Reverend J. C. Burnett

Reverend J. C. Burnett was an American preacher who recorded gospel songs and sermons extensively in the late-1920s and intermittently thereafter until the 1940s. During his heyday, recording for Columbia Records, Burnett was one of the most commercially successful preachers on race records, alongside Reverend J. M. Gates and Reverend A. W. Nix. Years following Burnett's close of his recording career, his sermons still receive attention on compilation albums and from musical artists, particularly Bob Dylan.

A native of Mobile, Alabama, Burnett joined the Baptist ministry in 1911, preaching "good old-fashioned sermons in a manner made famous by the Reverend J. M. Gates", as writer Lerone A. Martin noted in his book Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion. The self-taught Reverend, who proudly proclaimed he "never spent a day at school", began achieving success preaching on the gospel tent circuit in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Burnett was first recorded by the small Kansas-based record label, Merit Records, which was managed by musician and music store owner Winston Holmes. With Holmes, the Reverend recorded his sermon, "The Downfall of Nebuchadnezzar", and, despite limited promotional capacities, a Columbia Records talent scout "discovered" Burnett in late-1926.

However, the Reverend's work with Columbia was briefly delayed as Holmes, who still had a recording contract with Burnett, filed a lawsuit against the label, which he consequently lost. Burnett re-recorded "The Downfall of Nebuchadnezzar", and the sermon sold unexpectedly well—approximately 80,000 copies in total—as listeners were interested in the Reverend's emotive interpretation of Daniel 4:14. Settled in New York City, Burnett, from 1926 to 1929, recorded 32 sermons (four unissued), becoming one of the more extensively represented preachers on record. Most of the Reverend's work saw him accompanied by vocalists Sister Ethel Granger and Odette Jackson, and organist Porter Grainger. Inspired mainly by the writings found in the Book of Revelation, the Reverend found additional success with sermons such as "The Great Day of His Wrath Has Come".

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