Indian mewsicians who rock
Welcome to Monday’s Mewsic Moves Me on Sunday!
My paternal grandma said that her ancestors have some Blackfoot Indian connections. How much I can’t tell you that and I wish I knew but alas I do not. My maternal grandpa’s stepmother was half Cherokee. I’d say the odds are high that another male family member from the past probably took for him an Indian bride. Somewhere along my family roots, I bet a nickel some American Indian blood courses through my veins. There probably isn’t a great deal but still, I believe it’s there.
This month’s honorary co-hostess, CK from Stunning Keisha offers this week’s theme for Native American Heritage Month asking us to, ‘share songs inspired by, performed by or about Native Americans’.
Let me start off with a respectful nod to the native Cherokee people living in my area with Paul Revere & the Raiders 1971 #1 hit song, Indian Reservation.
Incidentally, this is the only number one hit the American rock band had in their career. A tidbit to nibble on according to Songfacts…
The song is about the plight of the Cherokee Indians, who in 1791 were displaced from their home in Georgia to a reservation in Oklahoma. Raiders frontman Mark Lindsay, whose ancestry was part Indian, thought that this would be a good song to record.
I wondered if the band had anything to do with Indians at all and it appears Lindsay did. So, cool to know!
The songwriter, John D. Loudermilk, of Indian Reservation also wrote another song title Half Breed (not the Cher song) for Marvin Rainwater. As you probably figured it tells the story about a young man whose dad is white and mother is Indian. The song reached #66 in 1959.
I never got why anyone was prejudice because of a purrson’s skin color but this is a story as old as time and I don’t reckon it’ll change as long as the world stands. It can’t because humans are flawed.
To pay honor of the possible Blackfoot Indian ancestors I might have, I found a late 60s southern rock originally formed by Jakson Spires (Cheyenne & Cherokee), Richie Medlocke (Lakota Sioux & Blackfoot) and Greg ‘Two Wolf’ Walker (Muskogee Creek a tribe in Oklahoma) listed among in the Spinditty online article, 11 Best Native American Rock Bands. Blackfoot’s first studio album released in 1975, No Reservation and ‘Railroad Man’ was their first single but it wasn’t until 1979 the band hit the US charts with Highway Song #26 and Train, Train #38. This is totally new to me but found that I liked both of these songs, especially Highway Song.
Link Wray is a Shawnee Indian to introduce the power chord to the rock community. His song, Rumble has nothing to do with Indians at all but a street fight. Could it be a modern twist of Cowboys and Indians, I dunno?
Stevie Salas is a proud Apache guitarist to play with Rod Stewart Out of Order tour, George Clinton (R&B Skeletons in the Closet Captial Records ), Bootsy Collins (What’s Bootsy Doin’ Columbia Records), and Eddie Money (Nothing to Loose Columbia Records) to name a few that aren’t featured. With more than three decades of mewsic history and 20+ studio albums, Salas has established himself in the industry. At Salas’ website, you’ll find a list of his albums but while on YT I found The Soulblasters of the Universe.
Redbone is the most famous Indian band that I remember from my youth formed by two Vegas brothers, Candido “Lolly” Vasquez-Vegas (guitarist, vocals) and Patrick Vasquez-Vegas (bass and vocals) of Yaqui, Shoshone and Mexican heritage. Their first single hit is Witch Queen of New Orleans but my purrsonal favorite and their biggest hit song is, Come and Get Your Love. A new mewsic discovery I made is this song by Redbone, “Wovoka”.
Navajo Indians were vital during WWII, serving our country in a way that stumped the enemy using their language as code talkers behind the enemy line, an oral military code that still remains unbroken. The 2002 film, Windtalkers is a recount of this story of their bravery. The Navajo code talkers earned respect by from their brothers in arms and eventually awarded Congressional Gold Metals many years later. From the Windtalkers soundtrack, Calling To The Wind.
I’m gonna leave you with three-hours of ambient flute mewsic for your enjoyment and if you don’t have time, then you may want to bookmark this to listen to later.
Please read…this is a mewsic linky party, which means all participates are sharing songs that one can listen to from YouTube or Vimeo and a not a post about mewsic or mewsicians. Failure to meet this basic guideline puts your URL in danger of being removed or labeled – NO MUSIC.
It’s now time to join the 4M dance party!
ATTENTION!!! Would you like to be an honorary co-host? If so, shoot me an email or leave me a comment saying ‘YES, sign me up!’ and I’ll secure the next available month for you then send you the details. 
Thank you to every American veteran who served to protect this country keeping her people safe and preserving our way of life. This song is For You (Keith Urban from the movie Act of Valor)!
Thanks for being apart of things today. Have a beautiful Sunday as you keep those tunes playing and your body swaying. I’ll be boogieing over to see you soon. X💋X💋, Cathy
Feel free to join these fun hops!
