Recognizing the diverse music by and about Indigenous and Native peoples of the Americas.
Mildred Bailey was an American jazz singer during the 1930s and ‘40s, known as "The Queen of Swing," "The Rockin' Chair Lady," and "Mrs. Swing." Bailey grew up on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in Idaho, where her mother was an enrolled citizen.
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Blackfoot is an American Southern rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed in 1970. Though they primarily play with a Southern rock style, they are also known as a hard rock act. Strikes features Indigenous American musicians: Rickey Medlocke on lead vocals and guitar, Jakson Spires on drums and backing vocals, and Greg "Two Wolf" Walker on bass and backing vocals.
You Had Me at Goodbye is the fifth studio album by Choctaw Nation songwriter, musician, producer, and singer, Samantha Crain. It takes a fairly bold step away from her more rustic earlier releases toward a brighter if still earthy indie pop. Electronic keys, synths, and string embellishments, as opposed to fiddle, step in to reinforce guitars, piano, and drums. She includes a few mainly acoustic tracks, too, such as the sparse pedal steel-and-chimes closer and the acoustic guitar lament "Red Sky, Blue Mountain," a reworking of a traditional Choctaw song.
Joseph Fire Crow was a Northern Cheyenne flutist. He released albums from 1992 to 2017. His album Cheyenne Nation was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2001. Fire Crow appeared many times as a guest musician on recordings by other musicians in the industry. On Walk In Beauty he is joined by GRAMMY-winning pianist and composer Peter Kater.
Narrated by former Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo, who also sings and plays the saxophone on the album. Produced by GRAMMY-winning bassist, vocalist, and composer Esperanza Spalding, alongside musicians Matthew Stevens (guitar) and Justin Tyson (drums/percussion). It merges jazz improvisation with spoken-word poetry, progressive rock, grunge elements, and traditional Southwestern Native music.
The 11 tracks tell Elisapie's personal story of leaving her home community at age 19 for Montreal. It explores her complex relationship with her birth land, family guilt over leaving a sick mother, and historical Indigenous traumas. Songs are sung in a mix of Inuktitut, English, and French.
An artist/musician/activist since the early 1990’s, Richie established himself as a unique artist, being of Indigenous descent and having created his own niche in the industry. Richie is an established figure in the world of Indigenous hip-hop and in particular California Indigenous hip-hop. With the launch of Indigenous Warrior Enterprise came the Indigenous Warrior Clothing Line, Indigenous Warrior album, tour and Indigenous Warrior Entertainment. Performances and appearances are geared toward community and culturally related events. The album acts as a vital cultural vehicle, blending modern hip-hop production with authentic storytelling rooted in Native American and Indigenous experiences.
Kevin Edward Locke was of Lakota descent of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Anishinaabe of White Earth. He was a preeminent player of the North American Indigenous flute, a traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist and educator. He was best-known for his hoop dance, The Hoop of Life.
Tom Mauchahty-Ware was a Kiowa/Comanche musician. He was a Southern Straight dancer and a member of the Kiowa O-Ho-Mah Lodge society. As a musician, he drummed and played the Native American flute, harmonica, and blues guitar. He formed the band Blues Nation in 1990. He was also an accomplished American Indian dancer, regalia maker and a skilled visual artist: painting, sculpting, making flutes, bead working, and feather working.
Jim Gilbert Pepper II was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and singer of Kaw and Muscogee heritage. West End Avenue also features Christoph Spendel on piano, Ron McClure on bass, and Reuben Hoch on drums.
Buddy Red Bow was a South Dakota Oglala Lakota musician and actor. He made music from the 1970s through the '90s and had minor roles in several films and TV shows such as, How the West Was Won, Young Guns II, and Thunderheart. He was posthumously inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame in 1998.
Snotty Nose Rez Kids, sometimes referred to as SNRK, are a First Nations hip-hop duo composed of Haisla rappers Darren "Young D" Metz and Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce. They are originally from Kitamaat Village, British Columbia and are known for delivering high-energy, socially conscious rap that challenges stereotypes and addresses Indigenous issues.
Tanya Tagaq is an avant-garde Inuk throat singer from Canada who pushes the boundaries of traditional katajjaq by mixing it with orchestral, electronic, and punk-rock elements. Animism is her third studio album. It won the 2014 Polaris Music Prize and the Juno Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2015.
Thomas Douglas Allsup was an American country music, rockabilly and Western swing musician. He was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. With a career spanning over six decades, he most famously worked with entertainers such as Buddy Holly, including playing lead guitar on "It's So Easy!" and "Lonesome Tears,” as well as playing with Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. His guitar playing was featured on several popular American albums from the 1960s and ‘70s, including “The Gambler” and "Kenny" by Kenny Rogers. In 2000, he along with Floyd Domino, Larry Franklin, Vince Gill, and Steve Wariner won the GRAMMY for Best Country Instrumental Performance for their work on “Bob’s Breakdown” by Asleep at the Wheel.
Music of indigenous peoples and minorities living in unrecognized or occupied territories around the world. Produced in association with Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. Featuring music by groups like The Halluci Nation (AKA, A Tribe Called Red), an Aboriginal Canadian disk jockey collective that blends instrumental hip-hop, reggae, moombahton, and dubstep-influenced dance music with elements of First Nations music, particularly vocal chanting and drumming.
Full length project by Oglala Lakota musician, rapper, producer, composer and actor, Mato Standing Soldier, professionally known as Mato Wayuhi. It blends personal storytelling, grief, humor, and ancestral connection. Mato Wayuhi is known for this and his other studio albums as well as his original soundtrack for the television series Reservation Dogs.
The debut full-length album by the acclaimed Indigenous drum and singing group, Young Spirit. Young Spirit are a Cree drum group formed in Frog Lake, Alberta in 2001. They performed for the first time at the Samson Cree First Nation Pow-wow. The band's musical style is traditional Cree round dancing songs, with the group of singers striking hand drums in unison.