SPOTLIGHT: White Mountain Apache Laura Ortman

Studying the violin as a child set Laura Ortman on a path to collaborating, composing, creating The Coast Orchestra with all Native American members, and expanding her own musical arsenal to include singing, piano, guitars and even tree branches. 

Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) was adopted as a baby into a musical family from Alton, Illinois. Her adopted mother was a pianist and coordinated the community's youth orchestra for 20 years. Laura was introduced to the violin at the age of 8 and by the time she was a teen, she was playing with the St. Louis Youth Symphony. When it came time to choose a focus for her post-secondary schooling she chose to study drawing, painting, sculpture and performance art at the University of Kansas. After university, Ortman moved to New York where she played with the Brooklyn College and Hunter College Symphony Orchestras. She also starting writing improvisational music for modern dance performances.

Laura's explorations have taken her into many collaborative groupings including The Dust Dive with Ken Switzer and Bryan Zimmerman formed in 2000. The Dust Dive released two albums Claws of Light (2007) and Asleep or Awake Walk (2005) both of which are still distributed through OWN Records. OWN describes them as "weird, warm, and captivating" using violin, guitar, piano, acoustic reed organ, musical saw, sampled radios, field recordings, and uncommonly vivid verse soar with gritty equanimity and “mythological twang.” They often wove super-8 and video footage from weather documentaries, family movies and other imagery into their live performances.

In 2001, Laura partnered up with Brad Kahlammer to create National Braid and they released a self titled album in 2002. National Braid also live scored the 1929 silent film Redskin, commissioned by the Smithsonian National Museum, and they toured screenings through New Mexico, Italy, the Czech Rebuplic and the Tribeca Film Festival.

She has worked on a long list of film collaborations including a live soundtrack to films by artist Martha Colburn, a soundtrack to an art film by Mohawk artist Alan Michelson, a playful score for a short film by Navajo film maker Blackhorse Lowe and most recently Laura's music video I Lost My Shadow was featured on our list of Top 16 Music Videos of 2011. Its director Nanobah Becker won Best Music Video at the 2011 imagineNATIVE festival and stars the NYC ballet dancer Jock Soto (Navajo) .

Laura formed The Coast Orchestra, with all Native American players, in 2008 and wowed sold-out crowds at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and at the opening of the Margaret Mead Festival in New York. Their mandate being to promote classically trained Native American musicians and to perform music about Native Americans. They have members from thirteen nations from Alaska, Arizona, New York and Washington D.C.

Laura's second solo album Someday We'll Be Together released this August is available through thedustdiveflash.bandcamp.com and was recorded in Brooklyn by Martin Bisi. It features Laura on violin, piano, electric guitar, and the Apache violin, Casio, tree branches and vocals.

I emailed Laura with a couple questions that I just couldn't contain and even though she'd just accidentally burnt her sacred hands with hot tea water she took the time to send these beautiful replies.

RPM: What was it like meeting your birth family? How do you think the experience of having two families, one adopted and one by blood has influenced your art?

Laura Ortman: Meeting my birthfamily a month before 9/11 in Whiteriver, Arizona, was like one of those moments when you are still and the whole world is spinning around you. That's the best I can explain what that moment was like. Meeting my birthmother and birthsister face to face out in the woods and seeing their eyes for the first time in bright daylight was exactly where I felt I had been renewed. It also magically validated all these ideas, emotions and experiences of being adopted as a Native woman that I kept in my head and not feeling like I was losing my mind all those years growing up till then because I had been far away and lost. It was a great reunion! Still learning how to be from two families. Especially after the devastating loss of my adopted mom 7 months after 9/11. She fell from a brain hemorrhage and was gone instantly. So between finding myself come full circle with my birthfamily, the depression of 9/11 and the sudden loss of her, everything took dramatic forms for a long time. I've always been so thankful, grateful and appreciative my adopted family supported my music and art all my life. Seeing how its all come together is incredibly humbling, but it feels really good.

It's the sure thing to have the art and music I do to be able to express how life seems and re-create stories, real or imaginary that happen. I don't play all dark, all sad, all blessed, all bright music all the time. The way life has worked out I have lots of imagery and events to reference when I'm conveying a message. And now more than ever, everything takes on a new, matured day from the ever on-ringing past and has its basis in continuing scenarios and influences,  in addition to my personal family histories. Thanks for asking me this question. Hard to put it into words a little bit, but thanks. (I can't wait to give everrrryone in my families a big hug now.)

