Reverend J.M. Gates

The Baptist preacher J.M. Gates was one of the most prolifically recorded black artists of the early 20th century, with over 200 sides on wax between the mid-'20s and his death in 1940 (he once recorded 23 titles in a week, at just two sessions). His sermons and musical numbers appeared on a variety of labels (Victor, Bluebird, Okeh, Gennett), though Gates often re-recorded his most popular sermons -- "Death's Black Train Is Coming," "Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting," "Goin' to Die with the Staff in My Hands" -- for multiple labels. Born in 1885, Gates ministerd at Atlanta's Calva...