Albert E. Brumley

Albert E. Brumley (1905–1977) was a highly influential American gospel songwriter, composer, and music publisher whose work helped shape twentieth‑century Southern gospel music. He was born October 29, 1905, near Spiro, Oklahoma, into a sharecropping family, and he spent his early years working on the farm before pursuing music education at the Hartford Musical Institute in Hartford, Arkansas. There he studied under Eugene Monroe Bartlett and sang with the Hartford Quartet, laying the foundation for a lifetime dedicated to gospel song and ministry.

Brumley became one of the most prolific writers in the genre, composing well over 800 gospel songs that were widely published and sung in churches across the United States and around the world. After years as a staff writer for the Hartford and Stamps/Baxter publishing companies, he eventually founded the Albert E. Brumley & Sons Music Company and Country Gentlemen Music, and later acquired the Hartford Music Company. His work as a composer, teacher, and publisher made him a central figure in gospel music circles for more than three decades.

Among Brumley’s most beloved songs is “I’ll Fly Away,” written between 1929 and 1932 and now regarded as one of the most recorded gospel hymns of all time. The song expresses confident Christian hope in eternal life and has been embraced across denominations, frequently sung in worship services, at funerals, and in concerts. Other well‑known Brumley compositions include “I’ll Meet You in the Morning,” “Turn Your Radio On,” “This World Is Not My Home,” “Jesus, Hold My Hand,” and “If We Never Meet Again (This Side of Heaven).” Many of these continue to appear in hymnals and gospel songbooks decades after their publication. 

Brumley married Goldie Edith Schell in 1931, and they made their home in Powell, Missouri, raising six children together while he continued his musical work. His contributions were recognized with inductions into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Albert E. Brumley died November 15, 1977, in Springfield, Missouri, leaving a legacy as one of the most enduring and celebrated figures in American gospel music.