Unclouded Day: A Song History

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"The Unclouded Day" was written by Josiah K. Alwood (1828–1909), an Ohio-born minister of the United Brethren in Christ who spent years as a circuit rider on horseback, holding revival meetings and serving as a presiding elder in the church's North Ohio Conference.[1] When the denomination split in 1889, he sided with those who held to its original constitution.[1] A United Brethren history, drawing on an account by Alwood's son, says he wrote the song in 1879 while living in Morenci, Michigan.[2] Riding home around midnight from a debate with a Seventh-day Adventist minister, he saw a rainbow cast by moonlight on a passing shower, which left him with what he called "a feeling of solemn joy." He woke the next morning with the start of a song in his head, and over the following two days he completed it, picking out the tune on the family's Estey organ.[2]

Painting of a calm lake and wooded hills under a wide, bright sky with light clouds

John Frederick Kensett, Lake George, oil on canvas, 1872. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0).

The same account says that the singing teacher J. F. Kinsey asked to arrange the song for publication, and that the family never earned anything from it.[2] Hymnary.org dates the hymn to 1885, which SecondHandSongs gives as its year of publication.[3][4] Hymnary.org ties its picture of a cloudless heavenly home to passages in the closing chapters of Revelation and lists it in 280 hymnals.[3]

On record, the Smoky Mountain Sacred Singers cut "Unclouded Day" for Vocalion on June 1, 1927.[5] Its best-known recording came from the Staple Singers, who recorded it for Chicago's Vee-Jay label in the mid-1950s as "Uncloudy Day."[6][7] Opening with Pops Staples's trademark vibrato-soaked guitar, it became the family's first hit and opened the way to national tours.[6][7] Willie Nelson made it the opening track of his 1976 gospel album The Troublemaker, which reached No. 1 on the country album chart.[8]

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Sources

  1. Hymnary.org: "J. K. Alwood".
  2. UBCentral (Church of the United Brethren in Christ): "On This Day in UB History: July 15 (The Unclouded Day)".
  3. Hymnary.org: "The Unclouded Day".
  4. SecondHandSongs: "Uncloudy Day written by J. K. Alwood".
  5. Honking Duck: "Smoky Mountain Sacred Singers: A Discography".
  6. Premier Guitar: "Forgotten Heroes: Pops Staples".
  7. Memphis Music Hall of Fame: "The Staple Singers".
  8. Willie Nelson (official site): "The Troublemaker".