“What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul?” was written by J.H. (James H.) Carr and F.J. Berry and first recorded by the Monroe Brothers in 1936 for the Victor Bluebird label. The recording was an immediate hit single — the Monroes’ breakthrough — and helped consolidate their place as one of the most consequential brother duos of the 1930s pre-bluegrass country era. The brothers ultimately recorded sixty tracks for Bluebird between 1936 and 1938.
The lyric is a salvation-and-decision text drawn directly from the Sermon on the Mount: what would a man give in exchange for his soul, the verses ask, with the implication that any earthly gain falls short of the eternal stakes. The conceit pairs the older revival-era preaching framework with the brothers’ tight harmony arrangement, and the song became a foundational piece of the bluegrass gospel quartet tradition.
The Monroe Brothers’ 1936 reading remains the reference point for every cover that followed. After Bill Monroe and Charlie Monroe split in 1938, both brothers continued to perform the song; Bill carried it into his later Blue Grass Boys repertoire, and a long list of bluegrass gospel quartets has covered it since. It works as a moderate-tempo gospel feature in G with a strong four-part harmony slot on the chorus refrain.
