I Love My Savior, Too -- J.R. “Pap” Baxter

 

This fellow nicknamed ‘Pap’ was 46, and was spending a good bit of time, and perhaps even living in Chattanooga (see its flag here) in 1933, because of the business he co-owned and was running there. He must have already written many songs by this time in his life, but Jesse Randall Baxter, Jr. evidently wanted to repeat what may have been pretty obvious when he said “I Love My Savior, Too”. Too? What was behind this one little extra word he inserted at the end of this statement of devotion? Was his partner in the music-publishing business, Virgil Stamps, somebody else Pap might have been thinking about as he said ‘too’? After all, Virgil was the one who had started this music enterprise (in 1924) in Texas, where the main office was located; Chattanooga, Tennessee and Pap came along two years later in 1926. No one would probably ever think of Pap as the junior partner, compared to Virgil, but since the Stamps-Baxter name became so common among gospel music lovers, could it be that Pap wanted to emphasize that he was just as fervent as Virgil, though his name came second? Or, was Pap really thinking about another person?

 

Pap Baxter was the creator of some 500 song texts over his lifetime of production in the field of gospel music, an endeavor that really did not end with his departure for eternity in 1960. His wife Clarice ran the company for another 12 years (it was subsequently sold in 1974), a time that only prolonged the reputation of Stamps-Baxter and its imprint on Southern Gospel. Pap’s induction into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1997 further recognized his contributions and really his lifestyle of attachment to God through the medium he so loved. This comes through in these words he fashioned into a song as a 46-year-old. We know not the precise details of what prompted Pap’s poetry in ‘I Love My Savior, Too’, yet he was a gifted songwriter surrounded by others, including his partner, who probably helped spur what Pap wrote, perhaps helping him see the God he served more clearly. Baxter’s musical output indicates he was someone who needed only a regular reminder of the source of his gift to coax an appreciation through song to the surface. One might say that his use of ‘too’ in his song’s title and in the refrain was really a reflection of Pap’s response to the Jesus who had first shown him love. Verse 1 suggests he saw His Divine Guide as the initiator of the rapport between them … ‘loves me I know’ (v.1), and Pap’s reciprocation is shown in the following two verses as he ‘walk (s) with Him each day (v.2), and ‘serve (s) His friend…and lean (s) on His arm’ (v.3). What is the ‘too’ in a believer’s life if it isn’t walking, and serving, and leaning on Him daily?

 

Pap did plenty to say ‘too’ in his life musically – over 500 songs -- in response to his Creator, as well as suggest a number of other ways in this one song to express ‘too’. How can one love God in return? Here’s some other verbs, besides the ones mentioned above, which Pap used to describe his answer to Him who loved first. ‘Sing(ing)’, ‘go(ing)’, ‘cling(ing)’ (v.1); ‘doing’, ‘kneeling’, ‘say(ing)’ (v.2) are other ways that Pap Baxter had found to say ‘I love you back, God!’ There’s so many more, that it’d be interesting to see what others Pap used in the hundreds of other songs he wrote. Would all of those verbs exhaust the possibilities? It prompts another question: How infinite is Him we serve? Let’s talk over that answer in another time and place and share them with Pap – after we’ve spent life here scoping out some of those methods!      

 

 

See biographic information on author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/x/t/baxter_jr.htm

 

Here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.R._Baxter

 

See here for information about the music company the author co-owned/operated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamps-Baxter_Music_Company

On and On We Walk Together -- J. R. Baxter

 

From what we know of his life, this author and music publishing hall-of-famer was in or near Chattanooga, Tennessee (see this scene from 1907 of Market Street, there) around 1938 when he wrote some words about a daily habit. Jesse Randall “Pap” Baxter, Jr. thought that, though this practice was routine, it was significant. “On and On We Walk Together”, he said about these regular meeting times with his Divine Guide. No special circumstances are known regarding what prompted Pap to write the words, but perhaps that dearth of information tells us something. If you do something every day consistently, it really needs no other justification to explain its importance – its repetition speaks for itself. His reliability translates to me, when I make our day-to-day appointments a pattern, an anchor. What’s that look like to others who might stop and take notice?

