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Bright Morning Stars
Traditional Gospel song arranged Ralph Stanley;
ARTIST: Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys on February 23, 1971- "Cry From the Cross.
SHEET MUSIC: http://books.google.com/books?id=gfh0Ki1uwMwC&pg=PA220&dq=Bright+morning+stars+are+rising&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&cd=1
YOUTUBE: The Wailin' Jennys - Bright Morning Stars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fq6lCcAkpU
Gillian Welsh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PVGlWKXMLU&feature=related
CATEGORY: Traditional And Shape-Note Gospel;
DATE: Probably 1800s; St. Helena's Island 1924
RECORDING INFO: Bright Morning Stars (Are Rising)
Mf - Bright Morning Star
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p143
County Down. Living in the Country, Fretless 165, LP (1983), trk# B.06
Diller, Dwight. New Plowed Ground, Diller, CD (1998), trk# 1
Freight Hoppers. Where'd You Come From, Where'd You Go?, Rounder 0403, CD (1996), trk# 16
Harris, Emmylou. Angel Band, Warner 22585, Cas (1987), trk# A.05
Pennywhistlers. Cool Day and Crooked Corn, Nonesuch H-72024, LP (197?), trk# B.03
Saletan, Tony and Irene. Tony and Irene Saletan, Folk Legacy FSI 037, LP (1970), trk# B.01
Saletan, Tony and Irene. Raim, Ethel and Josh Duncan (eds.) / Grass Roots Harmony, Oak, Sof (1968), p70
Seeger Family. American Folk Songs for Christmas, Rounder 0268/0269, LP (1989), trk# 5
Simmons, Jean and Tommy. Music of the Ozarks, National Geographic Soc. 0703, LP (1972), trk# 10
Traum, Happy. Bright Morning Star, Greenhays GR 703, LP (1980), trk# B.06
Tucker, George. George Tucker, Rounder 0064, LP (1976), trk# 20
Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys on February 23, 1971- "Cry From the Cross.
Swan Arcade 'Bright Morning Star'
Incredible String Band- live acappella version
Emmylou Harris/ From the album: Angel Band Warner Bros Records 7599 25585-2 (1987)
Library of Congress has a recording, one of twelve tracks, Call Number Greenhays GR703. It is sung by Happy Traum, issued 1980.
OTHER NAMES: "Bright Morning Stars Are Rising" "Bright Morning Star A-Rising"
RELATED TO: We Have Fathers Gone to Heaven
SOURCES: Folk Index; Mudcat, Ruth Crawford Seeger's American Folk Songs for Christmas, 1953
NOTES: "Bright Morning Stars" is a traditional gospel song recorded by Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys on February 23, 1971 on "Cry From the Cross."
"Bright Morning Stars" appears in Ruth Crawford Seeger's "American Folk Songs for Christmas" (Doubleday, 1953), where she credits it to "AAFS 1379 A1." In other words, she got the song from the Archive of American Folksong at the Library of Congress. I assume that "1379 A1" identifies the original field recording. The source is identified as "Kentucky." There are two Library of Congress recordings:
A 1934 recording of singers Walter & Lola Caldwell, Ashland, Kentucky (See: Bright and Morning Stars- a different song)
A 1940 recording sung by Elizabeth Carter of Norton, Virginia
The song also appears on the Folkways LP of the same title (American Folk Songs for Christmas, FC 7553), "Sung and played by her daughters Peggy, Barbara, and Penny, assisted by a group of children from the South Boston Music School."
In 1968, Robin Christenson rediscovered the song in the Seeger book and arranged it for four voices. Robin & Ellen Christenson and Tony & Irene Saletan (Ellen and Irene were -- still are -- the Kossoy Sisters) sang it at the 1968 Fox Hollow Festival, where it was picked up by many other singers. It rapidly entered the common repertoire. Within a few years, it was recorded by The Pennywhistlers, The Young Tradition and on Tony & Irene's Folk Legacy LP.
"The song was collected from the people of St. Helena Island, South Carolina, and was originally published in a 1925 collection of spirituals by N. G. J. Balanta-Taylor, through the Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School. It is a gem both lyrically and melodically, beginning "Watch the stars, see how they run."
Jean Ritchie: "I have indeed known, "Bright Morning Stars" for years, but I believe that the first time I heard it was either 1949 or 1950. I was one of the singer/dancers at the first Southern Highlander Handicraft Fairs, in Ashville, NC. Wasn't married then, but this handsome young photographer from NY was following me around (we married in September of 1950). He had a tape recorder, and our fiddler for the dancing was Clarence Farrell from Tennessee, so George recorded many of his tunes- a most wonderful fiddler. Finally I asked if he knew any songs, and he propped his fiddle down on his arm, played the melody very softly, and sang along with it,
Bright morning stars are shining,
Bright morning stars are shining,
Bright morning stars are shining-
There is a breakin in my soul!
His verses were the ones, "O where are are dear fathers?" "They are down in the valley praying..." then, "dear mothers" "They have gone to Heaven shouting..." etc., ending up with the repeat of "Bright morning stars are shining." I think that George only recorded the very first chorus, sung to the fiddle. Then Clarence gave us the other words, just spoken (I guess George was saving tape!). I still have that recording somewhere.
I'm guessing that his use of the word, "shining, instead of "rising" and also his last line, "There is a breakin" instead of "Day is a-breakin" was just a case of hearing another singer and misunderstanding some of the words. But, "shining" is OK with me, and I shiver with joy at, "There is a breakin in my soul!"
More Notes: It was included in the Young Tradition compilation Odds and Ends, and in the Peter Bellamy retrospective Wake the Vaulted Echoes, where it bears the title "Bright Morning Star". The booklet for WTVE says simply "Source: Traditional hymn", and Heather Wood added, "We learned this in Washington DC during one of our tours." A further note states: It sounds the same both as "Bright Morning Star's A-rising" and as "Bright Morning Stars A-Rising". Singers and collectors would not necessarily know either.
Bright Morning Stars- Ralph Stanley
"Bright Morning Star" Ralph Stanley "Clinch Mountain Country,"
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
There is a-breakin' in my soul.
Oh where are our dear fathers
Oh where are our dear fathers
They're down in the valley a-praying
There is a-breakin' in my soul.
Oh where are our dear mothers
Oh where are our dear mothers
They've gone to heaven a shoutin
There is a-breakin' in my soul
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
Bright morning stars are rising
There is a-breakin' in my soul
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