Awww Mondays hosted by Sandee from Comedy Plus.
29 Comments
angelswhisper2011
Pawsome mewsic of the Native Indians, CK, Redbone is still in our memory, we did enter them too in our special bloggie today, as we wanted to participate this week, after a very busy week last week, but rest is finally coming back, so we enjoy it with the flute mewsic and the little lambs, that are sooo adorable💗Pawkisses for a Happy Wednesday🐾😽💞
Cathy Kennedy
Binky,
I’m delighted you found time to join me on the dance floor. Life gets pretty busy about now for everyone. Thanks for stopping by, my furriends.
messymimi's meanderings
Such a full post, i don’t know what to comment on first, the aww, the music, or the salute to our veterans. Thanks for making my day brighter with all of it!
Cathy Kennedy
Mimi,
Thanks for adding a little sunshine with your visit on this cold, snowy day. We got about an inch. It stopped hours ago, so we’re now just doing cold. So, your visit warms every part of me. 🙂
songbird1329
You came up with a very interesting playlist this week.
Kim @ Storms and Stardust
I love Blackfoot’s “Train, Train”! I didn’t know the band was comprised of Native Americans, I just thought they named the band after the tribe…so this is good info to know, and I am glad the name wasn’t misappropriated.
I am sorry you’re having issues at my site. If you think about it, can you email me what you are having trouble with specifically? I don’t know if I’ll be able to fix it, but I can try. Thank you for letting me know about the issues, and thanks for the dance!
Kim
Cathy Kennedy
Kim,
Thanks for joining me yesterday on the dance floor. I had a doctor’s appointment and didn’t have time afterward to get back to Blogosphere but I am here this morning ready to catch up. Right now it’s snowing here in the Tennessee Valley. Our temperatures are forecast to drop all day into the teens overnight. I’m not looking forward to getting up tomorrow morning. This week’s theme was a great suggestion from Stunning Keisha and I had some much fun pulling the post together.
Don’t worry about the problem I’m having on your site. I don’t think it has anything to do with your site but there’s something that’s shared between the sites and that’s the booger that’s keeping me from using my WP sign-in credentials. It looks normal when I leave a comment. Sometimes, bloggers will find me in Spam and others won’t find me at all, so as of yesterday after testing things out on Marie’s site I found that my Twitter info allows my comment to show. Next week, I might do a little playing around with the various sites in question to see what happens. Thanks for the offer and I’ll let you know what I discovery with yours when I begin monkeying around with the comments. 🙂
Debbie D.
Fabulous music and info, Cathy! That’s my favourite Raiders song, and I LOVE the band, Blackfoot. 💖 Prejudice is a sad fact of life, but things have changed for the better, over the years. If only wars could be eradicated, too! On this day, it is important to honour all those who fought for our rights and freedoms. Thank you for your service! 🌸
Cathy Kennedy
Debbie,
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could eradicate hatred from the world? Unfortunately as long as the planet stands real peace shall not be. All we can do is make things better and that’s a challenge with folks getting easily offended anymore. I forget sometime like today that Veterans Day is recognized by other countries. I appreciate the fine Canadians who served along side the American soldiers. May we always come to one another’s aid to fight the adversary.
John Holton
I took a day trip to New Echota in Northern Georgia. That was the capital of the Cherokee Nation, as I understand it. I remember being surprised that the Cherokee had their own written language as well as spoken. Guess I’d never given it a whole lot of thought. You put together a great set here!
Cathy Kennedy
John,
Yes the Cherokee have their own alphabet. I recall learning this when homeschooling our kiddos. Sequoyah I believe developed it for the Cherokee people. I need to refresh my memory on these things. Who knows maybe I’ll find inspiration for post or artwork content. Thanks for dropping by!
Sandee
Awww, those two are so adorable. I think they are smiling.
Indian Reservation was a favorite of mine back in the day.
Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week. Love and hugs. ♥
Cathy Kennedy
Sandee,
Thanks for joining me for some mewsic & smiles.
createwithjoy
Great theme and selection today Cathy – always loved Indian Reservation – look forward to listening to the rest tomorrow (when the household is awake!)
Have a great week!
Cathy Kennedy
Ramona,
I added quite a bit of mewsic here this week. Hopefully you’ll get a chance to listen at a better suited time.
Marie Moody
Oh yeah, I remember Paul Revere and the Raiders. I use to rush home from school to watch their program on TV. If I remember correctly it was quite good. I’m lovin’ all your other songs too especially thanks for the introduction to Redbone, “Wovoka”. The Native American Flute Music was really a sound that kinda takes you away right? Love it!
