I'm In The Glory-Land Way
J. S. Torbett
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Browse piano sheets by J. S. Torbett on Zen Virtual Piano. James Samuel Torbett was born on 15 March 1868 in Alabama, and as a child the family moved to a farm near Jacksonville, Texas, and then to a farm on Flint Creek near The Grove, in central Texas. Two women influenced him profoundly: his mother, who taught him a love of poetry, and a neighbor, Mrs. Gillespie, who taught him a love of music. He learned to play on her pump organ, and her husband Ben led the singing at the Methodist Church on Flint Creek; when Ben died, James’s father took over as song leader. A farm boy who learned music on a neighbor’s pump organ suggests how a church and a neighbor’s home could serve as a school, and a community that made its own music close to home. At twenty he began teaching music in country schools and churches, a work that lasted a total of thirty-five years, organizing schools of fifteen to twenty-five students at a nominal charge and ending each with a picnic and dinner on the ground. In 1914 he entered the mercantile business in Gatesville, and carried a small folding organ around as he taught music in his off hours to children. A merchant who carried a small folding organ suggests a man who kept two careers going, one for his living and one for the music, with the organ travelling to wherever children could gather. Torbett sent examples of his work to the musician and businessman Virgil Oliver Stamps, who fronted the Stamps Quartet and ran the V. O. Stamps Music Company. Stamps published Torbett hymns such as Cling to Jesus, Guiding Star and Will My Soul Be Ready, yet the upbeat sing-along Glory-Land Way was the one that resonated with congregations across the country, and it first appeared in hymnals in 1924. Several published hymns, yet one upbeat sing-along that resonated most widely, leave Glory-Land Way standing out from the rest. He also wrote Will the Angels Come for Me?, used in Sacred Selections, composed popular secular songs and taught instrumental music, playing the violin, and was active in instituting the Texas State Organization of Music in country schools. His family tells that on 16 May 1940 Torbett, old and in feeble health, sat on the edge of his bed and sang Glory-Land Way a last time. His family’s account of a last performance of Glory-Land Way hints at a man whose music stayed with him to the end of his days.
Browse piano sheets by J. S. Torbett on Zen Virtual Piano.
James Samuel Torbett was born on 15 March 1868 in Alabama, and as a child the family moved to a farm near Jacksonville, Texas, and then to a farm on Flint Creek near The Grove, in central Texas. Two women influenced him profoundly: his mother, who taught him a love of poetry, and a neighbor, Mrs. Gillespie, who taught him a love of music. He learned to play on her pump organ, and her husband Ben led the singing at the Methodist Church on Flint Creek; when Ben died, James’s father took over as song leader. A farm boy who learned music on a neighbor’s pump organ suggests how a church and a neighbor’s home could serve as a school, and a community that made its own music close to home.
At twenty he began teaching music in country schools and churches, a work that lasted a total of thirty-five years, organizing schools of fifteen to twenty-five students at a nominal charge and ending each with a picnic and dinner on the ground. In 1914 he entered the mercantile business in Gatesville, and carried a small folding organ around as he taught music in his off hours to children. A merchant who carried a small folding organ suggests a man who kept two careers going, one for his living and one for the music, with the organ travelling to wherever children could gather.
Torbett sent examples of his work to the musician and businessman Virgil Oliver Stamps, who fronted the Stamps Quartet and ran the V. O. Stamps Music Company. Stamps published Torbett hymns such as Cling to Jesus, Guiding Star and Will My Soul Be Ready, yet the upbeat sing-along Glory-Land Way was the one that resonated with congregations across the country, and it first appeared in hymnals in 1924. Several published hymns, yet one upbeat sing-along that resonated most widely, leave Glory-Land Way standing out from the rest.
He also wrote Will the Angels Come for Me?, used in Sacred Selections, composed popular secular songs and taught instrumental music, playing the violin, and was active in instituting the Texas State Organization of Music in country schools. His family tells that on 16 May 1940 Torbett, old and in feeble health, sat on the edge of his bed and sang Glory-Land Way a last time. His family’s account of a last performance of Glory-Land Way hints at a man whose music stayed with him to the end of his days.
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Common questions
James Samuel Torbett (1868–1940) was a Texas gospel songwriter and music teacher, born in Alabama.
It is an upbeat sing-along by Torbett that first appeared in hymnals in 1924 and resonated with congregations across the country.
The V. O. Stamps Music Company, run by Virgil Oliver Stamps, published such Torbett hymns as Cling to Jesus, Guiding Star and Will My Soul Be Ready.
He taught in country schools and churches for thirty-five years, organizing schools of fifteen to twenty-five students that ended with a picnic and dinner on the ground.