It's been more than 10 years since we last shared a song by the late southern Indiana folk singer, fiddler and songwriter Lotus Dickey (1911-1989). With the release early this fall of a new edition of The Lotus Dickey Songbook by Indiana University Press, it seemed the perfect time to pass along another of Lotus 's finely crafted originals.

Spearheaded by our esteemed music editor and champion of Lotus's work Grey Larsen, the new edition of the book includes the original 100 songs, another 20 of Lotus's favorite traditional songs and two newly discovered originals, plus an accompanying CD. In addition to co-editing the book, Grey has remastered Lotus's recordings onto CD and launched <www.lotusdickeymusic.org>, a one-stop site for all things Lotus, including mp3 and sheet music downloads, as well as interactive forums.

Lotus began writing "The Handiwork of God" on February 6, 1989, while watching a beautiful sunset through the fork of an elm tree. Inspired by Psalms 19:1-2, Lotus finished it on March 3, making it one of the last songs that he composed before his death later that year.

The Lotus Dickey Songbook and the remastered CDs ("The Handiwork of God" is on Songbook Companion CD #3) are available from Lotus Dickey Music, PO Box 2652, Bloomington, Indiana 47402-2652; Web: <www.lotusdickeymusic.org>.

Song lyrics not available due to copyright restrictions.

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