OH Taxonomy
Marie Jensen was born in Rosebud, Texas as the daughter of a Texas Ranger. She graduated college in Houston with a business degree before meeting Al Jensen on a blind date. The two were married in 1954 and had their only child, a daughter, in 1959. While raising her family, she helped Al in the...
Elwyn Raymer grew up in a very musical family and developed a real love for church music early on. His father and uncles formed the Raymer Trio, who traveled to churches around the Kentucky and Tennessee region singing what was called Southern Gospel. Over his career, he has worked with church...
Harold Burt was just about 3 years old when a musician from a traveling circus came to his North Carolina town and sold his parents a clarinet for young Harold. His life has been filled with music ever since. In 1950, he established the first high school band in Cary, NC and he served as the...
Howard Rachinski was the music director for his church in Portland in 1985 when a need to expand the ministry developed. Howard noticed that the members of his church and most churches he knew were not compliant with music copyright laws. Establishing a service for church that today is the...
Jim Van Hook has played an enormous role in the growth of the church music publishing industry. As founder of Brentwood Music and later as president of Word, he has overseen two of the three largest Christian music companies in the United States. His insight on current conditions of the industry...
Marybeth Peters has worked in the United States copyright office for 40 years and has become one of the country’s leading authorities on the copyright laws as it relates to published and performed music. Our interview with her included information regarding her career as well as a wonderful review...
Dennis Lord gained fame in the country music field as the co-writer of Travis Tritt’s breakthrough hit “I’m a Member of the Country Club (Country Music is what I love).” After years of refining the craft of songwriting, he had finally gained the success he wanted and yet he realized a life as a...
John Limb provided a detailed account of the Catholic music publishing business and its effect on the growth and development of Oregon Catholic Publishing (OCP) for which he served as president. With the company’s roots going back to the 1700s, John was able to paint the full picture of the eras...
John Styll formed the Contemporary Christian Music magazine in 1978 as the leading voice in the new era of church music was being established. After selling the publication 20 years later, he became president of the Gospel Music Association (GMA) where he played an important role in the growth and...
Jerry Weimer clearly enjoys talking about music! As a vital part of the business side of Bill Gather’s career, Jerry assisted in the expansion of Gather’s music and his publishing company. Jerry later worked for Thomas Nelson Publishing and helped close the deal to purchase Word Music in 1991,...