Austin Lovelace
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With fifty-two years of church music making behind him, over 650 published works to his credit, and five books on church music with his authorship, Austin Lovelace can produce more stories, anecdotes, and tales than any storyteller of any community or tribe. For us who belong to the tribe of church musicians, he is an unquenchable source of charming repartee and well-crafted music--both elements always present when one sifts through the high points of his vast career in the Church's service.
Reared as a Southern Baptist, he divided equally his fifty-two years of church music making between the Methodists and the Presbyterians. He served on the committees for the 1955 Presbyterian Hymnal and the 1966 Methodist Hymnal. Worship II and Worship-Third Edition include three of his works.
The GIA catalogue lists two of his books, The Anatomy of Hymnody and Hymn Notes for Church Bulletins, as well as twenty octavos. His ecumenical involvement is obvious from the listing of his music in the publishers' catalogues. His breadth of appeal to the many denominations is illustrated by his frequent appearances as a recitalist, workshop leader, hymn and choral festival director, and occasional preaching. These activities have taken him to forty-five states as well as Scotland, Canada, and Fiji, touching nineteen different denominations. Travel alone would produce enough experiences that would fill his story box and tale treasury.
He and his wife, Polly, have been married for over fifty-five years. He elaborates: "Retired? Yes. Ritard? No!"