Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This beautiful hymn was published in 1887, composed by Daniel de Maribelle. Pap mentioned this song back when I was little and said that he thought it was really pretty, but I never heard him sing any of it beyond a few lines of the chorus. The first time I heard the melody of the verses was when I happened upon a recording of it on a reel-to-reel tape of the Late Carl Garrett and my Late Uncle Henry playing it as an instrumental on one of Pap and Ray's radio broadcasts. I placed a link to that recording below. It's the 2nd song in the video. I thought I would share this hymn today because I always found the melody and words comforting. I share it for all the many victims of senseless violence who had their lives cut short, for the victims of the 9/11 attacks that occurred 24 years ago yesterday, for Corey Comperatore, for Michelle Griffith, for Melissa and Mark Hortman, for the young lady who was stabbed and killed in Charlotte, for Charlie Kirk, and for all of their families and everyone negatively impacted by these tragedies. I learned the words to this song when the Cluster Pluckers released a recording of it in 1995. I started following their music after Pap and I saw them on Austin City Limits one night in the late 80's, opening for Chet Atkins. They did a beautiful job on the song. I placed a link to their recording below. In 2007, Charlie Louvin and John Conlee released a great recording of it. Though Charlie was 80 years old when that recording was made, he still sang it extremely well. Rather than singing harmony together (as I wish they had done), he and Conlee split the song, with Charlie singing the first half and Conlee singing the second half. Sometimes, it's difficult to schedule two separate, touring artists in the recoding studio at the same time. That may be why they took that approach. They individually sang with impressive expression and accuracy. Both the Cluster Pluckers' recording and Charlie's recording changed a word in the second verse. The word is "Aidenn," which is an old timey word meaning "paradise" or a perfect garden. The lead singer for the Cluster Pluckers changed the word to "haven," which means close to the same thing and also comes close to rhyming with "laden" in the previous line. Conlee replaced the word with "forever," which unfortunately doesn't come close to rhyming with "laden." I can only speculate as to why both groups changed the word. It may have been that they were simply unfamiliar with the word and weren't sure what it meant. They may have feared that listeners might be confused by the word. This same word appears in Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, "The Raven," published in 1845. I chose to keep the original lyric in my video. Why have near-rhyme when you can have perfect rhyme, as the author intended? I figure anyone unfamiliar with the word can just Google it or look it up in a dictionary. I wound up doing an extra video this week after all. I thought it might help me release a little sadness and emotion in the wake of Wednesday's news, and I thought it might be comforting for some of our Acorns out there. Lord willing, we'll resume with our normal schedule next Tuesday. Thanks for watching.
Carl Garrett & Uncle Henry Playing the hymn: youtube.com/watch?v=PTbJcNW9O3Q
Charlie Louvin & John Conley: youtube.com/watch?v=lv6_7XSO-So
Cluster Pluckers' recording: youtube.com/watch?v=88sSYwE4YnQ
Song Lyrics/Info, including scriptural references: hymnary.org/text/theres_a_land_beyond_the_river_that_we_c
Listen to original singles released on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/artist/5VX6ZKjBvDB31BhNdR7EXC
Listen to original singles on YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UC2WQqe6yfRH2zahVpfZ_teg
Listen to Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016):
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOyUTOtSqrmVKinmSJz
Listen to original singles released on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/artist/5VX6ZKjBvDB31BhNdR7EXC
Listen to original singles on YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UC2WQqe6yfRH2zahVpfZ_teg
Listen to Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016):
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOyUTOtSqrmVKinmSJz
This beautiful hymn was published in 1887, composed by Daniel de Maribelle. Pap mentioned this song back when I was little and said that he thought it was really pretty, but I never heard him sing any of it beyond a few lines of the chorus. The first time I heard the melody of the verses was when I happened upon a recording of it on a reel-to-reel tape of the Late Carl Garrett and my Late Uncle Henry playing it as an instrumental on one of Pap and Ray's radio broadcasts. I placed a link to that recording below. It's the 2nd song in the video. I thought I would share this hymn today because I always found the melody and words comforting. I share it for all the many victims of senseless violence who had their lives cut short, for the victims of the 9/11 attacks that occurred 24 years ago yesterday, for Corey Comperatore, for Michelle Griffith, for Melissa and Mark Hortman, for the young lady who was stabbed and killed in Charlotte, for Charlie Kirk, and for all of their families and everyone negatively impacted by these tragedies. I learned the words to this song when the Cluster Pluckers released a recording of it in 1995. I started following their music after Pap and I saw them on Austin City Limits one night in the late 80's, opening for Chet Atkins. They did a beautiful job on the song. I placed a link to their recording below. In 2007, Charlie Louvin and John Conlee released a great recording of it. Though Charlie was 80 years old when that recording was made, he still sang it extremely well. Rather than singing harmony together (as I wish they had done), he and Conlee split the song, with Charlie singing the first half and Conlee singing the second half. Sometimes, it's difficult to schedule two separate, touring artists in the recoding studio at the same time. That may be why they took that approach. They individually sang with impressive expression and accuracy. Both the Cluster Pluckers' recording and Charlie's recording changed a word in the second verse. The word is "Aidenn," which is an old timey word meaning "paradise" or a perfect garden. The lead singer for the Cluster Pluckers changed the word to "haven," which means close to the same thing and also comes close to rhyming with "laden" in the previous line. Conlee replaced the word with "forever," which unfortunately doesn't come close to rhyming with "laden." I can only speculate as to why both groups changed the word. It may have been that they were simply unfamiliar with the word and weren't sure what it meant. They may have feared that listeners might be confused by the word. This same word appears in Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem, "The Raven," published in 1845. I chose to keep the original lyric in my video. Why have near-rhyme when you can have perfect rhyme, as the author intended? I figure anyone unfamiliar with the word can just Google it or look it up in a dictionary. I wound up doing an extra video this week after all. I thought it might help me release a little sadness and emotion in the wake of Wednesday's news, and I thought it might be comforting for some of our Acorns out there. Lord willing, we'll resume with our normal schedule next Tuesday. Thanks for watching.
Carl Garrett & Uncle Henry Playing the hymn: youtube.com/watch?v=PTbJcNW9O3Q
Charlie Louvin & John Conley: youtube.com/watch?v=lv6_7XSO-So
Cluster Pluckers' recording: youtube.com/watch?v=88sSYwE4YnQ
Song Lyrics/Info, including scriptural references: hymnary.org/text/theres_a_land_beyond_the_river_that_we_c
Listen to original singles released on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/artist/5VX6ZKjBvDB31BhNdR7EXC
Listen to original singles on YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UC2WQqe6yfRH2zahVpfZ_teg
Listen to Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016):
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOyUTOtSqrmVKinmSJz
Listen to original singles released on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/artist/5VX6ZKjBvDB31BhNdR7EXC
Listen to original singles on YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UC2WQqe6yfRH2zahVpfZ_teg
Listen to Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016):
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOyUTOtSqrmVKinmSJz
