When Danks was eight years old, his fam­i­ly moved to Sar­a­to­ga Springs, New York, where he stu­died mu­sic with Dr. L. E. Whit­ing. Lat­er, Danks worked as a car­pen­ter in his fa­ther’s con­struc­tion bus­i­ness for while, but short­ly be­gan a full time mu­sic ca­reer: com­pos­ing, sing­ing, and lead­ing chor­al groups. In 1864, he moved to New York City. In 1892, he pub­lished Su­per­i­or An­thems for Church Choirs. The next year, he pub­lished his best known song, Sil­ver Threads Among the Gold (words by Eben E. Rexford), which sold over three mil­lion copies. Hav­ing sold the rights to it, though, he died pen­ni­less in a board­ing house. His last writ­ten words: “It’s hard to die alone.”

Sources

Hymns

1. Not Ashamed of Christ, 1893

Music

1. Delphine
2. Happy Faces
3. Hark! He Is Calling
4. Little Children, Come Away
5. Lord in Zion Reigneth, The
6. No Night There
7. Singing, Light and Free
8. Trifle Not