Biography
Homer Alvan Rodeheaver first saw the light of day on 4 October 1880 in Union Furnace, Ohio, and drew his final breath on 18 December 1955 in Winona Lake, Indiana. His upbringing took place in Tennessee, where he developed skill on the trombone and cultivated a resonant baritone voice for singing. Military duty in the Spanish-American War preceded his enrollment in law studies at Ohio Wesleyan University. Opting instead for a path of faith, he served as musical director for evangelical preacher Dr. W.E. Biederwolf, then aligned himself with Prohibitionist Reverend W.A. ‘Billy’ Sunday, functioning as choirmaster and principal soloist on their joint tours spanning 1909–29.
Gospel songs and hymns began appearing under his name on disc around 1913, among them ‘Old Fashioned Faith’, ‘Calling Thee’, ‘Unclouded Day’, ‘Where They Never Say Goodbye’, ‘Jesus, Blessed Jesus’, ‘Jesus, Rose Of Sharon’, ‘My Wonderful Dream’, ‘I Walk With The King’ and ‘Brighten The Corner Where You Are’. Secular efforts included the temperance number ‘De Brewer’s Big Hosses’, while spoken-word selections encompassed ‘To My Son’, ‘The Mother’s Love’, ‘Daddy’, ‘That Little Chap Of Mine’ and ‘Me An’ Pap An’ Mother’; he also committed to wax the so-called plantation songs ‘Heab’n’ and ‘Some O’ These Days’.
Beyond his solo work, Rodeheaver partnered on duets with Thomas Muir, Doris Doe and Virginia Asher (occasionally credited as Mrs. William Asher), as well as with J.N. Rodeheaver and Ruth Rodeheaver, understood to be his wife and daughter. An Australian tour occupied him in the mid-1920s; toward the decade’s close he established his own label, operating studios in Winona Lake, Indiana, and issuing titles on Rainbow Sacred Phonograph Records. Although most releases featured Rodeheaver himself, tenors Daniel Beddoe and Paul Stone Wight contributed a number of sides. The same Indiana locale hosted his religious teaching endeavors.
Throughout the 1930s he maintained a steady recording schedule, revisiting his established repertoire and frequently recutting its most favored numbers. Songbooks also flowed from his pen, several of which incorporated older compositions he acquired and re-copyrighted, such as ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ and ‘(He Walks With Me) In The Garden’, the latter a C. Austin Miles piece he first captured in 1916 alongside Asher and returned to across multiple subsequent versions. (Elvis Presley would later record the song in the 1960s.) The 1940s found him collaborating with evangelist Bob Jones at the latter’s religious university and cutting two albums of 78s for Decca Records. Sacred concerts kept him on the road across various regions of the USA into the early 1950s.
Gospel songs and hymns began appearing under his name on disc around 1913, among them ‘Old Fashioned Faith’, ‘Calling Thee’, ‘Unclouded Day’, ‘Where They Never Say Goodbye’, ‘Jesus, Blessed Jesus’, ‘Jesus, Rose Of Sharon’, ‘My Wonderful Dream’, ‘I Walk With The King’ and ‘Brighten The Corner Where You Are’. Secular efforts included the temperance number ‘De Brewer’s Big Hosses’, while spoken-word selections encompassed ‘To My Son’, ‘The Mother’s Love’, ‘Daddy’, ‘That Little Chap Of Mine’ and ‘Me An’ Pap An’ Mother’; he also committed to wax the so-called plantation songs ‘Heab’n’ and ‘Some O’ These Days’.
Beyond his solo work, Rodeheaver partnered on duets with Thomas Muir, Doris Doe and Virginia Asher (occasionally credited as Mrs. William Asher), as well as with J.N. Rodeheaver and Ruth Rodeheaver, understood to be his wife and daughter. An Australian tour occupied him in the mid-1920s; toward the decade’s close he established his own label, operating studios in Winona Lake, Indiana, and issuing titles on Rainbow Sacred Phonograph Records. Although most releases featured Rodeheaver himself, tenors Daniel Beddoe and Paul Stone Wight contributed a number of sides. The same Indiana locale hosted his religious teaching endeavors.
Throughout the 1930s he maintained a steady recording schedule, revisiting his established repertoire and frequently recutting its most favored numbers. Songbooks also flowed from his pen, several of which incorporated older compositions he acquired and re-copyrighted, such as ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ and ‘(He Walks With Me) In The Garden’, the latter a C. Austin Miles piece he first captured in 1916 alongside Asher and returned to across multiple subsequent versions. (Elvis Presley would later record the song in the 1960s.) The 1940s found him collaborating with evangelist Bob Jones at the latter’s religious university and cutting two albums of 78s for Decca Records. Sacred concerts kept him on the road across various regions of the USA into the early 1950s.
Singles