RPM: After being brought up on classical music can you describe your first improvised performance experience(s)?

LO: The lonely life of this artist has been SAVED by improvisation because as far as I can remember it has always been a collaborative experience.  I took some performance art and installation art courses in college and started playing violin for them live. I could pre-record myself on tape or make a loop on a CD player and duet with myself alongside that for performances. It was too much fun! Never any dialogue, just "found" sounds or experimenting on how to make things make sense to accompany the art. When I moved to New York in 1997 I somehow continued on as an improv violinist for modern dancers. Getting called to rehearsals, street performances, residencies for various dancers really helped me figure out how to just keep bouncing ideas off and from them. And then I started getting asked to do music for film! In 2002, me and my then bandmate for National Braid collaborated on composing and performing a live soundtrack to a silent film from 1929 called Redskin. Collaborating with the moving vintage images and trying to help them express the silentness of it all was wonderful. We had a succinct and scratchy map of our score but never a full-on note by note scenario of what we were doing. Just went and flew with it for each performance. It was original and free. The classical geek in me has kept up with etudes, concertos, sight-reading still... just so I can keep my chops up to play with the powerful ideas improv has led me to. To me improvisation is in the energy of true collaboration that makes it work or not.

RPM: Can you explain the Apache Violin?

LO: There's this incredible friend, Drew Lacapa (Apache, Hopi, Tewa) who was the man who helped me directly find my birthmother and sister that day on the White Mountain Apache reservation. I celebrate every trip back to the rez when visiting my family and also visiting him and his family. He gave me the Apache violin I now play, perform and record with. Its a long hollowed out Agave stalk with grouped wound string that resonates when bowed that you can tune with one peg. Its hand painted. The bow is arc shaped and from what I can tell is that both the string and the bow hairs are made of horse tail hair. The hairs on my Apache violin are so shredded right now it can't be played. Until I find a horse. Its got a small nasally sound and I use my classical violin rosin on its bow to give it some breathiness. On my latest album my engineer, Martin Bisi put a wonderful microphone on it to really bring out its earthy tones. I've used it for four-track recordings at home, for audio interviews and for a performance at John Zorn's performance space here in New York called The Stone. I really need to find a horse.

Here is Opening Ceremony by Laura Ortman. Can someone please find this woman a horse?!

Jana Mashonee Is Not Just About The Music

Today Lumbee singer-songwriter Jana Mashonee released a new single, Stay With Me Baby. In this exclusive audio interview, Jana chats with RPM about her career path as an Indigenous female musician and her dedication to promoting her culture in this audio interview.

Jana also speaks about her work as a mentor and the creation of her non-profit organization Jana's Kids, which you can read more about in our feature Music Mentor: Jana Mashonee, Lumbee Musician.

Get her new single Stay With Me Baby on iTunes.

Listen to the Jana Mashonee interview here:

Oklahoma Siren Karen Dalton

Greenwich Village's little known Cherokee folk singer the late Karen Dalton brought a soulful honesty from Enid, Oklahoma.

Well known to those apart of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the 60's, Karen Dalton was an inspiration to many musicians at that time. Bob Dylan states in his autobiography that after arriving in New York in 1961 " My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton. Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday and played guitar like Jimmy Reed... I sang with her a couple of times" Although she was never broadly well known, probably due to her aversion to recording and that she often chose to cover songs, her aching, blues-soaked, and tender voice affected many of those that had the opportunity to see her live.

Dalton was born Karen J.Cariker in Enid Oklahoma on July 19, 1937. Her Cherokee mother, Evelyn, used to sleep on a brass bed in the backyard. In the early 60's she took her 12 string guitar and banjo, left her husband behind, and moved to Greenwich Village, New York where she began playing at small live venues. Lacy J Dalton (who took Karen's last name as a tribute) rented Dalton and her boyfriend a room. Lacy learned from Dalton to soften her voice and to speak her lyrics. She remembers Dalton as having "a certain gentle warmth, in her best moments, a sort of cleanness that you don't see often in this world. She was a wonderful cook, and she could make anything grow. She was magical."

Although very talented, Karen Dalton battled heavy drink and drug use. After separating from her husband, she eventually became estranged from her children and dealt with her pain by self medicating. Like so many artistic spirits she had a heightened sensitivity to what was happening in the world and chose to live whim by whim and would often disappear with no notice.

