"I heard an old radio recording of the Stanley Brothers, from the dark days when rock and roll was just killin’ ’em, around 1957-58, " recalls Gillian Welch, getting around to the bittersweet origins of the song that is the centerpiece of Time (The Revelator), her third album. "Nobody could work because Elvis was king. And Carter Stanley was assuring the audience, ‘The world is changing, you know, we’ve heard the rockabilly and we’ve heard the rock and roll, but we want to let you know that you’ll get the same traditional music from the Stanley Brothers you’ve always come to expect.’ That was the beginning of it. It’s kind of a gospel song."