All of this while working as a high school English teacher after regional, and then national, gospel artists began recording his tunes.īut even as he was becoming a successful Christian songwriter, entertainer and entrepreneur, he never loosened his hometown, middle-America roots. "I can remember sitting at my desk in sixth grade wondering if the new 78 RPM of the Ranger's Quartet came in the mail today," he says.ĭriven by a work ethic forged during long days baling hay and shucking corn on his family's 60-acre farm, Gaither, the oldest of three siblings, slowly built a back-room gospel songwriting business into an industry juggernaut. In the late 1940s, he was milking cows when he heard the rousing Southern gospel music of the Dixie Stamps Quartet on a dusty radio in the barn, and he was captivated. "This is still a wonderful, relaxed place to remember what we are all about," Gaither says.įor the last four decades, Gaither, 70, has lived a dream that began when he was a student in elementary school. 6,260) to serve as world headquarters for an entertainment empire that includes a music publishing company, record label, recording studio, gift shop and restaurant, and some 125 employees.
That's no easy task-because Gaither is the world's most successful Christian songwriter, performer and music-businessman, and he chose his quiet Midwestern hometown (pop. Gaither, who spent the previous day planting trees at the farm that was his grandfather's, cheerfully greets two co-workers, both of whom have worked for him for three decades and remain dedicated to prioritizing his time and keeping him on schedule.
On a rainy Friday morning, Bill Gaither arrives at his Indiana office, just down the street from Rachel's Hi-Way Café and a sign that boasts "Welcome to Alexandria: Small Town U.S.A."