“Lord Build Me a Cabin in Glory” is a gospel song written by Curtis Stewart, an Alabama songwriter, in the 1940s. The song’s homely central image — the believer asking not for a heavenly mansion but only for a humble cabin in glory, near loved ones already there — gave it a warmth that set it apart.
The song was recorded by gospel quartets in the late 1940s and spread quickly. It became one of the most widely sung gospel numbers in the country; by one account it stood alongside Albert Brumley’s “I’ll Fly Away” as among the two best-known gospel songs in America, and it was recorded by a long line of country and gospel artists, Hank Williams among them.
The song carried easily into bluegrass gospel, suited to the close quartet harmony of the form.