From lightintheattic.net:

“Karen’s mother was full Cherokee, and told her that if your vibrations were right, plants would grow into your room, as Karen had grown onto the Village folk scene. She had the Beat spirit as well, the existential angst which felt life was dark, perpetually in pain, and that was how you became your art, if you were a real artist." - Lenny Kaye of the the Patti Smith Group

Nik Venet recorded all of Dalton's first album Its So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You The Best (Capitol, 1969) in one session and many of the tracks were done in one take. Her second album In My Own Time (Just Sunshine Records, 1971) was a combination of traditional folk tunes, blues, covers of soul hits and tracks by singer-songwriters. In My Own Time was recorded at Bearsville Studio near Woodstock in upstate New York. Apparently in preparation to record, Dalton returned to Oklahoma to fetch her two teenage children, her dog and her horse in order to feel at ease.

Despite the stellar musical support lent to her by producer Harvey Brooks and all of the musicians featured on the album, it flopped commercially and nobody offered to front the money for another. Dalton drifted farther out of the music scene and deeper into her self destructive tendencies. By the early 90's she was living on the streets of New York, after an unsuccessful stint at rehab she passed away from AIDS and drug use complications in 1993. She spent the last few months of her life in the care of guitarist Peter Walker in upstate New York.

Keep an ear out for a tribute featuring a track sung by Samantha Crain. Her albums are available on Light in the Attic Records.

Here is Something On Your Mind off of In My Own Time by Karen Dalton:

Rod Ruel Talks Music is the Medicine

Rod Ruel is the producer of the new documentary Music is the Medicine that follows Six Nations blues-rocker Derek Miller and has its broadcast debut next week on APTN. RPM talks to Rod about the making of the documentary, the feedback so far and some words of wisdom for young filmmakers.

RPM: What's your name, location and occupation?

RR: Rodney Ruel, Canada, Producer.

RPM: How did you become involved in the Music is the Medicine project?

RR: It started out with wanting to make a rock’n’roll documentary. I had known Derek for quite a few years and after discussing it with Jody Hill (co-producer) and Lindsay Rusheleau (Director) we couldn’t think of anyone better to do a doc on. He’s extremely talented, totally charismatic and has a story that rock’n’roll legends are made of. He’s played with some of the greats, has won all these awards, received all this industry acclaim and works harder than anyone I know but, unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to break through. We were hoping that this doc might help shine the spotlight on him a little more. We took the pitch to Lynn Booth at Make Believe Media and she instantly saw the potential in Derek and his story and came on board with us. From there APTN and Knowledge licensed it… so check it out on APTN Dec 7^th at 10pm nationwide and check us out online for the future air date on Knowledge.

RPM: What were some of the challenges in documenting a story like Music is the Medicine?

RR: Derek is one of those guys who lives life by the moment, always flying by the seat of his pants, “gotta move, gotta move” as he says which makes trying to follow him with a camera quite a challenge. We would be heading out ready to film him at a certain location and then on the way we would get a text that the plans had changed and to meet him somewhere else…well on the way to that new location we would get another text from him or Niki Cooke, his assistant, that plans had changed again. And on and on…

RPM: On the flip side of that, what were some of the strengths?

RR: The strengths would be the same as the challenges. What makes Derek a great character is that nothing is boring, nothing is static and you never know what you’re going to get from him one moment to the next. It’s quite inspirational to watch someone throw caution to the wind and live by their instinct and heart.

RPM: What has the feedback been like for the film?

RR: It’s been great so far. For all the fans of Derek, they feel they’ve been able to see a small snippet of his life and story that they otherwise may not have gotten to see and for those who didn’t know of Derek before, they come away in awe of his talent, his music. I think the most consistent response is just how much Derek inspires.

RPM: Do you have any words for young filmmakers out there trying to launch their careers as documentary filmmakers?

RR: Well it’s definitely not easy and I don’t think it’s supposed to be. You just have to be persistent, believe in yourself and the story you want to tell, no matter how many doors get shut in front of you, no matter how impossible the odds of getting it done might seem. The journey you will go through will seem like madness, insanity and absolute chaos at times but when you get through to the other side, that journey will never be forgotten.

RPM: What's next for Rod Ruel?

RR: I will take a page out of Derek’s book on this one and figure that out moment by moment.

RPM: Shout outs?

RR: To everyone who had a hand involved in making this doc and joining us on our journey through our own little piece of madness.

