Hymns of the Cross captures the Stanley Brothers — Ralph and Carter Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys — in a sacred recording for King Records from 1964, near the end of their joint career. Carter Stanley would die in 1966, and the sacred material the brothers recorded in their final years carries a particular weight in retrospect. The album draws on the tradition of southern Appalachian gospel, shaped by the Primitive Baptist and Pentecostal church music both brothers had grown up hearing. "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be" is a standard of that tradition, and the Stanleys treat it with the modal directness that distinguished their secular recordings as well. Ralph's high baritone and Carter's lead formed one of the most distinctive vocal partnerships in bluegrass, and the sacred albums they made for King preserve that partnership in repertoire that mattered deeply to both musicians and their core audience in the Virginia and West Virginia coalfields.
Tracklist
- 1 John, Three:Sixteen 1:59
- 2 I Just Dropped By 2:17
- 3 Will the Circle be Unbroken alt version 2:37
- 4 How Beautiful Heaven Must Be Source Recording 2:36
- 5 He's Passing This Way 3:01
- 6 Oh Death alt version 3:02
- 7 Shoutin’ on the Hills of Glory alt version 2:54
- 8 No Burdens Pass Through 2:59
- 9 Jesus Savior, Pilot Me 2:45
- 10 Beautiful Star of Bethlehem alt version 3:51
- 11 A Crown He Wore 2:03
- 12 Building On That Rock 2:21
