Prairie Nocturne
The Williamson brothers own a large cattle ranch in the state of Montana, and in spite of minor trouble with neighboring ranchers, they continue to get richer. The older brother, Wesley, or Major Williamson, had become a distinguished officer in World War I, and now, on occasion, he gives patriotic speeches for the Montana chapter of the Over There Memorial Committee. But his strong ambition now is to have Monty, his black ranch hand who also performs as a rodeo cowboy, become a professional singer.
Wes approaches Susan Duff with his ridiculous idea. Susan had once sung professionally herself and later was secretary of the Over There Memorial Committee in the 1920s, but now gives voice lessons in her spare time. Years before, she had an affair with Wes, yet she is surprised that he would ask her to give voice lessons to a black ranch hand, who knows only the gospel songs that his mother used to sing.
Susan accepts the challenge, not realizing that the Ku Klux Klan and other racists in Helena, Montana, object to blacks receiving special attention and that they might take actions to stop her.
Despite the obstacles Susan and her pupil face in Helena, Monty finally becomes a professional performer and she follows him to New York. Wes shows up there, too, proud to have helped Monty become famous, but also worried that he might have lost Susan in the process.
Ivan Doig’s writing contains unusual descriptive imagery which is flavored with a Montana dialect. But the characteristics of singing are not easy for Doig to portray in his novel. Lyrics can be printed, but not melodies. Prairie Nocturne was published in 2003.