The Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book was first published in 1902 by Eld. John Riley Daily (1854-1920) and Eld. E. W. Thomas. Daily did the work of compiling the book, and Thomas supplied the financial backing for the project. Both men lived in central Indiana. The book included 432 hymns and 32 pages of rudiments. This book would be one of the first Primitive Baptist hymnals that would use musical notation.
Daily, with the assistance of his son, Eld. J. Harvey Daily, revised the book in 1907. In this revision, there were 454 hymns and only 13 pages of rudiments. A third edition was published in 1918 with 456 hymns, and this time Daily did the work by himself.
Daily was concerned "that the old, well-tried, heart-stirring melodies were being displaced by new tunes, many of which have little else than novelty." He wanted a book with songs "that tend to arouse emotions of love and praise in the soul."
The "new tunes" that Daily claimed were no more than a novelty were the gospel songs like those that were composed by A.J. Showalter and A.S. Keiffer. However, about one fifth of Daily's book contains songs of this type. Daily's book even contains about three songs that Daily composed in this style. Gospel songs aside, there is a large percentage of American folk hymns in Daily's book.
After Daily's death, the Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book was revised in 1920 by Eld. J. D. Shain of Madisonville, Kentucky. In 1945, the book was revised by Eld. Earl Daily and William T. Daily, sons of Eld. John R. Daily. The publication rights were sold to the Old School Hymnal Company of Georgia in 1967 and remained available until the supply of books was depleted.
In 1992, The Primitive Baptist Library, of Carthage, Illinois, began to study the idea of republishing the book. This was after several Primitive Baptist Churches in the area were making inquiries. The Library, headed by Eld. Robert Webb, decided to republish the 1918 Edition, except they chose to publish the rudiment section in a separate pamphlet. The Library also published a supplement song book the following year, titled Little Book of Favorite Hymns.
The Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book is used in various Primitive Baptist churches in Indiana and Ohio, a few in Illinois, and perhaps some in Virginia.
Sources:
Daily, Elder John Riley. The Pilgrimage of a Stranger. (Luray, VA: The Zion's Advocate Office, 1905).
Daily, Elder John Riley. Primitive Baptist Hymn and Tune Book. (Carthage, IL: The Primitive Baptist Library, 1992).
Drummond, R. Paul. A Portion for the Singers. (Atwood, TN: The Christian Baptist Library & Publishing Company, Inc., 1988).
Webb, Elder Robert. Little Book of Favorite Hymns (Carthage, IL: The Primitive Baptist Library, 1993).