Track 11 — King and Lawgiver
Prophet. Mayor. General. Presidential candidate. “We will not acknowledge any man as king or lawgiver to the church. Christ is our only king.”
Sudden Day: Songs from the Nauvoo Expositor is a 16-track song cycle drawn directly from the June 7, 1844 Nauvoo Expositor — the single-issue newspaper destroyed by Joseph Smith three days after it was printed. Every lyric traces to the primary source.
The Structure
- Act I — The Awakening · The whistleblowers find their voice
- Act II — The Women · The hidden victims speak
- Act III — The Revelations · What was taught in secret
- Act IV — The Power · The machinery of control
- Act V — The Reckoning · The silencing that wasn’t
Browse all tracks → · Read the essays → · About the source document →
“The remedy can never be applied, unless the disease is known.” — Nauvoo Expositor, June 7, 1844
Track 12 — The Inquisition
April 18th. A council called in secret. Tried, condemned, and cut off. They never knew until it was done. Our law condemns no man until he is heard.
Track 13 — Habeas Corpus
Fugitives fled to Nauvoo and found protection. The Mayor’s court overruled federal warrants. “A sink of refuge for every offender who can carry in spoils enough to buy protection.”
Track 14 — Citizens of Hancock County
Francis Higbee’s letter to his neighbors. Arise in the majesty of your strength. The August election approaches. This is the dreadful conflict.
Track 15 — The Burning
One hundred men. Scattered type. The flames consuming truth. Three days later, they printed their last word with fire. Seventeen days later, Carthage.
Track 16 — Sudden Day
They burned the press but not the truth. Lo, it is sudden day. The dark deeds of foul fiends shall be exposed from the house-tops. A departed spirit cries for vengeance.
1890
Epilogue / bonus track — a modern coda asking what hasn’t changed.