| Status | Defunct |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1924 |
| Founder | Virgil Oliver Stamps J.R. Baxter |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Successor | Universal Music Group |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Headquarters location | Dallas, Texas, U.S. Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S. Pangburn, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Publication types | Music, magazines |
| Fiction genres | Southern music |
The Stamps-Baxter Music Company was an influential publishing company in the shape note Southern gospel music field. The company issued several paperback publications each year with cheap binding and printed on cheap paper. Thus, the older books are now in delicate condition. These songbooks were used in church singing events, called "conventions," as well as at other church events,[1] although they did not take the place of regular hymnals. Among the country music and bluegrass "standards" that were first published by Stamps-Baxter are "Rank Strangers to Me", "Just a Little Talk with Jesus", "Precious Memories", "Farther Along", "If We Never Meet Again", "Victory in Jesus", and "I Won't Have to Cross Jordan Alone".[2]
Stamps and Baxter operated a music school which was the primary source of the thousands of gospel songs they published. Another major part of the corporation was its sponsorship of gospel quartets who sang the company's music in churches throughout the southern United States. At the end of World War II they were sponsoring 35 such quartets. The company also had a quartet who sang on radio station KRLD in Dallas, beginning in 1936. This station would boost its transmitting power at midnight, so that it could be heard across the nation. An additional part of the Stamps-Baxter music empire was a magazine, Gospel Music News. Each part of the corporation supported every other part, giving strength to the entire organization.
- ^ "Stamps Baxter Shaped Note Songbooks". eBay. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
- ^ Wolfe, Charles. (1998). The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Oxford University Press. p. 501. ISBN 0-19-511671-2.