Music is the Medicine airs December 7th, 2011, on ATPN at 10pm across Canada.

Watch the trailer for Music is the Medicine:

SPOTLIGHT: Blue King Brown

Blue King Brown brings Indigenous understanding with grace, strength and 1love from down under to the international stage.

This summer Blue King Brown (BKB) bounced their way from Victoria to Tofino to Nelson, to the main stages of Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal Jazz and Blues Fests and even St John, NB. The live urban roots band is based out of Melbourne, Australia, and has been promoting urban dub, afro-beats, rock guitars and drums n’ bass internationally for 7 years - gracing stages in Europe, UK, USA and Japan.

Lead singer, Natalie Pa'apa'a, is originally from Samoa and brings a unique and energetic flavour to the group's performance. This isn't just dance music, these guys have a message for their global audience and it's all about taking charge, working together, and thinking about ourselves as a GLOBAL community. BKB isn't shy to talk about international politics - they are using their platform to bring light to issues of nuclear energy, mining, global warming and sex trafficking just to name a few.

In an interview with Press+1 Natalie was asked about BKB's new album Worldwize:

We were looking at names and going through them and chucking them out really quickly and our bass player Carlo Santone said “Worldwize. No that’s stupid.” I said “Wait! That’s perfect.” For me it captures the philosophy and intention of our band to tour internationally and connect with people from all walks of life and to be up to date and aware of what’s happening with our people and our planet. Worldwize is about remembering that we are connected on this planet and that we have to make positive change.

The band began with Carlo Santone and Natalie Pa'apa'a as a percussion duo who also played together once in a band called Skin. The two started playing and writing their own music using just a guitar and whoever they could find to jam out with in Australia's Byron Bay. From there, connections with other musicians formed  and they really took off after releasing their first single Water, a song about land rights and the stolen generation.

I don't know where to stand Up on the mountain or down in the sand Because I like being way up high I like being up, and I don't know why But up here I can see the walls Built by man to divide us all Making water deny us peace They took away the land then they brought disease Those white men who've got the keys To the black man's identity And those lands were supposed to be forever

They got no heart, they got no right And if you decide to fight Just know that we can fight together

We'll be the water for their fire

After the success of Water they released their first album Stand Up independently and haven't looked back since. Their new full-length album Worldwize garnered 4 out of 5 stars from Rolling Stone Magazine and was just nominated for 'Best Roots and Blues Album' by Australia's Aria Awards. Although Worldwize hasn't been officially released in Canada yet, you can get their self titled Canadian release available on iTunes. Check out their website for new tracks and more info at bluekingbrown.com.

“BKB are one of those unique truth-telling outfits in our business that defy time. Amazing musicians with a powerful message.” - Serj Tankian (System of a down)

“They are the voice of the street and the band of the future!” – Carlos Santana

Check out the video here for Never Fade Away and get hooked!

Big Dan's Border Crossing "Mi Tierra"

Big Dan (MeXIKANO) celebrates his immigrant Indigenous roots with the release of his second solo album All or None: The American Burden featuring Mi Tierra.

Big Dan has just released his second solo album All or None: The American Burden. He has been writing, recording and performing for over 7 years and describes it as a positive outlet: "It is my therapy...it is more than just to entertain people, it is to edu-tain."

A child of Mexican immigrants who grew up in the inner city projects of Oakland, he ended up in Juvenile Hall several times and wants others to learn from his mistakes. Having earned a degree in Ethnic Studies from from the University of California Berkeley, he works as a case manager for at risk teenagers and takes the opportunity to speak at youth centers, detention facilities and academic institutions all over the country.

With the multiple, intersecting layers of colonial history south of Turtle Island, Indigenous identity and language can become an interesting topic of discussion and debate.

Big Dan describes himself as MeXIKANO:"Around my parents and family I identify as Mexican; around my music and friends I identify as XiKANO. So I have just decided to put them both in and say MeXIKANO. This means that I know my history, culture, and about my people Indigenously."

For the first time he chose to write Mi Tierra (My Land), one of the title tracks on his new album, completely in Spanish. It is a special project for him because it shows the progress hip-hop has made as something that resonates internationally. The hook translates as:

“block by block, and to all of my people putting in their positive efforts, crossing borders, not knowing if we will be back, with this song, I dedicate to my land”

Big Dan's latest album All or None: the American Burden is now available for sale on iTunes and check out officialbigdan.com for more info, free downloads and updates on his latest musical projects.

