A Voice From on High

By:Bill Monroe · Source Recording: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (1999)Song details

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I hear a voice callin'
(it must be our Lord) it must be it must be our Lord
It's comin' from heaven on high
I hear a voice callin'
(I've gained a reward) I've gained I've gained a reward
For the land where we never shall die

The Savior has paid a great price for me
He gave His life on Calvary
So I'll follow his footsteps up the narrow way
And be ready to meet Him when He calls on that day

He died on the cross the old rugged cross
That we would be saved from sin and not lost
So I'll follow His footsteps up the narrow way
That'll pay our debts on that great judgment day

Tempo BPM

Key E Time Waltz

Chorus

Verse

Waltz

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By:Bill Monroe · Source Recording:Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (1999)

Song Details

Songwriter

Bill Monroe

First Release

The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys (1954)

Genres

Traditional Bluegrass Gospel

Themes

Faith/Praise

Jam Popularity

History

Bill Monroe wrote “A Voice from on High” with Bessie Lee Mauldin, the North Carolina singer who played bass with his Blue Grass Boys from 1953 to 1964, and the records credit it to the two of them. Monroe did not record it first. According to Tom Ewing’s biography of Monroe, he gave the song to the Stanley Brothers in September 1953 to mark their signing with Mercury Records.

The Stanleys cut it on 25 November 1953 at Bradley Studio in Nashville, with Jim Williams on mandolin, Ralph Mayo on fiddle and John Shuffler on bass. In the trio, Ralph Stanley sang a high lead, with Shuffler under him on a low tenor and Carter Stanley on baritone. Mercury issued it in 1954 as the B-side of “I Long to See the Old Folks” (Mercury 70340), and in 1958 it appeared on the LP Country Pickin’ and Singin’.

Monroe’s own recording followed in January 1954, at the session that also produced “I’m Working on a Building” and “He Will Set Your Fields on Fire.” Jimmy Martin sang lead, Monroe tenor and Charlie Cline baritone. Monroe played mandolin, Jimmy Martin and Grady Martin guitars, Rudy Lyle banjo, Cline fiddle and Ernie Newton bass. Decca put it out in December 1954 on the other side of “I’m Working on a Building” (Decca 29348). In 1969 the song gave its name to A Voice from on High, Decca’s LP of Monroe gospel recordings from 1950 to 1955.

The chorus is written for echoing voices. The lead hears “a voice callin’” from heaven and the others answer “it must be our Lord.” The singer has gained a reward in “the land where we never shall die.” The verses go back to the Crucifixion: the Savior paid “a great price” on Calvary and died on “the old rugged cross,” so the singer means to follow his footsteps “up the narrow way” and be ready when he calls on judgment day.

The song spread well beyond Monroe’s circle. The Grateful Dead closed the acoustic set of their late show at the Fillmore East in New York on 15 May 1970 with it, and the performance came out in 2010 on Road Trips Volume 3 Number 3. Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys recorded it in December 1978 in Newton, Massachusetts, for Bound to Ride (Rounder, 1979). In 1999 Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder included it on Soldier of the Cross, with Skaggs singing lead and Paul Brewster and Darrin Vincent on harmony. Ry Cooder heard Petra, Rachel and Tanya Haden sing it at a show they played with his son Joachim. He went on to produce their first album as the Haden Triplets, which Third Man Records issued in 2014 with the song on it.