He Set Me Free

He Set Me Free by: Albert E. Brumley Born: October 29, 1905, near Spiro, Oklahoma. Died: November 15, 1977, Springfield, Missouri. Buried: Fox Cemetery, Powell, Missouri. Brumley attended the Hartford Musical Institute in Hartford, Arkansas, and sang with the Hartford Quartet. Albert spent much of his early life chopping and picking cotton on his family’s farm near Spiro, OK. But he also learned to play organ as a boy, and at 19 studied at the Hartford Musical Institute at Hartford, Arkansas. He sang in a quartet, but his shyness of solo work prevented him becoming a singer. He turned to writing and, in 1931, after he married Goldie Edith Schell, she persuaded him to send some of his songs to the Hartford Music Company for publication. “I’ll Fly Away” appeared in their book, The Wonderful Message, and they soon asked Brumley for more songs. Soon, all the major gospel acts were singing his songs. He became one of the few writers to have whole albums of work recorded by singing groups.He went on to teach at singing schools in the Ozarks, and lived most of his life in Powell, Missouri. He worked for 34 years a staff writer for the Hartford and Stamps/Baxter publishing companies, then founded the Albert E. Brumley & Sons Music Company and Country Gentlemen Music, and bought the Hartford Music Company. He wrote over 800 Gospel and other songs during his life; the Country Song Writers Hall of Fame inducted him in 1970.