I Am Coming Home - Homer Rodeheaver (1915)
"I Am Coming Home"
Homer Rodeheaver
Victor 17786
1915
Homer Rodeheaver was born on October 4, 1880.
This music evangelist and gospel singer was the most prolific recorder of sacred songs in the acoustical recording era, singing before the recording horn of most major companies. He was a familiar figure on Billy Sunday’s evangelistic team, directed choirs, performed gospel songs, and served as master of ceremonies at Sunday’s evangelistic meetings for more than twenty years, starting in 1909.
He was born Homer Alvan Rodeheaver in Union Furnace, Ohio.
The family moved to Tennessee when he was a child.
The brief biography in Victor catalogs from 1919 through 1925 states, "Homer Rodeheaver is a Southerner. He began his career in a mountain log camp [his father owned a lumber business in Jellicoe, Tennessee], and in later years learned the trombone and played in the 4th Tennessee [Regimental] Band, going with them to the Spanish-American War. After singing and playing his way through the Ohio Wesleyan University, he leaned toward the law, but was induced to enter the evangelical field."
He attended Ohio Wesleyan University but did not graduate.
In 1904 Rodeheaver entered the musical evangelism field and in 1909 joined Billy Sunday to serve as vocal soloist and song leader for Sunday's many nation-wide gospel crusades. He was the George Beverly Shea (Billy Graham's soloist) of his day, but, unlike Shea, he also led the congregational song services with his trombone and the Billy Sunday 2500 Voice Mixed Chorus. The chorus made one Victor record: "Sail On" backed by "America" (18322).
He led audiences in the song services before Billy Sunday's sermons, his genial and informal manner inspiring even the most shy to participate. By all accounts a jovial man whose sincerity was infectious, he was affectionately known to associates as "Rody." He worked with Sunday until 1929 and wrote a book titled My Twenty Years With Billy Sunday. Sunday, the leading gospel evangelist in this century's early decades, was important to the cause of prohibition.
Rodeheaver's first records were made for Victor in 1913, and he recorded for the company for almost 20 years, with 67 issued numbers. Along with gospel songs, or "revival hymns" as they were often called, he sang prohibition songs and did recitations. His first Victor disc, 17455, coupled the hymn "Old Fashioned Faith" with the anti-alcohol song "De Brewer's Big Hosses" (a disc made three years later, Victor 17988, features another prohibition song, "Molly And The Baby Don't You Know"). His second disc, Victor 17456, featured "If Your Heart Keeps Right" and "The Unclouded Day," both sacred songs. The third issue, 17478, consisted of four recitations, two to a side: "To My Son" with "Mother's Love" backed by "Daddy" with "That Little Chap Of Mine." Perhaps his most requested recitation, not recorded by Victor, was "Me An' Pap An' Mother."
Homer Rodeheaver
Victor 17786
1915
Homer Rodeheaver was born on October 4, 1880.
This music evangelist and gospel singer was the most prolific recorder of sacred songs in the acoustical recording era, singing before the recording horn of most major companies. He was a familiar figure on Billy Sunday’s evangelistic team, directed choirs, performed gospel songs, and served as master of ceremonies at Sunday’s evangelistic meetings for more than twenty years, starting in 1909.
He was born Homer Alvan Rodeheaver in Union Furnace, Ohio.
The family moved to Tennessee when he was a child.
The brief biography in Victor catalogs from 1919 through 1925 states, "Homer Rodeheaver is a Southerner. He began his career in a mountain log camp [his father owned a lumber business in Jellicoe, Tennessee], and in later years learned the trombone and played in the 4th Tennessee [Regimental] Band, going with them to the Spanish-American War. After singing and playing his way through the Ohio Wesleyan University, he leaned toward the law, but was induced to enter the evangelical field."
He attended Ohio Wesleyan University but did not graduate.
In 1904 Rodeheaver entered the musical evangelism field and in 1909 joined Billy Sunday to serve as vocal soloist and song leader for Sunday's many nation-wide gospel crusades. He was the George Beverly Shea (Billy Graham's soloist) of his day, but, unlike Shea, he also led the congregational song services with his trombone and the Billy Sunday 2500 Voice Mixed Chorus. The chorus made one Victor record: "Sail On" backed by "America" (18322).
He led audiences in the song services before Billy Sunday's sermons, his genial and informal manner inspiring even the most shy to participate. By all accounts a jovial man whose sincerity was infectious, he was affectionately known to associates as "Rody." He worked with Sunday until 1929 and wrote a book titled My Twenty Years With Billy Sunday. Sunday, the leading gospel evangelist in this century's early decades, was important to the cause of prohibition.
Rodeheaver's first records were made for Victor in 1913, and he recorded for the company for almost 20 years, with 67 issued numbers. Along with gospel songs, or "revival hymns" as they were often called, he sang prohibition songs and did recitations. His first Victor disc, 17455, coupled the hymn "Old Fashioned Faith" with the anti-alcohol song "De Brewer's Big Hosses" (a disc made three years later, Victor 17988, features another prohibition song, "Molly And The Baby Don't You Know"). His second disc, Victor 17456, featured "If Your Heart Keeps Right" and "The Unclouded Day," both sacred songs. The third issue, 17478, consisted of four recitations, two to a side: "To My Son" with "Mother's Love" backed by "Daddy" with "That Little Chap Of Mine." Perhaps his most requested recitation, not recorded by Victor, was "Me An' Pap An' Mother."