The Writings of Scott Russell Sanders

Did you know that "Mooch the Magnificent" was based on a book called "The Engineer of Beasts?" The author of that book, Scott Russell Sanders, is also the librettist for "Mooch," creating a unique connection between literature and music. 

Another piece of literature by Sanders, "Wilderness Plots: Tales About the Settlement of the American Land," has also inspired a collective musical project as well as a documentary. Read below to discover how a book can grow into something that reaches far across artistic disciplines. 

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Literature 

             Wilderness Plots is made up of fifty brief tales that chronicle the period of settlement of the Ohio Valley, roughly 1780 to 1850. Beginning with the discovery of the Ohio River by La Salle and ending with the Civil War, this region was the West, the exciting new frontier. Written with the power and compression of folklore, these tales bring to life the unmemorialized common folks who carried out this epic adventure. In these pages, you will meet preachers and profiteers, the boy who saved Cleveland, a love-crossed carpenter, generals and journalists, a hermit and a lawyer, farmers and bone collectors, lovers, layabouts, and a host of other high-spirited characters the kind of people who, in all ages, have made history. These stories, which condense entire lifetimes into single paragraphs, come out of a distinctive tradition in American literature. For this book reflects the experience of settling our entire wild, raucous, dangerous, and glorious continent. Our ancestors went through very much the same trials everywhere, from New England to California and Alaska. They wrestled with the land and its inhabitants for more than two centuries before there were any cities or industries to speak of, and since we have all been shaped by that prolonged wrestling, this encounter with the wilderness is one of the deepest, truest, and most abiding subjects in our literature.

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Collective Music-making

                  Inspired by a book by Indiana author Scott Russell Sanders, Wilderness Plots is a collection of brief tales about the settling of the American frontier. Tim Grimm, Carrie Newcomer, Krista Detor, Tom Roznowski, and Michael White began writing songs inspired by Sanders’s stories. What resulted was an innovative venture and stage production that blends genres into a complete experience. Wilderness Plots—in word and song—captures the hardships, ironies, and aspirations of early pioneer life.  Life was simpler then, but it was not necessarily easier, and it was frequently violent and beset with danger. Wilderness Plots contains lessons for today and holds appeal for people of all ages.  Says Scott Sanders, “it’s about dwelling more consciously in the present by learning more deeply about the past.” The appeal of Wilderness Plots is broad, with several built-in audiences, covering Americana music, literature, poetry and the history of the region (which has been a focal topic of Sanders’s writing career).  It also has a powerful informational element in that it connects viewers with America’s past in an entertaining way. 

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Documentary

                Wilderness Plots: Stories and Songs of the Prairie features a selection of the aforementioned songs in performance and readings by Sanders, all complemented by interviews with the artists and views of the Southern Indiana scenery. The interviews provide background information and offer insight into the artists: their work, their perspectives, their love for music, writing and history. The program offers a glimpse into the creative collaboration of these artists. The footage was shot in the historic Mitchell Opera House (built in 1902) and at other scenic and historic sites: a one-room school house, a quarry, an old log home, a rural church, and in the Hoosier forest.

Click the picture for more information on this documentary, or explore the YouTube links below to learn more about this homegrown musical project.

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