American Songs 2 Sneak Preview: Unclouded Day

As you know, my new cd with Carter Little is almost ready. I hope you enjoyed the first American Songs Vol. 2 "sneak preview" track, Oh Sister. (Thanks to Zooglobble for the nice mention!)

This week's free track is a traditional spiritual written in 1879 by the Rev. J. K. Alwood from Michigan. You may know the famous Willie Nelson version, Uncloudy Day, and I hope you'll enjoy our version as well. Please feel free to leave a comment below to let us know what you think.

Please spread the word: all I ask in return for these free songs is that you please send them on to others who might enjoy them as well!

Here's a quick preview:

Story behind the song: As the story goes, the Rev. J. K. Alwood was riding his horse home from a debate with an Adventist minister in Ohio. The debate had gone late into the night, and as he was riding, Rev. Alwood saw "a beautiful rainbow north by northwest against a dense black nimbus cloud. 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." He was so stunned and inspired by the sight that he wrote the song "Unclouded Day." You can read Rev. Alwood's own account as well as a remembrance by his son at the Alwood Family Tree homepage.

Lyrics (click on the title to download the free song):

Unclouded Day by Rev. J.K. Alwood

O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,
O they tell me of a home far away;
O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

Chorus
O the land of cloudless day,
O the land of an unclouded sky;
O they tell me of a home,
Where no storm clouds rise,
O they tell me of an unclouded day.

O they tell me of a home where my friends have gone,
O they tell me of that land far away;
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance thru the unclouded day.

O they tell me of the King in His beauty there,
And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold,
Where He sits on the throne that is whiter than snow,
In the city that is made of gold.

O they tell me that he smiles on His children there,
And his smile drives their sorrows all away;
And they tell me that no tears ever come again,
In that lovely land of unclouded day.