Tag: standing rock

Op-ed: Song of the Times

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“The holiest place on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a current love.” –– A Course in Miracles

“Resilient” was written after the election, during Standing Rock, and while on tour. It came out like a wild horse from our mouths, the kind of song that responds to the times itself before you have much to say about it. I had to get out of its way, really. Song catching, some folks say. To be resilient means to come back to your original shape after being bent, broken, or compressed. I believe everyone can relate to that word in their own way right now, and my prayer is that the song somehow finds the people who need to hear it most. Songs always do that on their own. They live such broad lives, once they leave your throat.

I relate both the word and the song, “Resilient,” to many things — to my time spent in New Orleans after Katrina; to the #MeToo Movement; to my own resurgence after difficult times in our family; to a time in my career when I wasn’t feeling much like singing in the public eye. Right after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, there was so much animosity in the air, from all sides of the spectrum, that most folks I knew wanted to hide out and regroup privately — turning inward to seek quiet amidst all the yelling and celebration. However, we had a tour booked for an entire month — the Resilient Tour — that put us in venues, community centers, and public spaces to share our songs with the people. What happened throughout that month was an incredible weaving of national stories and personal triumph, and it put me right back on track with what my work is meant to serve.

As an artist, sometimes you have to get out of the way of your craft … let it live and breath on its own … being careful not to confine its girth. The Resilient Tour reminded us of the original essence of the troubadour, the griot, the traveling wordsmith. It’s a great honor, service, and privilege to play music for a living, and we have never taken that lightly. The stage is a gathering tool of energy and bodies, of power and communication. It’s like a radio tower emitting information across the world through melody and rhythm. I’ve witnessed songs change the air in a stagnant room and breathe life into a tightened face. In writing “Resilient,” I wanted to speak to that beautiful mystery.

As the song released to the public, we had the great honor to join a 250-mile Ancestral Healing prayer walk that spanned from Rosebud, South Dakota, to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, commemorating the 150th year of the signing of the Fort Laramie treaty. The walk culminated a four-year journey between the direct descendants of both sides of the Blue Water Massacre, retracing the steps of a brutal history in a peaceful way. As allies to our friends (the descendants Paul Soderman and Phil Little Thunder), my sister, our drummer Biko, about 20 other walkers, and I embarked upon this resilient walk to pay homage to the indigenous people of America, as well as witness the destructive legacy of promises unkept by governments both then and now. We joined the final four days of the walk, putting our feet on the pavement for 50 miles and listening to so many beautiful stories along the way from elders in the communities we were passing and other allies throughout our walk. At our sides were horses, prayer bundles, endless jokes and laughter, historical markers, children, old folks wizened by the journey, countless songs to sing, and stories to share. The land was vast in its dryness and enchanting in its huge sky. It took your breath away without much effort, and you could feel the history that has taken place there deep inside your bones.

When we walked our final day into Fort Laramie, there was a palpable emotion in the air. Anger. Resentment. Healing. Connection. Celebration. Commemoration. Protection. Family. In a time of so much national negative discourse and noise, it was our great honor to listen and lean in there. “Resilient” came that much more alive for us.

This song is for the times, for anyone who needs to be reminded of that word right now. It’s not about sides or favorable politics. It’s not about preaching to the choir. Its written to remind ourselves, first and foremost, that our bodies are resilient. Our families are resilient. Our work is resilient. Our pain and our pasts are resilient and, when we come together honestly and with a sense of willingness to listen, barriers break down all across the board.

