Scott Sowers

When Thomas Fox Averill first heard Jimmy Driftwood's ballad "Tennessee Stud," he found the song hauntingly compelling. As he began to imagine the story behind the lyrics, he set out to research the song's history-a tale from "along about eighteen and twenty-five"" of the legendary exploits of the greatest horse that ever lived, the "Tennessee Stud," and his owner. Traveling the same route the song chronicles, from Tennessee into Arkansas, through...