Musicians
- Carter Stanley — Lead Vocals, Guitar
- Bill Napier — Baritone Vocals, Guitar
- George Shuffler — Bass
- Ralph Stanley — Tenor Vocals
“I’ll Not Be a Stranger” is a bluegrass gospel song written by Carter and Ralph Stanley, the Virginia brothers whose stark, mountain-rooted harmony shaped early bluegrass. The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys recorded it around the end of the 1950s.
The song belongs to the large family of gospel numbers built on the image of heaven as a homecoming. Its title turns on the assurance that the believer, arriving in glory, will not be a stranger but will be welcomed among loved ones already gone before. Sung in the close, keening Stanley harmony, the simple promise carried real emotional weight.
The song has remained part of the bluegrass gospel repertoire and has been taken up by later traditional and string-band performers.
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