My Father’s favorite song was “Life’s Railway to Heaven”. It was also my GGrandfather’s. It was sung at both of their funerals.
I saw a great version on youtube by Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Earl Skruggs, and the Dirt Band. Johnny really could sing.
The first song he sang-with his family, as they relocated to a New Deal farm in Arkansas-was I Am Bound For The Promised Land.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two (also Circle II) is a 1989 album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The album follows the same concept as the band's 1972 album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which featured guest performances from many notable country music stars.
Track listing
"Life's Railway to Heaven" (Traditional, arranged by Johnny Cash) 4:39
Lead vocal and guitar by Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash, Anita Carter and Helen Carter (as the Carter Family)
Randy Scruggs plays "Mother" Maybelle Carter's Gibson L5
"Life's Railway To Heaven" - Jimmy Swaggart
(He also does a nice, slow, sad version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", but I could not find his version of that song on youtube, only a sermon of his with that same title.)