reached over 50,000 copies sold. The Reverend went on to record over 200 sermons, monologues, and songs from 1926 to 1941 for several record labels, including Victor, Bluebird, and Paramount. He was responsible for a quarter of the total amount of all recorded sermons released before 1943. The Reverend is credited with introducing the gospel music of former blues artist Thomas A. Dorsey into the black gospel market via his crusades. Gates died of a cerebral hemorrhage in August 1945. His funeral drew the largest crowd of any memorial service in Atlanta before Martin Luther King Jr.'s, in 1968. In addition to a Columbia Records collection and a "complete works" set from Document Records, Gates' work has been frequently featured in gospel and roots music anthologies, including Harry Everett Smith's influential Anthology of American Folk Music and the acclaimed American Epic: The Collection. "Are You Bound for Heaven or Hell" is featured on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, Episode 19. References External links Rev. J. M. Gates recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. 1884 births 1945 deaths American gospel singers Gennett Records artists Paramount Records artists Bluebird Records artists People from Hogansville, Georgia 20th-century American singers 20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States