Originally popular in church hymnals, it has come to be recorded many times over the years since, including being an early attention-getter for future star act the Staple Singers.
[2] Alwood related a story about the event that inspired the song: It was a balmy night in August 1879, when returning from a debate in Spring Hill, Ohio, to my home in Morenci, Michigan, about 1:00 a.m.
The sky was all perfectly clear except this dark cloud which covered about forty degrees of the horizon and extended about halfway to the zenith.
A first class know-nothing till rosy-sweet morning was wide over the fields.To awake and look abroad and remember the night was to be filled with sweet melody.
[7] Among other artists to have recorded this song are Gloria Lynne (1954), Johnny Cash (1970), B. J. Thomas,[8] Willie Nelson (1976), Rory Block (1981), Myrna Summers (1981), Don Henley (1982), Doc Watson (1990), Sons of the San Joaquin (1997), Randy Travis (2003), Brad Paisley (2005), Brenda Lee (2007), The Blind Boys of Alabama (2008) and Audra Mae (2011).