Here is the video for Mi Tierra (My Land) by Big Dan:

Skeena Reece's Life Cycles

After recently giving birth to her first child, Skeena Reece (Tsimshian, Gitksan, Cree, Metis) reflects on her late father and his creative accomplishments. John Carver from her debut album Sweetgrass and Honey released earlier this year is an ode to all Native carvers acknowledged or unappreciated.

Skeena Reece's water broke with her first child a year to the day since the passing of her late father,  master carver Victor Reece. As she welcomes the arrival of her son (not yet named) she shares her reflections on his path as a traditional west coast carver in a post colonial world.

RPM: You once did a performance piece about one of your father’s masks; can you talk a little about that?

Skeena Reece: Sure. I did a piece at the Grunt Gallery in 95 as a launch for Redwire Media’s Awaken100.com. I wanted to share the experience of having to sell a piece. I wanted people to know how it felt to lose a piece of your memory or your culture. I wanted them to experience what it was like to be colonized.

The mask was a central part of it. I told them how much it would retail for, I talked to people about it’s value in the community, and the value it had in the past. Some of the stories I have heard are that if you ever sold a mask, before contact, you would have been killed for it. It was that important to our people. Masks had spirits, they had names, they had homes, and they had guardians.

I had some friends make music, Jason Burnstick was there and Jerrilynn Webster (JB the 1st Lady) read some writing that I wrote. I integrated a slide show.  I hired a photographer to take pictures of me and the mask around the city.  I wanted to introduce them to the story of the mask. They were able to touch it, whoever was wearing plastic gloves, which I had handed out. I wanted that feeling of a museum kind of mentality of handling this sacred and expensive item.  And when it returned to me I broke it. Everyone was so shocked because they had come to understand it in their own way. I showed the photos again and they had a different experience the second time because now it was gone and essentially it was a memory.

So it was really intense and a lot of people wept and I wept too. I think it really struck people to the core of the meaning, for me, of having to lose something. A lot of native people have experienced this but it’s so hard to share. I think you can put that into the context of loss of culture, loss of parents, loss of home, loss of land, loss of government, loss of justice, loss of familial love. I wanted to share with them the feeling of loss and also triumph because we burned masks, we broke masks and my father has told me he has broken many masks either by accident and on purpose. And I feel that it is an action or gesture of reclamation. Of knowing that it’s not in the item that the worth lies, it’s in the people, in the culture. It’s something that never dies.

RPM: Tell me about the song John Carver.

SR: I wrote John Carver in a night. After recorded all the songs on the CD (Sweetgrass and Honey), there was room for one more.  The musicians created the music and I took it away and I wrote the song as an ode to my father who is a master carver that passed away last year. I wrote it 6 months before he passed so he was able to hear it. He really enjoyed it.

RPM: What did you want to express to him when you wrote it?

SR: I wanted to express it to all carvers, I feel like there is a lot of unsung heroes in the carving world that don’t get a lot of press.  As a daughter of a carver I wanted to share how I felt about my dad, the long hours that he put in and the experience of having to see him sell these precious things to non-native people for their entertainment. To put on their walls and not really knowing the passion that goes into it and not really understanding the cultural significance. I wanted to personalize that so that he knew that I knew that he was really special and that what he shared with the world is more than what they could know.

I also wanted to honour the death of the Nuu-chah-nulth carver in Seattle. I felt like that was indicative of other disrespect and absolute neglect of a lot of carvers who are forced to just pace the streets with their work. There is no place for them and they are very vulnerable to the point where one guy, John T. Williams,  was murdered for carrying his carving knife by a police officer. Living in Port Alberni I heard about it and it just really struck me. My dad wanted to do something about it. He wanted to have a march or a memorial of some kind. It was always a part of him to acknowledge injustice and other artists who don’t get the same treatment as someone like him or somebody who has a bigger name.

I wanted to sing a song to let him know that I am connected to his self and I am a reflection of him and his pieces that go out into the world aren’t just the only pieces that he has. I am one of his pieces that go out into the world and I always come back. I am something he can never lose.

Enjoy John Carver from the album Sweetgrass & Honey by Mama Skeena Reece:

STREAM: Skeena Reece - "John Carver"

Skeena Reece - "John Carver" by RPMfm

Lo Cash Ninjas Kick Ass on Home Turf

RPM Interviews young Navajo hardcore punks, Lo Cash Ninjas: Jordan Steele "Rude Boy Lice" (Navajo) vocals/guitar, Martin Johnson "Panda" (bass), Keanu Lee "Popeye" (vocals/guitar) and Andre Alva "Dre" (drums).

