Musicians
- Carter Stanley — Lead Vocals, Guitar
- Al Elliott — Baritone Vocals, Mandolin
- Ralph Stanley — Tenor Vocals, Banjo
- Chubby Anthony — Fiddle
- George Shuffler — Bass
“Wings of Angels” was first recorded by the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys on 11 February 1959 at the King studio in Cincinnati. It was one of twelve sacred songs cut there on 10 and 11 February for Hymns and Sacred Songs (King 645), released later that year. Carter Stanley sang lead and played guitar, Ralph Stanley sang tenor and played banjo, and Al Elliott sang baritone and played mandolin, with Chubby Anthony on fiddle and George Shuffler on bass.
Like most of the new originals on the album, the song was credited to Ruby Rakes, the brothers’ half-sister, whose name appears on nearly all of Carter and Ralph’s compositions from their first years at King. Ralph later said that the threat of damages from an auto accident to their income was one reason he and Carter copyrighted songs in her name: it kept the royalties safe.
The verses move from the birth of Jesus, with the wise men following the star to the manger, to the crucifixion, and the chorus looks ahead to the singer being raised from the grave and carried home on the wings of angels.
King put the recording out again on an EP (EP 455) in 1960. Ralph Stanley returned to the song on 3 October 1971 at Jessup Recording Studios in Jackson, Michigan, for Sings Gospel Echoes of the Stanley Brothers (Jessup MB 129, 1973), with Roy Lee Centers and Keith Whitley on guitars, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin and fiddle, Curly Ray Cline on fiddle and Jack Cooke on bass. Don Rigsby made it the opening track of his 1998 Sugar Hill album A Vision, singing lead and tenor and playing mandolin, with Greg Luck on baritone and guitar, J.D. Crowe on banjo, Jason Carter on fiddle and Barry Bales on bass.
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