Highway 2 near Halsey

I once read a quote by an 18th-century English preacher named Matthew Henry that reminded me of the Nebraska Sandhills. He said that "Gold needs not to be painted." The more I pondered this statement, the more I realized the truth behind it. True beauty doesn't need manmade enhancing to bring out its best qualities. The Sandhills doesn't have boardwalks around geysers or suspension bridges spanning gorges one thousand feet deep. It doesn't have snow-capped peaks towering fourteen thousand feet above the states to the west. But the hills do have a quality like no other place in the world--twenty thousand square miles of grass covered sand dunes where fresh water abounds. These ingredients come together to form a land that's pure as gold, yet modest as a mourning dove.

I think of some old books in my small library. One of my favorites is entitled A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick F. McManus. This is a hard-cover book with nothing but the title on the edge and four tree figures embossed on the front.  Nothing about the book screams "New York Times Bestseller," but I've received more hours of entertainment from it than any other media production.

Another book, The Holy Bible, comes to mind when considering plain labels. This is a book that I've spent more hours reading than all other books put together. Here is a great example of a book that needs no embellishing to sell. It's words do the talking.

When I asked Tanner Seay from Virginia to write a song about his experiences in the Sandhills he wanted a few guidelines for the genre and lyrics. I told him that I envisioned something in the order of A Horse With No Name by the group, America. Also I mentioned the analogy between the Sandhills and a plain labeled book. He went home and wrote the lyrics and melody that nailed it. You can check the music video out on this website.

So next time you drive through the Sandhills, think about your favorite plain labeled book and how it compares to the secrets that this land has tucked away in its pages.