“When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder”: Ben & Rose Join The Alaskan Sunnyside Sisters

So this one has been out a week and I missed it, for the same reason I missed “Would You Like To Buy Some Flowers” last year – it went up on somebody else’s channel.

“When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder” is a collaboration between Ben & Rose and a group called The Alaskan Sunnyside Sisters. I’d never heard of that group before this.

They’re four sisters from Alaska, now based in Florida, ranging from 10 to 15 years old, on guitar, banjo, mandolin, and upright bass. They only took up bluegrass a couple of years ago and have already played the Grand Ole Opry twice, according to their website. Sounds like there’s a lot of talent in this family.

On the video description, they write “We’ve both been following each other for a while, so it was really special to finally meet Ben & Rose in person!” So rather than a studio production this is a live performance. Sounds very nice with the sisters providing additional musical layers to Ben’s guitar (how about that banjo!).

“When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder” is an old one, that I suspect a lot of people will recognize. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder is an 1893 hymn with words and music by James Milton Black. It is one of the most popular Christian hymns of all time.

The song was inspired by the idea of The Book of Life mentioned in the Bible, and by the absence of a child in Black’s Sunday school class when the attendance was taken.

The idea of someone’s being not in attendance in heaven haunted Black, and after visiting the child’s home and calling on a doctor to attend her for pneumonia, he went home and wrote the song after not finding one on a similar topic in his hymn collection.

It was first published in a collection titled Songs of the Soul, and has since been recorded hundreds of times – by artists including Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, and Willie Nelson – and translated into at least fourteen languages.

Here are the lyrics:

“When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder” Lyrics

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun;
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care.
Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Ben & Rose have done a good deal of gospel material. Nice to see this live collaboration with several more voices and instruments added to the mix. Sounds great, and looks like they had a lot of fun with this one.

Enjoy a listen here: