I heard a wonderful NPR commentary this afternoon on Brother Claude Ely. Brother Ely was a Pentecostal preacher from Virginia who for many years lived, sang, and evangelized in Kentucky.
When he was twelve years old he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and told he was terminally ill. A family member gave him a guitar (although he had never played) and he had soon composed ‘Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down.’
It is a hopeful song (at least to my Kentucky sensibilities).
Richard Pace 