The Rising Star Spiritual Singers were a gospel singing group formed in Louisville by manager J.C. Irby. The group toured regularly for about fifteen years and made two 45s for the Grace Gospel label in the early 1970s. “I’ve Got to Run On” was released in 1972 as the B-side of the second of these releases. The lead singer on this recording is guitarist William “Louis” Williamson, who moved to Louisville from Covington, Tennessee, in the mid-1960s to join the group. Williamson died in 1984 at age forty-two. J.C. Irby died in June 2001 at the age of seventy-three.
