“Old Daniel Prayed” — usually titled simply “Daniel Prayed” — is a gospel song credited to G.T. Speer, the patriarch of the Speer Family gospel group. It was introduced on record by the Bailes Brothers in 1951.
The lyric retells the Old Testament story of the prophet Daniel, who kept praying to God three times a day even after the king decreed that prayer punishable by death — and who was delivered, unharmed, from the lions’ den. That tale of steadfast faith under threat made a natural and stirring gospel song.
The song passed quickly into bluegrass gospel. The version heard here is by the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys, who recorded it in 1959; sung in the brothers’ close mountain harmony, it became one of the better-known Daniel songs in the bluegrass sacred repertoire.
