Paradise Valley -- Noah White

He was known by the musical composer who added the notes, but there’s not any more known about a poet named Noah White than that one fact. Noah’s poetry was so compelling in “Paradise Valley” that one can imagine Virgil Stamps was pretty eager to add the music and make a memorable keepsake for themselves and future generations. Perhaps its most striking feature is the imagery the poem paints. (Maybe you might get a mental image something like this 1620 creation by Jan Bruegel, shown here.) Did that spur Stamps’ musical imagination, as he paired notes with the words that Noah provided? The paradise that was on Noah’s mind had beautiful, growing, and fragrant details that quickened his pace. Virgil Stamps has us practically skipping with exuberance in the accompanying music. See if you don’t feel upbeat and eager to find this place that Noah and Virgil describe!

Since no details of Noah White are known, we can surmise that “Paradise Valley” may have been one of a very few works – perhaps the only one – attributed to him. Published with words and music in 1935, Noah White’s and Virgil Stamps’ creation is a winner, perhaps the only one on which they collaborated. The association of what might otherwise have been a forgotten poem by Noah White with Virgil Stamps’ music was fortuitous, making its preservation more likely. Stamps had formed a music company in the 1920s and was soon joined by J.R. Baxter, Jr., creating one of the most well-known and successful hymn-publishing enterprises. Stamps-Baxter was well-established by the mid-1930s, when the author of “Paradise Valley” and Virgil Stamps must have decided to team up and conceive this buoyant picture of eternity. Noah wanted to ‘give cheer’ (v.1) to those who were downbeat about life, and he spends the following two verses describing what most of us probably think of when we imagine paradise – a garden, perhaps not unlike the original Eden. Beautiful fruit trees, flowers, a bubbling brook, all signs of life in a most bucolic and satisfying place that God wants us to inherit. It may sound restful, but Noah and Virgil were anything but content with a leisurely pace in their paradise. They want to bounce toward their destination, perhaps doing cartwheels! Get the picture?

Perhaps Noah and Virgil were reading the front and back ends of their bibles (Genesis and Revelation), where trees, rivers, and fruit are present to remind us of Him who creates. Is being in His presence, even if it’s in a place designed for eternal rest, made just for relaxation? It seems that the creative pair of White and Stamps looked at each other and answered ‘No!’ After all, it’s a ‘river of life’ in the paradise valley that these two thought provided nourishment for its inhabitants; this river and the valley through which it runs don’t put them to sleep, but rather stimulate their senses. Try singing what Noah and Virgil thought about paradise and see if you feel the same.   

See here for biography of the musical composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/t/a/stamps_vo.htm

See information here regarding the music company of the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamps-Baxter_Music_Company

He Bore It All -- Jesse Randall 'Pap' Baxter Jr.

Either J. R. Baxter or his partner in music, Virgil O. Stamps, must have been feeling pretty upbeat when they collaborated on a song and published it in 1926. Which one, you say? There would be plenty you could put in that category, if you knew of the reputation of these two and had listened or sang any of their toe-tapping tunes. But, just hearing the title “He Bore It All” might not have led you to consider this one as the instrument of celebration. Its three verses begin with thoughts that are some of the most dismal in the entire bible. Was Baxter hoodwinked by Stamps when the latter composed the music to go with this song’s lyrics? Who would celebrate the Messiah’s ignominy and execution? Did either fellow read his bible when he thought about what they were doing here? Let’s see if we can re-trace their footsteps and answer these questions.

Jesse Randall Baxter was 39 years old, and had just purchased an interest in Virgil Stamps’ gospel music publishing company in 1926, although he had already been involved with music for some time. He’d studied with Thomas Mosley and Anthony Showalter before he hooked up with Stamps, and later ran his own school of music, while also writing a number of his own songs.  So, in this culture, one could be pretty certain that J.R. “Pap” Baxter must have consulted his bible or heard others read scripture in his 39 years before he wrote the words to “He Bore It All”. Jesus suffered -- endured agony, in fact -- and was disgraced between two common criminals before succumbing to capital punishment. It would be sacrilegious to rejoice, if there were not more to the story. The apparent mismatch between the song’s buoyant music and some of its words might leave the believer wondering what’s going on here. But Baxter’s other song words suggest he’d read his bible carefully, noting exactly what the God-man said about his own demise. It’s something we, along with the Apostles, could easily miss. His own death predictions included reassurances of the resurrection, too (Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:18-19). The third time he addressed this subject with his companions ends with an exclamation point (at least in Matthew’s account). ! means excitement, even joy! How would you or I have reacted? Without Baxter and Stamps here to interview, the only evidence we have of their reactions to this episode are their words and music. “He Bore It All” parallels the words of Jesus – ‘I’ll suffer a cruel death, but that won’t stop me from coming back for you all!’ Wow! That must have been Baxter’s and Stamps’ reaction, and so they collaborated to transform this dirge into a festival. 

