January 25, 2009

Oklahoma native Albert Brumley was one of the most successful gospel song composers of the first half of the twentieth century. In the 1920s and 1930s, he worked for the Sebastian County-based Hartford Music Company, a company he purchased in 1948. “I’ll Fly Away” and “Turn the Radio On” are two of his most recognized compositions. Brumley, who during his lifetime composed 600 to 800 songs, died in 1977. The Brumley Music Company continued to operate in Powell, Missouri, in the twenty-first century.