Homer Rodeheaver

Homer Rodeheaver (b. Cinco Hollow, Ohio, October 4, 1880 – d. Winona Lake, Indiana, December 18, 1955) – Songwriter, Singer, publisher, evangelist, music director, and philanthropist. Born in Ohio, Rodeheaver moved to Tennessee and attended Ohio Wesleyan College, where he learned to play the cornet and trombone. During the Spanish-American War, he left college to serve in the Fourth Tennessee Band. After serving as musical director for evangelist William E. Biederwolf, he worked in the same capacity for Billy Sunday from 1910 to 1930. As musical director, Rodeheaver directed the chorus, sang solos, played his trombone, and told jokes to the congregation. Starting in 1913, he enjoyed a successful recording career—especially with Victor Talking Company—and he recorded at least 500 hundred sides spread out over eighteen labels. In 1910, he started Rodeheaver Publishers of Sacred Music, which originally served as a vehicle to sell gospel songs—some that he wrote himself—at Billy Sunday’s revivals. In the early 1920s, his company made 78s on his own Rainbow label, the country’s first label that exclusively recorded Gospel music. At Winona Lake, Indiana, he bought an old farmhouse on Rainbow Point in 1912 and transformed it into a ship. Near his new home, he had his own school of music at the Winona Lake Bible Conference, a two-week seminar that trained laymen to become musical leaders in their churches. Another important aspect of his life was philanthropy; in an effort to create “Rainbow Ranch for Boys,” he donated a large piece of land in Palatka, Florida, for homeless and underprivileged boys in 1952.