LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - When the musically inclined Susan Collins tried to infuse some state pride into her grandchildren in Germany, she ran into a little problem.
“We could not find one,” said Collins, who scoured the internet looking for a children’s songbook based on Kentucky’s state anthem: “My Old Kentucky Home.”
First, Collins tried to make a book herself, but that mess of paste and printed-out photos failed to impress her grandkids. So, she turned to her daughter, a published illustrator and a genuine, proud Kentuckian.
“She printed out pictures, pasted them in a binder and wrote out the lyrics and sent it to my nephews. She was like ‘this is so terrible and cheesy. You have to do a version,’” said Elaine Hasford, Collins’ daughter and the illustrator of the soon-to-be first songbook featuring the state song. “It just sort of exploded into this much larger project.”
Hasford’s illustrated book “My Old Kentucky Home,” started as a favor for her family, but expanded into a 18-month, multi-county collaborative expression of adoration for the Bluegrass State. Hasford shares authorship of the book with the famed composer of the song, Stephen Collins Foster. By the end of March, the book will be available at Joseph-Beth Booksellers along with a few other locations around the state.
“In Kentucky, it’s a big deal, everybody knows what the state song is,” said Hasford, who currently lives in Knoxville, Tenn., but grew up in Lexington and attended Lafayette High School, the University of Kentucky and Asbury University.
The 40-page book contains about 20 digitally painted illustrations of scenes from 12 counties. Hasford said she wanted the book to be filled with the scenes that real Kentuckians see. Instead of relying on stock photos or simply painting the scenes that she sees, Hasford began to ask for photos from around the state.
“There’s so many photography groups on Facebook,” Hasford said. “People love taking photos of Kentucky.”
Hasford said she began looking through Facebook galleries and asking people for their photos. Soon hikers in the Red River Gorge, friends visiting the state Capitol and family farms across the state began to send Hasford their photos.
“I tried to do a broad range of subjects,” said Hasford. “But Kentucky is what it is. A lot of farms, a lot of countryside. Unless you live in Lexington or Louisville, that’s your reality of it.”
Along with several pastoral scenes, Hasford also included the Louisville Slugger Museum, Midway’s city hall, race day at Keeneland and even the pond behind Lexington Green, which Hasford contends was already included in the book before she knew Joseph-Beth would carry it.
DEMAND EXISTS FOR THE KENTUCKY BOOK
There’s already a public appetite for the book, illustrated by the fact that once the project was listed on Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website, it reached its goal of $1,000 within five hours.
Hasford said that the book’s success on Kickstarter reminded her why she started the almost 18-month project.
“It’s because people love our state,” she said.
While Hasford said she’s excited to share the book and she’s also “anxious to find out what I missed.”
“I was really conscious of different points of view, but I know I missed some,” said Hasford who added that she intentionally left the back few pages of the book blank so others can draw in their own version of Kentucky.
“They can draw their house or grandma’s farm,” Hasford said. “Whatever their Kentucky experience is, I want that to be a part of it, too.”
Those last few pages include a hashtag so those who do decide to include their own experience can share what they’ve added on social media.
Hasford signed books and met with donors at a small launch party for the bookat the Coffee Times Coffee House, and will have a larger, more public launch at Joseph-Beth on March 31 at 7 p.m.
Along with Joseph-Beth, the book, which published via the IngramSpark self-publishing platform, will be available at Two Chicks and Company, Coffee Times and the Kentucky Folk Art Center.
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