Albert E. Brumley

Induction Year: 1970

Birth Name: Albert Edward Brumley

Birth Date: 10-29-1905

Place of Birth: Spiro, Oklahoma

Death Date: 11-15-1977

Place of Death: Springfield, Missouri

A member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Albert E. Brumley initially worked as a songwriter for the Hartford and Stamps-Baxter companies, but eventually established his own powerful song-publishing business in small-town Powell, Missouri.

He wrote some of the most recorded songs in gospel music, including "I'll Fly Away" and "Turn Your Radio On." His gospel standards have been recorded not only by gospel groups but also by numerous country and bluegrass artists.

Albert E. Brumley was raised on an Oklahoma cotton farm. From 1926 to 1931, he was enrolled at the Hartford Academy of Music in Hartford, Arkansas. He learned to write his first songs there, publishing them in Hartford songbooks. Many of his classics were first printed at this time.

Brumley worked as an itinerant singing-school teacher during the 1930s in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. He quit teaching to concentrate on songwriting, signing with the Stamps-Baxter gospel publishing company in 1936.

He published his own first songbook in 1937, Albert E. Brumley's Book of Radio Favorites. He formed the Albert E. Brumley Music Company in 1943, and in 1948 he purchased the Hartford firm, gaining full control of his copyrights. His company continues to be run by Brumley family members.

In addition to many recordings by traditional gospel artists, Brumley songs have been popularized by Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Ray Stevens, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, George Jones, Elvis Presley, Charley Pride, Merle Haggard and many other mainstream stars. "I'll Fly Away" alone has been recorded more than 500 times.

He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1972 and into the Ozark Hall of Fame in 1986.

Sons Tom, Al and Jack Brumley all became prominent in the country music business. Tom Brumley (1935-2009) was the longtime steel guitarist in Buck Owens' band, the Buckaroos. Jack has been an artist manager, a publisher and a promoter. Albert E. Brumley Jr. is a gospel recording artist who has recorded dozens of his father's classics.
 

"By the Side of the Road"

The Country Gentlemen1971 
The Seldom Scene1978 
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver1986 
Mac Wiseman2001 
 

"Did You Ever Go Sailing"

LuluBelle & Scotty1939 
Statesmen with Hovie Lister1958 
The Lewis Family1977 
Jim & Jesse1987 
Bill & Gloria Gaither1999 
 

"He Set Me Free"

The Chuck Wagon Gang1941 
The Louvin Brothers1963 
Connie Smith1966 
Wet Willie1975 
Charley Pride2006 
 

"I'd Like to Go Back"

LuluBelle & Scotty1939 
 

"I'd Rather Be an Old-Time Christian"

The Mount Vernon Quartet1934 
The Chuck Wagon Gang1961 

"I'll Fly Away"

The Humbard Family1940 
The Browns Ferry Four1946 
The Chuck Wagon Gang1949 
Faron Young1957 
Webb Pierce1959 
Jim Reeves1962 
Roy Acuff1963 
George Jones1965 
Chet Atkins1966 
Porter Wagoner1967 
Jerry Lee Lewis1970 
Loretta Lynn1970 
Tammy Wynette1986 
Ray Price1987 
The Statler Brothers1989 
Willie Nelson1992 
Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch2000 soundtrack O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Randy Travis2003 
Johnny Cash2004 
Kanye West2004 
Alan Jackson2006 
Ronnie Milsap2009 
 

"I'll Meet You in the Morning"

Whitmire's Blue Sky Trio1937 
Whitey & Hogan1939 
Statesmen with Hovie Liste1958 
Bill Monroe1959 
Webb Pierce1959 
The Chuck Wagon Gang1966 
Grandpa Jones1976 
 

"I'm Bound for That City"

The Blackwood Brothers1957 
The Chuck Wagon Gang1959 
The Speer Family1960 
 

"I've Found a Hiding Place"

The Chuck Wagon Gang1940 
Statesmen with Hovie Lister1958 
Bill Monroe1959 

"If We Never Meet Again"

The Browns Ferry Four1946 
Elvis Presley1960 
Johnny Cash1962 
The Stanley Brothers1963 
Ernest Tubb1963 
Porter Wagoner1966 
Merle Haggard1971 
Tony Bennett & K. D. Lang2002 

"Jesus Hold My Hand"

The Prairie Ramblers1935 
The Chuck Wagon Gang1941 
The Browns Ferry Four1947 
Statesmen with Hovie Lister1958 
Bill Monroe1959 
Merle Haggard1971 
Vern Gosdin1995 
George Jones2003 
Blind Boys of Alabama2011 
 

"Nobody Answered Me"

Albert E. Brumley Jr.1987 
Johnny Russell2002 
Charley Pride2006 

"Rank Strangers to Me"

The Stanley Brothers1960 
Porter Wagoner1967 
Tom T. Hall1976 
Bob Dylan1988 
 

"The Sweetest Song I Know"

The Chuck Wagon Gang1975 
The Happy Goodman Family1985 
 

"There's a Little Pine Log Cabin"

The Stamps Quartet1938 
LuluBelle & Scotty1939 
Statesmen with Hovie Lister1958 

"Turn Your Radio On"

LuluBelle & Scotty1939 
The Blue Sky Boys1940 
Roy Acuff1963 
Merle Haggard1971 
Ray Stevens1972 #17 country, #63 pop
B. J. Thomas1995 
Andy Griffith1996 
Randy Travis2003 

Albert E. Brumley

Induction Year: 1970