RPM: How/When did you guys start Lo Cash Ninjas? Jordan: It all started in the heat of 08' "most" of us were still in high school. Shiprock was a metal dominant music scene back then. We were the the outcast band that nobody liked, but we were different that is what drew attention. Dre: Well they (Lo Cash Ninjas) were already a band and their original drummer decided to bail so I picked up the slack and joined the band. Martin: I was just a guy with an amp that Jordan constantly borrowed, so I let him and when he needed someone to play bass I volunteered to help, didn't think i was gonna be part of the band. Made my senior year of high school a blast with all of us hanging out. Keanu: We started out with 2 acoustic guitars jamming in Jordan's storage room, this was about four years ago. I was self taught and whatever I learned I taught Jordan.

RPM: What drew you to punk and hardcore? Dre: When I was small I started listening to NOFX, Sublime, Crass, the Suicide Machines, Mustard Plug and all kinds of shit. One day I decided to pick up the drums, and from there I started to play guitar and really got into drumming. I always wanted to have a band and play drums and now I do. Martin: Curiosity to hear something different, there are many different genres I never hear of.. Keanu: Well, I liked the fact that the punk music has a raw sound to it. Also, the songs were quite easy to play.. but once we got into ska, it was a whole different sound. Jordan: We all came from different music backgrounds, that's what made the "ninja sound" your hearing today.

RPM: How was the show you played in Shiprock, NM at the Indie/Electronic show at Navajo Nation Fair? Keanu: We played two nights in Shiprock, both nights were good. It's been awhile since we played our hometown. Jordan: Overall I had fun, we rarely get to play Shiprock because half the band lives in the Phoenix area now... Martin: The one at the Indian Market tent was very good, sounded just like our old shows.

RPM: What was the best thing about playing the fair at home? Keanu: Got to go home to a home cooked meal right after we played. Haha. Martin: Its the fair. its where we grew up and its home to us. Jordan: Got to see a lot of familiar faces. Dre: (Andre's from Arizona) The shows were awesome I'm glad I made it out to play with my homies. It's always sounds good when we're all back together.

RPM: Why is it cool to play an all Native showcase? Martin: All Native? Wouldn't matter to me if aliens were playing too. Just jamming out and having fun with your friends is cool enough. Keanu: Because we get to hear various types of music native bands have to offer. Dre: It was cool to play a Native showcase because we like other people to hear our music and what we're about and not only that but keeping it Native. Jordan: Native or not, we still try to make the best of every show.

RPM: Anything else you want to tell me about you guys? L$N: Shout out to all my ninjas for all the support over the years!!!!

Check out the youtube link below for the song We All Die.

SPOTLIGHT: Link Wray - "The Rumble Man"

Link Wray, a half Shawnee guitarist out of North Carolina, pioneered the influential, distorted electric guitar "power chord".

Rock music has been around for more than five decades and many artists can boast being from Indigenous backgrounds from Chuck Berry to Elvis Presley all the way to Stevie Salas and Derek Miller. Through all of these incredible musicians the sound of rock music has been infiltrated by the Indigenous experience. One of the most influential icons in rock music was a man named Link Wray, who, with his song Rumble, pioneered the sound of the distorted power chord on the electric guitar, changing the sound of rock music forever.

Fred Lincoln Wray Jr. was born in Dunn, North Carolina, in 1929 to Fred Lincoln Wray and Lillian M. Coats. He first learned the slide guitar from a traveling Barnum & Bailey circus worker named "Hambone" at the age of 8 years old. Later in life he contracted tuberculosis while serving time in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and eventually lost one of his lungs. His doctor informed him he would never be able to sing again, so he focused in on strengthening his guitar playing instead.

After being discharged from military service, Link and his brothers Douglas and Vernon formed a band - Lucky Wray and the Lazy Pine Wranglers, which later on became Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands - and traveled the country circuit playing shows. They became the house band for Milt Grant's House Party, a live music television show based in Washington D.C. and Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands recorded their first music with Starday Records in 1956.

While on the TV show, Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands were urged by the crowds to come up with a song that sounded like The Stroll by The Diamonds and they responded with a tune they first called Oddball. It was an instant hit with the audience who immediately demanded to hear it repeated several times that night.

