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B. B. McKinney (1886–1952)
Full Name: Baylus Benjamin McKinney
Also Known As: Martha Annis, Otto Nellen, Gene Routh
(Pseudonyms drawn from family names—his mother Martha Annis Heflin and his wife Leila Irene Routh)

B. B. McKinney was a prominent American hymn writer, singer, teacher, and music editor. Born in 1886 to James Calvin McKinney and Martha Annis Heflin McKinney, he pursued a rich academic path that included studies at Mount Lebanon Academy, Louisiana College, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Fort Worth, TX), Siegel-Myers Correspondence School of Music, and the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1922. He later received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1942.

McKinney began his music career as editor at the Robert H. Coleman company in Dallas, Texas (1918–1935). After a brief period of military service in 1919, he returned to Fort Worth and joined the faculty of the School of Sacred Music at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he taught until 1932. He also pastored at Travis Avenue Baptist Church (1931–1935). In 1935, he became the music editor for the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee.

Throughout his career, McKinney wrote the words and music for around 150 hymns and composed music for 115 additional songs. His work has had a lasting influence on Southern Baptist hymnody and church music across the United States.