[78-L] Son of Rodeheaver Musings

[David Lewis]

Another disc I had to look up to see what versions I had was Rainbow 1011. Like 1015, the content of this
issue never changed, but the recordings did.

A Homer Rodeheaver: How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours
B Virginia Asher & Homer Rodeheaver: In the Garden

The C. Austin Miles hymn "In the Garden" was one of Asher & Rodeheaver's signature pieces and they recorded
it many times. For Rainbow there are at least four versions; (a) an early, Winona Lake master with organ and
piano made in 1920, (b) the first replacement; made in Cincinnati with the Orloff Trio in May 1921 with the 
matrix 362, the highest known Cincinnati matrix; (c) a Richmond Gennett matrix (11092) made May 3, 1922 which 
I've never seen and (d) a Gennett master from the New York studio made in late May or early June 1922 (7897).

My task was to determine if the early Winona Lake matrix was present in any of the seven copies I have of 1011.
When I pulled them I found three good candidates; two were on the early "Sacred Record" label and a third -- 
though on a later label -- identified "organ and piano" as the accompaniment. On the last disc the label was
in error, but the matrix told the tale; it was the Cincinnati matrix 362, which I was very happy to find, and
additionally it is a very nice version of the piece. The two early labels were certain to be Winona Lake 
recordings, but they had problems. On one, the sleeve was marked "needs cleaning" and one side had paper fibers
clinging to it, whereas the other side was caked with a brown substance I determined to be dogsh*t. The other
had a beautiful, pristine "A" side but the "B" was soaked with petroleum. 

Both were, in fact, the Winona Lake masters of "In the Garden." The dogsh*t record sounded, well, like dogsh*t;
but I got a fairly nice transfer from the petroleum copy.

"Tedious and Tasteless" is one of my least favorite Homer Rodeheaver selections; it's just kind of a dull song
about a depressing subject, the impatience of the Christian to join Jesus in heaven. It had, however, one of the
most persistent of Winona Lake masters, 214, and Homer didn't replace it until 1923. That was a New York-made
Gennett matrix from around June 24, 8421; but all seven of these discs carry mx. 214.
 

Uncle Dave Lewis
uncledavelewis at hotmail.com