Albert E Brumley Biography

Albert E. Brumley was born on a cotton farm in Indian Territory near what is now Spiro, Oklahoma on October 29, 1905. Before his songwriting career flourished, he attended the Old Hartford Musical Institute in Hartford, Arkansas and sang with the Hartford Quartet. Later he taught singing schools in various parts of the Ozarks. He met his future wife, Goldie Edith Schell, at one of those schools in Powell, Missouri. They were married in 1931 and continued to live in Powell, where they raised their six children.

Albert had been writing music for a number of years, mostly for his own pleasure. Without the support of his wife Goldie, the world may not know of Albert E. Brumley. She is the one that encouraged him to submit songs for publication. In July 1932, Albert E. Brumley sent the song “I’ll Fly Away” to the Hartford Music Company. Goldie was right and the Hartford Music Company published the song in their book “The Wonderful Message.”

“I’ll Fly Away” was actually composed in 1929. He recalled that he was picking cotton and singing the popular song “If I Had The Wings Of An Angel.” Suddenly he thought about flying away. Albert once said “Actually, I was dreaming of flying away from that cotton field when I wrote “I’ll Fly Away.” That thought, like the thoughts that underlay in many of his songs, was based upon his own deep spiritual convictions.

“I’ll Fly Away” began to gain national recognition and many other publishers had asked to publish the song in their church songbooks. That paved the way for Albert to leave his job in his father-in-law’s General Store and become a full time writer for the Hartford Music Company.

In 1942, Albert started Albert E. Brumley & Sons Music Publishing. He purchased the Hartford Music Company in 1948 and regained the copyrights of some of his earlier writings. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1998.

Although “I’ll Fly Away” was Albert E. Brumley’s most recorded and well-known song, most people don’t realize that he wrote over 800 songs in his 40 plus year career.

Albert E. Brumley died on November 15, 1977 at the age of 72, but his music lives on today. Most recently on the Oscar nominated Soundtrack for the movie “O Brother, where art thou?” staring George Clooney, and in December 2008 in the movie “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button” staring Brad Pitt.

©2006-2011 Brumley Entertainment

Listen to Albert E. Brumley describe how he thought of the song “I’ll Fly Away”.

Albert E. Brumley at his Piano.

Albert E. Brumley

Albert E. Brumley posing for a picture to be used on an album cover.