I was unaware of this thread when I included a version of "Beautiful Star" on volume 5 of the "Far in the Mountains" series of Musical Traditions CDs. This is what I managed to find out about the hymn, which was sung to me by Evelyn and Douston Ramsey at their home in Sodom Laurel, Madison County, NC. 29.8.80:


Evelyn and Douston told me that this gospel song was always sung at Christmas time in Madison County. It seems that the song was written by R Fisher Boyce (1887 - 1968), a deacon at the Mt Carmel Baptist Church in Rutherford County, Tennessee, in the early 1930s. Boyce, according to the story, woke up one Sunday morning with the tune on his mind. As he started to write it down one of his children came into the room singing another hymn, so Boyce moved into the nearby empty milking barn, where he completed the tune and words. However, others claim that it was composed by Adger McDavid Pace (1882 - 1959), also from Tennessee, who composed quite a number of gospel songs. In fact, Pace may have simply arranged the tune, although when the hymn was printed in 1940 both Boyce and Pace were shown as the joint composers. No doubt the song was inspired by this line from Mathew 2:10, 'When (the Wise Men) saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy'.