The Fiddle Song Collection includes our version of the popular American folksong, “This Little Light of Mine.” The song’s true origin is unknown. The phrase "This little light of mine" first appeared in a book of poetry by Edward G. Ivins in 1925. The earliest known recording from 1939, collected by folklorists John and Alan Lomax, was sung by Doris McMurray, an inmate at a Texas prison who learned it from her grandmother.

In the decades since, the tune and its many variations have been sung regularly to inspire and transform, as a healing call for peace, and as a form of protest and counter-protest. In fact, “This Little Light of Mine” became an important “freedom song” during the American Civil Rights Movement and continues to endure as a song sung by many in the name of joy, love, and peace. The range of artists who have recorded the song is vast, from Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sam Cooke, and Fanny Lou Hamer, to Laurie Berkner, Odetta, Bruce Springsteen, and so many more.