“Shine Hallelujah Shine” is credited to Bill Monroe. He recorded it with his Blue Grass Quartet on 28 October 1947 at the CBS studio of radio station WBBM in Chicago, with Art Satherley producing, at the same session that produced “Molly and Tenbrooks.” Lester Monroe sang tenor, Earl Scruggs baritone and Howard Watts bass. Behind the voices were only Monroe’s mandolin and the guitar of Chubby Wise, the band’s fiddler. Columbia issued it on 26 January 1948, coupled with “I’m Travelin’ On and On” from the same session.
The verses tell of a man lost in sin and without guidance until the Saviour’s promise reaches him. He takes Jesus as his shelter and guide, and he admits that believers carry many troubles along the way. The refrain, with the other voices answering the lead, looks ahead to the moment he passes through heaven’s gates, when he will shine in glory and a heavenly home will be his.
Don Reno, Red Smiley and Bill Harrell recorded the song on 19 May 1971 at Ray Davis’s studio in Glen Burnie, Maryland, for Together Again (Rome, 1971). The Bluegrass Cardinals cut it on 31 March 1980 at Hilltop Recording Studios in Nashville for Sunday Mornin’ Singin’ (CMH), with Norman Wright singing lead. In 1986 Dry Branch Fire Squad recorded it for Golgotha (Rounder). Monroe returned to it on 24 July 1990 at Reflections studio in Nashville, with Tom Ewing singing lead, Blake Williams baritone and Tater Tate bass, for his gospel album Cryin’ Holy unto the Lord (MCA, 1991). In July 1991 the Bluegrass Band, with Dudley Connell, Butch Robins, Larry Stephenson and David McLaughlin, recorded it at Big Mo Recording Studio in Kensington, Maryland, for the second volume of their Hay Holler series Shine Hallelujah Shine, a collection of sacred songs from the early days of bluegrass.