The song’s title might more aptly be ‘That I Might Live’, a refrain Baxter uses to answer why Jesus was such a willing participant in His own death. And Baxter did indeed live here on earth. He was eventually inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1997, recognition of his impact upon the many that he touched with his music career. It’s probably also a testimony about his attitude toward others, and about the Christian story he tried to draw others toward through the music medium. Upon Baxter’s death, a friend indicated that his gentleness was what he remembered about Pap Baxter. Pap also evidently enjoyed music – why else would he choose this career? I wonder how much more he’s enjoying it now.

Biographic information on the composer found in the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.R._Baxter

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/x/baxter_jr.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=uqT-CJYcqskC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=%22jr+baxter%22&source=web&ots=jiqMYQJQI-&sig=p7VjKGlapFV6mLGt0Iu6MtX_ZmQ#v=onepage&q=%22jr%20baxter%22&f=false

http://www.hymnary.org/person/Baxter_JR

When All of God's Singers Get Home - Luther G. Presley

If I said someone named ‘Presley’ was a notable 20th Century songwriter born in the South, you most probably would guess that I was referring to Elvis Presley. Well, Elvis might be nicknamed ‘the King’, but if you interviewed residents of Faulkner and White Counties in Arkansas, they might guess that Luther G. Presley was in fact a more prolific composer than his namesake from Memphis, Tennessee. By some accounts, Luther (1887-1974) wrote 1,500 or more gospel songs, beginning officially in 1907 when his first song was published. He had in fact written his first song “Gladly Sing” some years earlier when he was just 17 years old, a few years after he had started attending music school and directing the choir at the Free Will Baptist Church near Rose Bud, Arkansas. Perhaps Presley (the lyricist) and Virgil O. Stamps (the music writer, of the Stamps-Baxter music publishing company) are most well known for the 1937 song “When the Saints Go Marching In”, but it would be unfair to limit their accomplishments to that song alone. I for one have sung many Stamps-Baxter productions that I appreciate as much or more than “When the Saints…”, and in a similar way, I also appreciate another of Presley’s songs – “When All of God’s Singers Get Home”.

 

 

Written in 1937, in the heart of nationwide deprivation, Presley’s words for “When All of God’s Singers Get Home” are nevertheless ebullient…does happiness, delight, mirth, joy, light, and bright -- all words in this song -- sound like someone singing the blues, like somebody who’s desperate? His life must have been impacted during the Great Depression, but you sense something besides his physical environment was guiding him. One could say that Luther Presley must have been Spirit-led. His music life was abundant, despite whatever his circumstances might have dictated. Frequently, after a difficult time, he’d compose when alone, a mode reminiscent of Jesus who would also escape his surroundings and go to a mountain seeking prayer time with His Father. Presley also wrote by drawing upon real-life experiences, including “I Know the Lord Is With Me” after being in a car accident in which no one was injured, and “Give Them Red Roses (The Boys Will Be Coming Home)” near the end of World War II as he thought about his sons Clarence and Leister who were in uniform in Europe. Leister says his father also drew upon his personal loss - his wife and second child died during childbirth (although what tune or tunes he wrote at this time we do not know). It is said that he always carried paper scraps on which to record his thoughts, perhaps indicating that Luther was prepared for, and counted on, the Lord making random thoughts into something special. (I confess I now feel better about all those Post-It notes I scatter everywhere!) 

 

 

Yes, Luther Presley had a gift, one so amazingly employed over such a long time…it reminds me of the title of a book, “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” (Eugene Peterson). I have tried to sum up Luther Presley’s life, but I think his own words say it more powerfully through the music he wrote. Do you have a favorite Luther G. Presley song, perhaps one that he wrote in collaboration with the Stamps-Baxter company (like “When All of God’s Singers Get Home”, or “When the Saints Go Marching In”)? Share it here, tell us what it means to you, and enrich the rest of us a little more. 

 

 

* Much of the information gleaned from an April 21, 1998 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article written by Bob Sallee. http://www.ucalldatmusic.com/L_G_Presley.htm