Jesse Randall Baxter Jr. (1887 – January 29, 1960), known professionally as J.R. Baxter and sometimes referred to as "Pap", was an American Southern Gospel

Southern Gospel

Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...

 composer and publisher.

Biography

Baxter grew up in Dekalb County, Alabama

DeKalb County, Alabama

As of the 2010 Census DeKalb County had a population of 71,109. The median age was 37.5. The racial and ethnic makeup of the population was 81.6% non-Hispanic white, 1.5% African American, 1.4% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander , 9.9% from some other race, 2.2% reporting two or...

, and was a schoolteacher; he married Clarice Howard in 1918. He studied with Thomas B. Mosley and Anthony Johnson Showalter

Anthony Johnson Showalter

Reverend Anthony Johnson Showalter was an American gospel music composer, teacher and publisher. He was born May 1, 1858 in Cherry Grove, Virginia. Showalter was trained in the Ruebush-Kieffer School of Music and was teaching in singing schools by age fourteen. In 1884, he formed the Showalter...

, and in 1926 bought a stake in Virgil O. Stamps' gospel music

Gospel music

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

 publishing company. The Stamps-Baxter Music & Printing Company became one of the leading publishers of gospel songs in the early 20th century. Baxter ran the company's Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

 office until Stamps's death in 1940; following this Baxter moved to Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

 to run the main office.

Baxter's interest in schoolteaching led him to publish shape-note songbooks and sponsor a Stamps-Baxter School of Music, both of which contributed to the popularity of Gospel music.

Baxter also composed Gospel songs himself; his works include "Try Jesus", "Travel the Sunlit Way", "Something Happens (When You Give Your Heart to God"), "I Have Peace in My Soul", "Living Grace", and "I Want to Help Some Weary Pilgrim". After Baxter's death, his wife continued to run the business until she died, after which it was sold to Zondervan

Zondervan

Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association .- History :...

. In 1997, Baxter was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame.