Musicians
- Ralph Stanley — Lead Vocals
- Roy Lee Centers — Baritone Vocals, Guitar
- Jack Cooke — Tenor Vocals
- Keith Whitley — Bass Vocals
“Bright Morning Stars” is a traditional Appalachian spiritual. An obituary of 1917 for Elder Elias A. Stamey recorded that he sang it at the end of his life: “Bright morning stars arising, day is breaking in my soul.” In September 1937 Alan Lomax and Elizabeth Lyttleton recorded G. D. Vowell singing it, as “Bright Moving Stars Are Rising,” in Harlan County, Kentucky. The Library of Congress’s note on the field recording said its words are typical of the shape-note hymn, especially in the address to the singer’s departed relatives: father, mother, and so forth.
In the verses as commonly sung, the stars are rising and day is breaking in the soul; where are our dear fathers? They are down in the valley praying. Where are our dear mothers? They have gone up to heaven shouting. Each verse returns to the same line about day breaking in the soul.
Ruth Crawford Seeger printed it in her book American Folk Songs for Christmas (Doubleday, 1953), citing the Archive of American Folk Song, and her daughters Peggy, Barbara and Penny Seeger recorded it in 1957 for an album of the same title on Scholastic Records. The Young Tradition sang it at their farewell concert, released on The Folk Trailer (1970). Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys recorded it on 23 February 1971 at Roy Homer & Associates in Clinton, Maryland, for the Rebel LP Cry from the Cross. Emmylou Harris recorded it for Angel Band (Warner Bros., July 1987), with Vince Gill, Carl Jackson and Emory Gordy Jr. singing with her, and Abigail Washburn put it on City of Refuge in 2011. The Wailin’ Jennys took it as the title of their 2011 album Bright Morning Stars.
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