 

The 51-year-old Pap Baxter was well along the musical pathway of his life when he composed the poem about his daily walks. He’d become a partner with Virgil Stamps in a music publishing enterprise in Tennessee, Texas, and Arkansas in 1926, a venture that continued even after Pap and Virgil had died (Virgil in 1940, and Pap in 1960; the company was later sold after Pap’s wife died in 1972). Pap’s musical career included the lyrics for over 500 songs, including ‘On and On…’. Evidently, he didn’t want his life’s habits and who he trusted eternally to be a secret. He’d found his life’s work, even as an economic upheaval (the Great Depression) afflicted the United States, could be an anchor and a buoy at the same time. Was it the message of hope that the Stamps-Baxter company helped promulgate that helped it survive amidst hardship for others in America at the time? That daily life was a struggle for millions of people in the 1930s was an understatement, so was there something that Pap could recommend to salve the pain? Pap could undoubtedly see the situation about him and others, as he noted ‘shadows dim’ (v.1), ‘fear’ (v.2), and ‘stormy weather’ (chorus) that could consume one’s life. Pap’s walks with ‘my Savior’ were his anchor to stabilize an otherwise shaky situation; how many other businesses did Pap and Virgil watch close their doors, while theirs survived? Other conditions must have spurred Pap’s thoughts, including the spiritual state of people he knew, so it was important when he noted that His hand ‘points to heaven above’ (v.1). God was a confidant for the spiritual and temporal challenges that lay across the pathway of Pap and others he knew, apparently. How many spirits did Pap’s words make more buoyant and resilient at the time? We’ll only know later, in another place.

 

In what time of day do Pap’s words best work? He says ‘daily’, and mentions ‘shadows’ and ‘sunshine’, so He’s available whenever I might feel a range of emotions, Pap suggests. Baxter and his partner must have had their down moments, times when they needed a lift, someone to come along side and give some advice and encouragement. They knew where to look. And, Pap told others how they managed to do this; whether morning or evening, the part that mattered was that it was daily. Make time with Him a way of life, not just an emergency call – that’s what Pap seems to be saying. 911 works with God, but try Him on every day, and see if you can head off some of those crises before they happen. He wants to be more for you than an EMT-on-call.          

 

         

 

 

See the site here for some biographic information on the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.R._Baxter

See also here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/x/t/baxter_jr.htm

See information here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamps-Baxter_Music_Company

Let Me Live Close to Thee -- J.R. “Pap” Baxter

Perhaps he considered the words that he wrote and shared with his new professional partner in the 1920s to be his life outlook. “Pap” (Jesse Randall, Jr.) Baxter communicated something pretty clearly in “Let Me Live Close to Thee” in 1927, shortly after he became a partner with Virgil O. Stamps in a music publishing company. The Stamps-Baxter music enterprise did indeed become so well-known in its varied efforts to promote Southern Gospel music and the greater message for God’s community that one can imagine that Pap probably felt very content with how things progressed in the decades following “Let Me Live…”. Since Baxter ran the music business from one of its branches in Chattanooga, Tennessee, while Stamps did the same in the main office in Dallas, Texas, we can guess that these words he wrote in about his 40^th year emanated from the southeastern border of Tennessee, perhaps with a scene not too unlike this one in sight (Market Street in Chattanooga in 1907, some 20 years before Baxter’s song).      

Jesse Randall Baxter, Jr. was a born-and-bred southerner who evidently loved God, music, and his heritage. He was a farmer initially, and it could be said that his love for music and its evangelistic themes, including the offshoots from the music business, cultivated the lives of countless people the way a farm machine might have tilled the ground. In addition to the music publishing business, Pap promoted music education via a school and shape-note songbooks, and wrote the lyrics to some 500-600 songs, many of which were set to music by Virgil. Stamps-Baxter music’s southern Gospel was a hit, and endured for many years after both Pap and Virgil had died. Baxter was posthumously inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1997, 37 years after he had gone on to his eternal inheritance, testifying to the continuing impact of Stamps-Baxter music on the culture he tried to influence for good.

What brought about the words that Baxter wrote as a 40-year old who’d recently entered into a new adventure with Virgil Stamps? Certainly, we could imagine that Pap was an energetic businessman, eager to make a living doing what he loved. His ambitious nature, we could surmise from his poetry, was potent in one direction – being a zealous believer. He and Virgil must have agreed this was the hub of “Let Me Live…”, including a music-lyrics fusion that generates a buoyant, fast-paced version of how they thought the Christian life should proceed. Their song conveys optimism about living, when it’s in close proximity to Him. Pap did not ‘shirk’ (v.2), but wanted to ‘dare and do’ (v.1) as he thought about his and Virgil’s newly-launched company and all the dreams they must have anticipated could ensue. It says something about a 40-year old, who felt like this when others who reach this age are having mid-life crises. Baxter was a ‘go-getter’, but he didn’t run over top of others to do achieve what was in his sights. Bearing and sharing others’ loads (v.3) was part of his calculus too. Apparently he expected or had already discovered that living within a certain radius of God was all the adventure he needed.       

See brief biography of the composer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.R._Baxter

Some background on the music company of the composer and his partner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamps-Baxter_Music_Company