Introduction

Biography

Burt was the hus­band of Ma­ry Eliz­abeth Tay­lor (mar­ried 1879).

He at­tend­ed his first sing­ing school at age 12, and learned to read sim­ple mu­sic as a youth. He came to Christ at age 13.

At age 25, he gave up farm­ing to at­tend col­lege. After col­lege, he taught li­ter­ary school two years, then re­turned to farm­ing and taught sing­ing schools part time.

In 1889, he ob­tained a co­py of An­tho­ny Sho­wal­ter’s The­ory of Mu­sic and be­gan stu­dy­ing har­mo­ny and com­po­si­tion. In 1893, he moved west, and as of 1904 was liv­ing in Man­gum, Ok­la­ho­ma. He ev­en­tu­al­ly at­tend­ed the South­ern Nor­mal Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute and oth­er schools.

He be­gan writ­ing verse as a young adult, and be­gan com­pos­ing music in the 1890’s.

Works

• Sweetest and Best, 1900