For You (Keith Urban)… he’s definitely a new singer favorite lately. He’s really quite good ya know? He’s so emotional too. He really feels his music. Yes, you’re really feeling your songs today girlfriend! GREAT JOB! Thanks for sharing! GREAT JOB MY FRIEND!!!
Cathy Kennedy
Marie,
Yes the flute mewsic is soothing and wonderful for pulling your mind far away. Thanks for boogieing with me!😚
Cathy Keisha
Pawsome tunes. I just finished up my post. There are some cool Native American artists. Thanks for doing research on the bands and musicians. Can’t say I researched as much. Great job CK!
Cathy Kennedy
Cathy, this was a great theme. I really got wrapped up in my research and that’s the way I like it! Thanks for picking it! 😉
15andmeowing
Nice choices. I forgot about Windtalkers. Nicolas Cage was great in that. I wish he would pick a good movie to be in again. XO
Cathy Kennedy
Ellen, every time we go through Cherokee NC, part of me thinks about the movie and the great part the Cherokees played in WWII. How genius it was for the military to use these people to pass secret messages in their native language that stumped the enemy! That’s so cool.
Alana Mautone (@RamblinGarden)
I enjoyed my research on my post so much, and I also shared your post with my husband. He reminded me that one of his mother’s sisters married a man who had both Irish and Cherokee ancestry. I also thought of one of my first cousins, who married a woman from Mexico who is part Lebanese, but also might have some Native American ancestry. My husband is a Blackfoot fan and has several of their songs, including one called Marauder – Rattlesnake Rock ‘N’ Roller, which really rocks!
Brian Frum
Those are terrific tunes, the flute was really cool Oh, the cutie ewes made us smile.
Cathy Kennedy
Thanks for joining me on the dance floor, Brian. Have a boogietastic day, my furriend!
Jacqui Murray
What a wonderful tribute to American veterans. No one does it better than Keith Urban.
Thomas Anderson
Hi, Cathy!
Happy 4M Monday on Sunday, dear friend!
This is a wonderful post featuring mewsic made by native American artists along with songs about them and inspired by them. A couple days ago I watched a clip from American Bandstand of the studio kids dancing to The Raiders’ 1970 single “Gone Movin’ On.” I had never even heard it before and, as it turned out, it was one of their poorest performing singles. It merely Bubbled Under at #120. However with their very next release the following year, The Raiders came roaring back, leaping 120 chart positions to #1 with “Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian),” one of the biggest comebacks in pop mewsic history. It is a somber song, but somehow it resonated with record buyers. I enjoyed the dramatic performance clip you posted. Blackfoot is new to my ears, too, and what a terrific find they are. They put down a solid rock sound and deserved a greater share of success. I remember Link Wray and his tough sounding hit instrumental “:Rumble.” I think I posted it on my old blog at some point. Thanks for outlining the credits of Apache Stevie Salas, a journeyman guitarist whose playing we have all no doubt heard on some of our favorite recordings of the past. I well remember Redbone and their two hit singles you mentioned. I applaud you for introducing a song that was new to you, because “Wovoka” is also new to me and I enjoy learning. It was fascinating to learn about the Navajo code talkers who were vital to the war effort in WWII. The Native American Flute Mewsic is so beautiful, so spiritual, that it brings tears to the eyes. The Keith Urban song is empowering. “If it came down to it, could I take the bullet, I would. Yes I would for you.”
Thank you for a marvelous Monday Mewsic program on Sunday, dear friend Cathy. Have a wonderful week!
Cathy Kennedy
Tom,
Thank you for popping by yesterday. This morning, I need to work quickly to catch up in Blogosphere before I leave for my ENT appointment. The doctor continually monitors my ears after my tubal surgery last summer. I don’t like the frequent visits and I might see if I can prolong the next one to get me through the upcoming cold months which I do not like being out in. 🙂
I am listening to “Gone Movin’ On’ at YT by The Raiders and I added a direct link for anyone curious to hear it, too. Naturally, I do not know it but I really like it. I don’t know why it didn’t do well but that’s how it went sometimes. I was surprised by all of my discoveries. Some of these bands were quite good, like Blackfoot, but they just reached my ears before now. Gosh, I love finding these treasures online! The flute mewsic is a great playlist to mellow out to which I felt a purrfect way to start the week off. Thanks once again for joining me on the dance floor and I hope your eye is doing much better today. 🙂 Have a wonderful week, my friend!
Valerie-Jael
Some cool music on your blog today, I have bookmarked the long one to hear when I am doing some art. I still can’t understand why people can’t live in piece with others, and feel the need to persecute this who have a different race, colour or religion. Great post! Hugs, Valerie
Cathy Kennedy
Valerie,
I don’t understand why people can’t live in peace, either. But, it’s been that way practically since the beginning of time. Thanks for boogieing with me, darlin’. Have a wonderful week. 😉