I am resilient
I trust the movement
I negate the chaos
Uplift the negative
I’ll show up at the table, again and again and again
I’ll close my mouth and learn to listen

These times are poignant
The winds have shifted
It’s all we can do
to stay uplifted
Pipelines through backyards
Wolves howlin’ out front
Yeah I got my crew, but truth is what I want
Realigned and on point
Power to the peaceful
Prayers to the waters
Women at the center
All vessels open, to give and receive
Let’s see this system brought down to its knees

I’m made of thunder, I’m made of lightning
I’m made of dirt, yeah
Made of the fine things
My father taught me that I’m a speck of dust
And this world was made for me
so let’s go and try our luck
I’ve got my roots down down down down down deep

So what are we doing here
What has been done ?
What are you going to do about it?
When the world comes undone ?
My voice feels tiny and im sure so does yours
Put us all together we’ll make a mighty roar

— Chloe Smith of Rising Appalachia

Cary Morin Picks His Piece

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“Let there be no question of who’s wrong and who’s right. There should be no compromise. We all stand up and fight in the dawn’s early light,” Cary Morin sings on “Dawn’s Early Light,” written in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe during last year’s protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“A friend of mine was doing a show [at Standing Rock with the Indigo Girls] and she had asked me, just in passing, if I would write a song for the Standing Rock movement,” Morin explains. “I felt like there were a lot of people writing songs about that, at that time, and I wanted this one to be a little different and stand out a little bit, so it was really more concentrated on the activism, in general, and not so much Standing Rock, but just the whole idea of people coming together to promote clean water.”

“Dawn’s Early Light” is one of the poignant original songs featured on Morin’s latest album, Cradle to the Grave. In order to lend his perspective, Morin tapped into his experience growing up as a Crow tribal member near the Missouri River in Montana.

“When you think about roots music in America, it’s a culmination of so many things. It’s all the stuff blended together, much like the culture in this country is people from all over the world that end up here and create a unique situation,” Morin explains. “With my Native heritage, I could say that I’m really the only finger-style Crow guy on the entire planet. That’s unique. But we all can say that, to some degree. We all have unique things that make us who we are, and I’m really thankful to have grown up in the area that I did, surrounded by the people that I did.”

Morin came to the guitar by way of the piano, which he first began playing around the age of 10. When he picked up a guitar a couple years later, he was enamored. He played by ear, emulating the sounds he loved from his parents’ and brother’s record collection: Chet Atkins, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Neil Young.

“I grew up in the ‘70s so, at that time, [there was] no Internet, there was very little TV, mostly radio. And the local music scene was really pretty folky and a lot of bluegrass, so I really grew up in the pursuit of flat-picking and [was influenced by] popular bluegrass bands at the time — David Bromberg, Norman Blake, Tony Rice,” says Morin. “I had really fantastic examples of what the music should be, but then I kind of mashed everything up into a combination of bluegrass and finger-style stuff, mostly from Leo Kottke, which turned into this thing that I do now.”

Morin moved to Colorado just out of high school and formed the Atoll, a world-beat band that he toured with for more than 20 years. “I played electric guitar [in the band], but I continued to mess around with the acoustic guitar,” he says. “Once I stopped doing [the band], my focus was really just acoustic guitar and a lot of practicing — just hours and hours of sitting around and playing. To this day, I try to play quite a lot. I’ve been introduced to open-D tuning by a friend of mine, and it took me about a year to get it going and figure out just the basics of it. But then, once I got it going, I just found it to be really fascinating, and I continue to learn new stuff all the time with that tuning. I just love the way it sounds. There’s a fullness and richness to it that I can’t seem to get out of standard tuning.”

Morin’s reconnection with the acoustic guitar led to the release of his most recent string of solo acoustic albums. Cradle to the Grave is the fourth in the series showcasing his adept fingerpicking style and warm, inviting vocals. An amalgamation of bluegrass, country, rock ’n’ roll, and blues, the album features eight original tunes and three cover songs: Willie Brown’s “Mississippi Blues” and, perhaps more surprisingly, Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” and Phish’s “Back on the Train.”

“Phish is one of my favorite bands … I think that Trey’s playing has just really been inspiring and just the whole feel of the band and the approach they take. There’s so much freedom in what they do, and I used that as an example with my band, when I was rolling around playing clubs and festivals,” Morin explains. “A lot of times we’d play five songs without stopping. We’d just roll from tune to tune, and the whole point of that band was really dance music, just to provide an outlet for people to go out and have fun and dance.”

