‘Some are prayers, some are protests’: 76 musicians reimagine America the Beautiful

The iconic song has been given a diverse new set of versions thanks to pianist Min Kwon’s ambitious musical project Despite what you may have heard, there is no definitive version of the song America the Beautiful. Katharine Lee Bates wrote its lyrics as a poem in 1893, inspired by an ecstatic road trip from the Massachusetts house she shared with her longtime companion Katharine Coman to a teaching gig in Colorado. Over the next few decades, dozens of musicians set it to music, including New...

By Jesse Dorris