Star In the East
Here is one from a long time ago. From “Dad’s Dinner Pail”, I found this one in the Helen Hartness Flanders Collection. Flanders’s source was a former logger named Thomas Armstrong from Moores Fork, NY. Mr. Armstrong, who found salvation in the lumber camps, told Mrs. Flanders that he “hadn’t sung a secular song in 35 years” and was the source for many of the hymns in Flanders.
The words to this hymn were written by Englishman Reginald Heber in 1811. This hymn is also known as “Brightest and Best” and it was originally collected and sung by the Jean Ritchie. I had the honor of singing this for Jean Ritchie about 10 years ago and she told me that this version was closer to her Granny’s version than many others.
Sung with my dear friend and occasional music partner, John Roberts, this is one of two hymns on the recording.