Morin uses the same ethos in his current performances touring behind his solo efforts.

“As a solo player, I can do whatever I want. I can play in whatever key. I can speed things up or slow it down, or just kind of make things up as I go along. And I really dig that freedom to just do whatever I want on stage,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll try stuff and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But when it does, it’s a great feeling, and then it’s gone forever.”

While solo spontaneity on stage leads to such ephemeral moments, Morin has a solidified team off-stage that serves as his backbone — and they’re not going anywhere. From recording to promotion, it’s an organic, family affair.

“What I like about these four records [is that] the recordings are all done live in the studio with no headphones. I’ll sit and play these songs, and just play and play and play them, and a friend of mine has recorded all these albums,” Morin explains. “We’ve gotten together, I think, a pretty successful team with Maple Street Music and [my wife] promoting the live shows and the recordings, and Rich [Werdes] recording them, and we have the same person that’s been mastering and mixing the CDs, too. It’s just like the perfect combination of people and I like to think that I promote one guy, one guitar. People still are interested in such a thing … I just really enjoy being able to stand on stage by myself being able to do what I do.”

Photo credit: Timothy Duffy

LISTEN: The Mammals, ‘My Baby Drinks Water’

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Artist: The Mammals
Hometown: West Hurley, NY
Song: “My Baby Drinks Water”
Release Date: May 1, 2017
Label: Humble Abode Music

In Their Words: “I’ve always been inspired by the defiant and plaintive imagery of Jean Richie’s Kentucky strip-mining tale ‘Black Waters’ and the way that music tugs at your heart. This song just came to me one day when we were on tour with our little boy and baby girl, and I was doing a lot of singing and nursing.

For a few years, I only sang ‘My Baby Drinks Water’ in our home (or van) as a lullaby, but the bravery of the Standing Rock water protectors inspired me to film myself singing it on the banks of the Ashokan Reservoir where we live and share it with folks. The fast and warm response to that video prompted us to make this studio recording with my family. Lyn Hardy (my mom) sings harmony, and Jay Ungar and Molly Mason (my dad and step-mom) support the mood with drones on the fiddle and bowed bass. We did our best to recreate the private feeling of this song in front of microphones. Big thanks to producer Adam Armstrong for capturing it.

We dedicate this song to families and water protectors everywhere. The more we preserve, the more there is to share. Money is artificial. Water is life.” — Ruth Ungar

Photo credit: TW Collins 

Roots Musicians Rally to Support Standing Rock

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As tensions in North Dakota surrounding the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline have mounted and protest efforts to protect the land from the controversial project have grown over the last several months, many roots musicians have taken to song in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Like their Trump-protesting musician pals before them earlier this year, these musicians are using the power of music to raise awareness and vital funds for protest efforts, which continue following the Army Corps of Engineers' announcement that they would not grant permits necessary for completing the pipeline.

One of the largest of these efforts is Songs for Standing Rock, a series of compilations put together by Austin musician and activist Phoebe Hunt. So far, Hunt and her team have released three compilations, all available via a pay-what-you-want page on Bandcamp. All proceeds from sales, with the exception of a 3 percent PayPal processing fee, go to "the creation of permanent sustainable winterized geodesic domes, wood stoves, and fire wood supplies at Standing Rock." Artists featured on the compilations include Elephant Revival, Ana Egge and the Sentimentals, and Hunt herself.

