dur­ing his life; the Count­ry Song Writ­ers Hall of Fame in­duct­ed him in 1970.

Sources

Hymns

1. Are You Half as Good a Christ­ian (© 1959)
2. Beautiful Mansions Are Waiting For Me (© 1967)
3. Blessed Jesus Loves You Too (© 1943)
4. Blood That Stained the Old Rugged Cross, The
5. Brother, I’ll Not Be Far Behind (© 1959)
6. Cabin in the Valley of the Pines (© 1940)
7. Camping on Canaanland (© 1937)
8. Closest Kin (© 1960)
9. Did You Ever Go Sailing (© 1938)
10. Far Away Places (© 1963)
11. Flowers in the Wildwood (© 1951)
12. Forbidden to Pass Thru the Beautiful Gate (© 1955)
13. Go Right Out (© 1942)
14. Good Time Is Coming, A (© 1941)
15. If We Never Meet Again
16. I’ll Fly Away
17. Sermon in Song, A (© 1954)