Albert Brumley was born on a farm near Spiro, Indian Territory, in October 1905. His parents were poor sharecroppers, raising their children and eking out a meager living working on a cotton farm that they did not own.

The Brumleys were also devoutly religious and musically talented – attributes that helped shape Albert’s future and became significant parts of his makeup for his entire life.

Albert’s father liked to play a fiddle and his mother often led the entire family in singing songs to entertain themselves while at home. The family also enjoyed singing in the nearby Church of Christ that they attended.

When Albert grew up, he decided that he wanted to study music and perhaps make it his life’s work. At the age of 20, he walked 28 miles from his parents’ home to the town of Hartford, Arkansas.

Albert had heard that there was a music school in the town, and he hoped to be able to attend. When he arrived in Hartford, Albert had no money, but E. M. Bartlett – the owner of the school – allowed Albert to attend and work his way through what Bartlett called the Hartford Music Institute.

The school specialized in gospel music. Bartlett and several people he had contracted with wrote gospel songs and collected them into hymnals that they sold to churches all over the country to finance the business.

Consequently, Albert, too, began composing songs while a student at the institute. Bartlett published Albert’s first song in 1927.

Albert also helped with a traveling “singing school” that Bartlett used to publicize his business and to teach the songs he published to people who wanted to buy the books in which they were printed.

Meanwhile, gospel singers often came to Hartford to visit Bartlett’s school looking for new compositions that they could record and sing in their concerts.

Eventually, Albert Brumley graduated from Bartlett’s school and moved on with his life. That included getting married, raising a family, and continuing to write gospel songs – as we will see next week.