The Irish poet Æ called Jesse Stuart’s The Man with the Bull-Tongue Plow, from 1934, the greatest collection of American poetry since Leaves of Grass. These five songs premiered ten years ago today, at KMAC Contemporary Museum; and the recordings below (recorded at St. Francis in the Fields, Louisville), sensitively sung by Steven Paul Spears and played by Sharon Lavery, give a depth of shape and color to Stuart’s pointed, vivid words.
The full album, The Call to Earth, is available here.