James W. Acuff
Musician · 1864–1937 · Freestone County, Texas
Best known for
Songwriter
James W. Acuff was a Texas-born gospel-song lyricist and Churches of Christ singing-school teacher whose 1906 lyric “Just Over in the Glory Land,” set to Emmett S. Dean’s tune, became one of the most-recorded gospel songs of the twentieth century and a fixture of bluegrass and country-gospel sets to this day.
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- Born James Warren Acuff on January 4, 1864, in Freestone County, Texas.
- Devoted nearly fifty years to sacred-music teaching and hymnbook compilation in Texas Churches of Christ congregations.
- Wrote the lyric to “Just Over in the Glory Land” in 1906; the song was first published that year in the songbook Glad Hosannas, which he co-compiled.
- Emmett S. Dean set the lyric to its familiar tune (sometimes titled “Gloryland”).
- The song has been recorded by Roy Acuff, the Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Larry Sparks, and many other country and bluegrass-gospel acts.
- Died in 1937.