Word of this music craze caught the ear of Cadence Record's Archie Bleyer, who had detested the song - especially how Link Wray had pierced holes in the speakers of his amplifier to achieve that gritty, live sound that the audience loved. Because of its menacing sound, Oddball was later renamed Rumble, and despite being an instrumental track - no lyrics to potentially offend - the song was banned from several radio stations. That year Rumble would sell 4 million copies, still a huge feat by today's standards.

Rumble became a hit not only in North America, but also in Great Britain where it would inspire artists like The Kinks, The Who, Jimmy Page, and the legendary rock band Led Zeppelin. Other artists who would cite Link Wray as an influence to their artistry would include Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Neil Young and Bob Dylan - to name just a few. You can recognize Rumble's sound in the movies such as Pulp Fiction, Independence Day and Desperado.

The distorted sounds that Link Wray introduced to 1950s rock music scene blazed a trail for other genres like punk, hard rock and heavy metal. As Link Wray is being rediscovered by a new generation of rock fans, his legacy lives on as the creator of the distorted power chord and he retains his well deserved title as "The Rumble Man".

Watch Link Wray perform Rumble in 1978:

Also watch Link Wray - The Rumble Man - a documentary about Link Wray which includes footage and interviews with Link Wray.

SPOTLIGHT: The Last Kinection

Our brothers and sisters from down under, The Last Kinection,  just released their ever-deadly new album Next of Kin.

The Last Kinection is a trio made up of brother and sister Joel (Weno) and  Naomi (Nay) Wenitong from the Kabi Kabi mob of South East Queensland and friend Jacob Turier (DJ Jaytee). Their name speaks to the alarming rate that we are losing our elders to the cycle of life and the dire need to maintain that link to our ancestry. Already 5 times over Deadly Music Award winners, they represent the next generation of Australian Indigenous hip hop artists.

As well as producing their own music they have been touring, offering workshops on the music business, production, singing, MCing and DJ techniques, songwriting and performance. It is important to them to "encourage, guide and give confidence to upcoming artists; allowing them to express themselves in a positive way "and through this giving them pivotal opportunities for healing.

In 2008, The Last Kinection was invited to perform with The Herd on a sold-out national tour. After winning legions of new fans, the morning after their last show, they were victims of a life changing car accident.  Nay was in such critical shape that she was declared dead at the scene until Weno noticed the blanket covering her move. Through a lengthy recovery they found the strength to just keep rising higher and higher.

Their opening track Find A Way is a call to flip the victim mentality on it's head. Later on Prove Them Wrong inspires us to be our greatest selves while bumpin away to grimy didgeridoo beats. The general theme throughout is hopeful and proud while still being real about the issues facing us living in colonial capitalism. The album opens with:

We fought so that we could open those doors for you fellas… so you could get inside and change the system, for us, for your people... Now we know that those doors are open and that the biggest employer of Aboriginal people in this country is the government. What we gotta do is get into those young people’s minds ... and say to them, "You’re not changing out the system to suite us. You’re in there and you’re making things comfortable for yourself. You’re failing us and you’re failing your ancestors." That’s something we can do. That’s something we must do.

Listening to their biting, honest lyrics it's clear that the issues facing Indigenous people are worldwide and universal.

The Last Kinection - Next of Kin by Elefant Traks

Support their work by purchasing Next of Kin from independent Aussie hip-hop label Elefant Traks.

Here is the video for the featured track Are We There Yet from their new album.

RPM Artist Minute: Sister Says - "On Collaboration"

In our inaugural "Artist Minute" video feature, RPM captured Haida brother and sister duo Sister Says collaborating on a new track, Give Me My Love.

Director/Cinematography/Editing: Louvens Remy / Blacksunrise Pictures

Brian Lush from Rockwired.com Talks Radio

Yankton Sioux internet radio host Brian Lush shares his insight about the business of internet radio and his personal experiences working in Indigenous music culture.

Brian Lush is the founder and editor-in-chief of internet radio station Rockwired.com and he curates Indigenous music on his show Aboriginal Sounds, which recently came across our desks here at RPM. We had the chance to talk with Brian and hear some of his insights about creating an internet radio show.

LISTEN: Brian Lush Interview on RPM

Also check out his interview with Nammy award winning artist Frank Waln from the Rosebud, Sioux hip-hop group Nake Nula Waun which we featured here on RPM: Nake Nula Waun on Aboriginal Sounds Radio