The Old Country Church: A Song History

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"The Old Country Church" is a gospel song whose words and music are both credited to J. W. Vaughan, with the text signed by his initials and a copyright date of 1933.[1] That year it was printed as number 50 in Sweet Heaven, a songbook meant for Sunday schools, singing schools, revivals and conventions, edited by James D. Vaughan and issued from his music publishing business in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.[1][2] Hymnary.org gives the writer's full name as John Whitfield Vaughan, known as Whit, and records him as born in Alabama in 1879 and dying in Tennessee in 1945.[3][4]

Old photograph of a two-storey brick church among tall bare trees, with men on horseback in front

Unknown photographer, [Falls Church, Virginia], albumen silver print from glass negative, 1861–65. An old brick church in rural Virginia photographed in the 1860s, shown for the song's title; the photograph has no connection to the song.

The song stayed in gospel songbooks for decades: Hymnary.org counts eighteen printings of the text, among them Gospel Praise (1951), Good Songs (1960), a collection pitched at radio and television singing, and a 2016 Best of Southern Gospel.[4][5][6] Ralph Stanley opened and named his 1971 Rebel Records album with it, crediting Vaughan as the writer.[7] It is a different piece from an earlier hymn of the same title by Elisha A. Hoffman, which Hymnary.org finds in three hymnals dated 1879 to 1895.[8] Dana Gruber includes Vaughan's song, credited to him, in Grace, a collection of hymns and reflective pieces tabbed for mountain dulcimer with guitar chords, published by Fingers Of Steel.[9]

Our book that contains the song "The Old Country Church"

Sources

  1. Hymnary.org: "50. The Old Country Church" (Sweet Heaven, 1933).
  2. Hymnary.org: "Sweet Heaven: for Sunday-schools, singing-schools, revivals, conventions and general use".
  3. Hymnary.org: "J. W. Vaughan".
  4. Hymnary.org: "The Old Country Church" (text).
  5. Hymnary.org: "90. The Old Country Church" (Gospel Praise, 1951).
  6. Hymnary.org: "133. The Old Country Church" (Good Songs, 1960).
  7. Clinch Mountain Echo: "Ralph Stanley, Old Country Church (Rebel SLP 1508)".
  8. Hymnary.org: "The old country church" (Elisha A. Hoffman).
  9. Fingers Of Steel: "Dana Gruber, Grace".
  10. Image: Unknown photographer, [Falls Church, Virginia], albumen silver print from glass negative, 1861–65. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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