{"title":"The Mission of Rainbow Records","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"When Homer Rodeheaver established Rainbow Records in 1920, he created the first gospel music label and shaped how evangelicals would use recorded music. This chapter presents newly unearthed information about the scope and impact of his efforts, as well as his early connections to the Vaughan and Gennett labels. Rodeheaver generally ignored the emerging boundaries of black, white, and southern gospel—in 1923 he sang spirituals with the Wiseman sextet, one of the first interracial gospel sessions. He also established an early vanity label, Rodeheaver Special, producing custom-recorded sermons and musical performances, and creating controversy by pressing records for a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Whatever incongruities he may have tolerated, he described his record label as a mission, not a business.","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"176 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132385973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New Technology to Promote an Old Story","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"As the popularity of tabernacle revivalism declined, Homer Rodeheaver embraced new technologies to advance his ideas about the power of gospel music and community singing. While Billy Sunday was suspicious of technology and held on to an evangelistic model that was fading, Rodeheaver was an evangelical pioneer in recorded music—on cylinders, player piano rolls, and records. After becoming a best-selling recording artist he launched new forays into network radio and film, where he attempted to apply his ideas about community singing. Rodeheaver’s early-adopter attitudes toward technology broadened the scope of the gospel music industry, but it also brought personal tragedy, including the death of his brother.","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124701180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Epilogue","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"In looking at Homer Rodeheaver’s life, work, and legacy, the authors offer new context for his contributions to gospel music. He borrowed from evangelical hymns, African American spirituals, and popular music to build a publishing empire in Chicago, selling hymnals the masses as a way to encourage community singing. After the decline of tabernacle revivalism, he successfully transferred his ideas to recorded music, radio, and film. While other gospel musicians had success in one or two of these areas, Rodeheaver brokered all of them to create the modern Christian music industry. His seminal influence is still felt today, even as much of the music he championed has faded into obscurity. Rodeheaver viewed gospel music as a catalyst for spiritual transformation—a belief that continues to shape the contemporary evangelical church.","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"89 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124603555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Jim Crow Revivalism Meets the Klan","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0009","url":null,"abstract":"Racial segregation and Jim Crow affected nearly every aspect of American life in the 1920s, including revivalism. When southern audiences demanded segregated tabernacle meetings, Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver tried to ameliorate the situation by meeting with black ministers and organizing choirs from black churches. But despite Sunday and Rodeheaver’s fame for preaching against every form of sin, they were noticeably silent on racism. Their policy of welcoming every group to the tabernacle sometimes included delegations from the Ku Klux Klan, who gave Sunday donations that he never refused. Despite Rodeheaver’s genuinely harmonious relationships with African Americans and his lifelong promotion of the spirituals, his far-flung business interests created awkward contradictions. His Chicago studio made custom recordings for the Klan, including a parody of Rodeheaver’s “The Old Rugged Cross” with KKK lyrics, “The Bright Fiery Cross.”","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"74 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122623489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gospel Songs and Urban Revivalism","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver propelled tabernacle revivalism into national prominence, a movement that peaked just before World War I. In addition to leading the communal singing at tabernacle services, Rodeheaver organized revival choirs, produced gospel hymnals, and shaped the course of church music. Though his approach was influenced by vaudeville and emerging popular music, Rodeheaver denied that his gospel songs were influenced by ragtime and jazz. Though sometimes criticized by evangelical gatekeepers, songs like “Brighten the Corner Where You Are” contributed to Rodeheaver’s personal popularity and business success. After discussing Rodeheaver’s celebrity status and his controversial relationships with women, the authors show how he adroitly adjusted his business model as the tabernacle revival era ended.","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129498396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Southern Roots and Early Years","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"Homer Rodeheaver’s life-long work in song-leading and revivalism started with his family’s roots in West Virginia, Ohio, and Tennessee after the Civil War. His attitudes about gospel music and race were deeply influenced by formative events from his childhood, including family attendance in Methodist churches, racism and lynching near his home, early experiences playing the trombone, and a close relationship with his brothers. While studying at Ohio Wesleyan University he led football cheers and blackface minstrel shows, then led congregational singing at local revival meetings. In 1905 he began traveling as music director for the W. E. Biederwolf revivals, a position that led to national notice","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129667744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spirituals and Minstrelsy","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"The African American spiritual emerged as a devotional and performance idiom in the early twentieth century, promoted in black and white communities and churches through the work of Jubilee Singers, and in secular and sacred contexts. Homer Rodeheaver played an important role in their early commercial history by transcribing performances of spirituals for publication in his hymnals, championing them in evangelistic meetings, and recording them with black gospel singing groups. The authors explore Rodeheaver’s quest for authenticity in spirituals, their transformative religious meaning, their connection to minstrelsy, and their influence on their development American popular music, Rodeheaver’s personal interest in black culture is also examined through his performances of the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, presented in dialect and blackface.","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123691161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prologue","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"To understand the major themes in Homer Rodeheaver’s life, the authors examine the highpoint of American revivalism, Billy Sunday’s 1917 campaign in Atlanta. Forced into segregated meetings during the Jim Crow era, Rodeheaver attempted to diffuse a difficult situation by organizing a mass choir from black churches, featuring spirituals and community singing. Occurring at the cusp of World War I, the meetings broadly influenced Thomas A. Dorsey, the family of Martin Luther King Jr., and the next generation of evangelicals. The moment illustrates Rodeheaver’s advocacy of black music for white congregations, but it also reveals Billy Sunday’s refusal to condemn racial segregation or the Ku Klux Klan. The tensions would continue for much of Rodeheaver’s life.","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"156 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127355936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Commercial Gospel Music","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Homer Rodeheaver came of age at a pivotal moment in the creation and marketing of American popular music, and in a city—Chicago—that was central to its success. This chapter explores developments in copyright law, royalty payments, and music licensing (including ASCAP), showing how gospel songwriters became professionals who borrowed from Tin Pan Alley business models. As radio and recorded music opened new performance revenue streams, Rodeheaver adroitly created a Christian music industry model that would emulated by many other evangelicals. The Rodeheaver Music Co. bypassed denominational gatekeepers to become the leading creator and marketer of hymnals for the evangelical Christian market. The authors detail Rodeheaver’s importance as a powerful, driving force in the popularization of gospel music.","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"304 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115986248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Preserving and Exporting the Gospel Songs","authors":"Kevin Mungons, Douglas Yeo","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252043840.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"Homer Rodeheaver called gospel music “the universal language,” and aggressively promoted it to an international audience as a form of missionary outreach. In so doing, he wandered into another controversy, the practice of exporting American music to other cultures—often called cultural imperialism. His gospel songs became popular because of their similarity to other music types, particularly ragtime and jazz—though this critical observation vexed him. The authors explore questions of musical style with new research on the recordings he preserved, comparing it to an earlier form, the parlor song. And while his relationship with flamboyant evangelist Aimee Semple MacPherson might have become a romance, it was more likely a business relationship, and a common affinity for bringing an evangelical Christian message to the masses.","PeriodicalId":381050,"journal":{"name":"Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123183443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}