American evangelist, music director, music publisher, composer of gospel songs, and pioneer in the recording of sacred music (October 4, 1880 – December 18, 1955). Born in Cinco Hollow in Hocking County, Ohio, he was taken as a child to Jellico in eastern Tennessee and there worked with his father in the lumber mill business. Although he learned the mountain ballads, he preferred Negro spirituals because they emphasized harmony and rhythm and had a "definite religious purpose." Rodeheaver early learned to play the cornet but switched to trombone while attending Ohio Wesleyan College, where he also served as a cheerleader. In 1898 he left college to serve in the Fourth Tennessee Band during the Spanish-American War.