Hunt initially got involved in Standing Rock efforts after hearing of the freezing conditions water protectors were enduring in their efforts to guard the contested land. Living in Austin, though, she wasn't immediately clear how she could make a substantial difference. "I wanted to help, but I was so busy with everything I was doing in my life," she explains. "I was so proud and so happy that they were doing what they were doing, but I couldn't be there … I knew I needed to help and I called my friend Lakshmi and I said, 'What can we do to help?' She said, 'I have this idea that we could get an album together of musicians that would come together to support.' I had an idea of a thousand things that I needed to do in my own life with all of these other projects I'm working on and was trying to direct her in how to do it and then, two days later, I woke up and it was cold in Austin and I was cold and I thought, 'These people are freezing. I have to do something now.' So I put up a Facebook post and I said, 'We're going to put a compilation album together. Anyone interested? We need to help these people. They need firewood. It's freezing. Let's activate.' That one Facebook post got so much response I had to create a graph of all the people who wanted to help."

Hunt put together a meeting that very evening for friends and musicians interested in joining the effort. "We delegated, and we talked through what we could do to help immediately," she says. They decided to use Bandzoogle, which doesn't take a portion of sales once a one-time annual hosting fee has been paid, to distribute the music and started the writing, recording, and curating process soon thereafter. It wasn't long before they had Songs for Standing Rock Vol. 1, a 15-song collection released on Thanksgiving Day. Hunt and her team received such an overwhelming response from their community that they have since released two additional volumes.

Artists getting otherwise involved in the movement include Spirit Family Reunion, who wrote the new song "Goin' Out to Cannonball" to raise money for Sacred Stone Camp, which is located on the Standing Rock Reservation. It's available for purchase through Bandcamp with all proceeds benefitting Sacred Stone Camp.


"This is not limited to protecting clean water and sacred land for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe," Spirit Family Reunion's Nick Panken, who wrote the song after spending time at Standing Rock, says. "This is not limited to the 17 million people across several states who get their water from the Missouri River. This comes down to protecting values that are vital to our humanity. The Dakota Access Pipeline represents the destruction of these values and, when these values are destroyed, so are we. This is our time to stand with Standing Rock in defense of their values and to learn from Standing Rock in their valuable ways."

The women behind Rising Appalachia, an Asheville-based roots-folk duo comprised of sisters Chloe Smith and Leah Song, also spent time protesting at Standing Rock, hoping to, as Smith describes, "be an ally to the water protectors on a holiday (Thanksgiving) that holds historical weight for many people across this country."

"It will take some time to fully understand and articulate the beauty and rawness that we experienced at Standing Rock, North Dakota, when we arrived on November 22," Song adds. "The sobering prayers and fire-centered leadership, the way that a living indigenous movement embraced and celebrated Thanksgiving in all of its complex historical context, the incredible sense of community and care that was shared amongst strangers and family alike who had all lent their physical bodies to a movement much bigger than a protest. The Standing Rock community, the Oceti Sakowin and RoseBud camps, and the many, many people from far and wide that are standing with this movement to reroute the Dakota Access pipeline are making their voices heard in a peaceful and prayerful way."

While songwriting is a primary outlet for activism for many musicians, some artists have taken to writing op-eds in support of Standing Rock, as well, including a handful who have done so for BGS. Nashville's Korby Lenker wrote an essay for us to accompany his song "Last Man Standing," writing, "Watching the news, I see policemen lined up in riot gear while, behind them, bulldozers carve up land upon which buffalo once roamed. Apart from the specific threat, people are frustrated — I am frustrated — that this is one more example of the government putting corporate interests over the health and well-being of human beings." The Indigo Girls published a call to action urging readers to contact Kelcy Warren, the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, the company slated to build the pipeline. 

Artists have long been at the forefront of activist movements, and these recent examples from roots musicians are the kinds of efforts that will be especially crucial in coming years when President-elect Trump takes office. Protecting the environment will soon be a more urgent cause than ever, as will the protection of the civil liberties of marginalized groups, and it's up to artists to raise their voices and use their platforms for change.

"We need new models and new leaders to help shepherd us into a more sustainable way of living," Song concludes. "We know that coal and oil will not last forever. Standing Rock is creating that model physically, metaphorically, poetically, and through real non-violent teachings and beliefs to begin to shift our cultural emphasis away from corporate large-scale agendas and into grassroots living and organizing. We have a lot to learn from this movement."

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