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Native American Music Festival, Shooting Star Casino, Saturday November 21
Indigenous
The Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen MN will host the Native American Music Festival on Saturday, November 21. Starting at 4 pm, festivalgoers will be treated to four big acts with side-splitting repartee from the comedy team of Williams and Ree in between sets.
The Native American Music Festival drew deep from a very powerful musical well, bringing some top-notch performers to the Mahnomen stage.
Derek Miller--photo by Dave Sharpe
Derek Miller
Derek Miller who hails from the Six Nations of the Grand River, Mohawk Territory, Ontario, Canada is a Juno Award winning blues rocker. In the late 90s, he won a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award toured with singer/songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. By the time his debut album Music Is The Medicine hit the streets, the country was ready for him and he garnered a coveted Juno Award for his efforts as best Aboriginal Recording of the Year in 2003. His sophomore release, The Dirty Looks, earned another Juno for Best Aboriginal Recording of the Year in 2008. Currently, Derek Miller has a live DVD/CD and is touring with Wayne MacPherson on bass, Andrew MacKay on drums, and Donald Quan on keys, who support Miller’s fuzz-busted, power-chord-laced guitar and growling vocals. Like many musicians, Miller is launching a new multi-media entertainment company, Derek Miller Enterprises (DME)
Crystal Shawanda
Crystal Shawanda grew up in Wikwemikong on Canada’s Manitoulin Island, though she holds dual citizenship with Canada and the US. She wrote her first country song when she was nine, admiring the songs from the heart she heard from Loretta Lynn. She got her first glimpse of Nashville when she was 11 on her father’s truck route from Michigan to parts south. A year later, she cut her first demo of original songs, making her official entry into the country music scene. When she was 13, she took the stage at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, meeting a drummer who’d worked with Loretta Lynn. His encouragement brought her back to Nashville to perform, eventually relocating there. In 2007, she was picked up by RCA and debuted her fisst single, “You Can Let Go,” in Canada the following January. It climbed the Canadian Country charts like a trained monkey and debuted in the US that spring. Her meteoric rise was chronicled on CMT in a six-part series Crystal: Living the Dream that aired February of last year.
Indigenous
Mato Nanji, a member of the Nakota Sioux Nation on the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota, slammed onto the national stage when he formed the band Indigenous with his brother, sister and cousin. Ptcecha, Mato’s sister, took up the bass, and his brother Wanbdi found drums to his liking, while their cousin, Horse, added percussion. Mato’s strong voice was able to carry the weight his strong Hendrix-rich guitar work. Soon Mato began to write originals.
Their first album, Things We Do, which was released in 1998, turned heads and soon had blues icons begging for these young musicians to join them on stage. They performed with BB King, Bonny Raitt, and a ton of other heavy weights.
After almost a decade of touring, Indigenous began to suffer some growing pains. Mato’s siblings were growing up, having families, and some even growing away from the music of their youth. They recorded their last record together, Long Way Home, in 2005. A year later, Mato decided to release a solo album, Chasing the Sun. Mato joined forces with the talented Kris Lager Band from Lincoln, Nebraska, and began to tour in support of that record.
His latest CD, Broken Lands, was released last August on Vanguard Records. The twelve songs on the album were written by Mato and his wife, Leah, and the title was pulled from the lyrics of “Place I Know,” a song about the reality of life on the reservation.
[Recent News: Mato, under his band's name, recently created a scholarship program, administered by the American Indian College Fund, to benefit students attending three tribal colleges in South Dakota. In addition, an Indigenous tune, “Come on Home” appeared on episode 3 of the FX series Sons of Anarchy.]
Big Kenny single cover
Big Kenny
Before “Big Kenny”Alphin became the other half of Big & Rich, he was a well-respected songwriter in Nashville. His work secured hits for Tim McGraw, Gretchen Wilson, McBride & the Ride, Jason Aldean, and, of course, Big & Rich.
Though not directly Native (at least from all the research I’ve done that didn’t unearth a blood link), Big Kenny has championed Native people through his writing in songs like “Wild West Show” and “Wake Up.” His performances in Big & Rich are full of rock and roll, lyrics about country life, and hick-hop, often in Spanish, with an occasional Native American yell tossed in. All of this amalgam of genres and cultures is part of the Big & Rich message: Love Everybody. That message is often flashed on big screen behind them and is etched on the back of Big Kenny’s guitar.
Come and check out these great artists. The Native American Music Festival starts at 4 pm and runs until 10 pm. Tickets are $15 to $45. Call 800-313-7469 to make sure there are tickets remaining.
