News

Larry is presently working with students from Sonnesyn Elementary School in New Hope, Minnesota to honor the life stories of Beni Persaud, Samuel Wagner Cooke, and Michael Favor in narrative and song through a program called, Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song.   The lyrics to their songs will be illustrated by students and published, as part of the Men of Color Series through Community Celebration of Place.  (www.communitycelebration.org)

About the honored elders:

Samuel Wagner Cooke:  Born in the Republic of Liberia, West Africa.  Graduated with a Secondary Education Degree.  Principal of Public High School.   Fled during the Civil War and settled in Minnesota, where he received a Master Degree and works in the Robbinsdale School District.

Michael Favor:  Born in Athens, Georgia during the Civil Rights Movement.  Family moved to Minneapolis when he was a child.  Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.   Graduated with a degree in Sociology, Social Work, and Coaching. Principal at Minneapolis North and Cooper High Schools.  Presently, Assistant Superintendent of the Robbinsdale School District.

Beni Persaud:  Born in Guyana, South America.  Worked as a child on the sugar plantations with his mother following his father’s death when he was seven. After joining the British Army he moved to Minnesota.   Married and raised their four children in north Minneapolis.

TWIN CITIES — SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 — American Roots Revue works from the core of America’s richest musical traditions of First Nation, gospel, blues, folk, rock and R&B. Fresh off of a 2014 five-city ‘Legacy’ summer tour in Minnesota, American Roots Revue continues to reinvent itself with a new line-up of powerful vocal artists that spans generations and genres.

Joining its ranks for a special November 1, 2014 concert at the Dakota at 7:00 and 9:00 p.m., are three high-profile Twin Cities singers, including red hot folk-rock singer-songwriter Chastity Brown, longtime Jazz stalwart and chanteuse, Prudence Johnson and formidable Gospel singer, Robert Robinson. The ensemble will be backed by the vocal group, Joyful Noize (Adara Thomas, Amanda Snyder, Rachael Okerlund, Rachel Svanoe.)

Led by renowned troubadour and community builder Larry Long, the Revue’s revamped lineup of world-class singers is equaled only by the strong supporting musicians such as: Drummer Michael Bland (Prince, Soul Asylum, Paul Westerberg, et al); Guitarist Cory Wong (Bryan White, Alexander O’Neal, Foreign Motion, others); Pedal Steel player Joe Savage (Hank Thompson, Dan Wilson, Wanda Jackson, David Frizzell, John Gorka, and many others); Bass Player Jimmy Anton (Jonny Lang, Jesse Johnson, Doc Severson, others).

American Roots Revue first featured these dynamic artists together during the celebration of what would have been Pete Seeger’s 95th birthday last spring in a sold-out concert at the Fitzgerald Theater called “For Pete’s Sake.”

Chastity Brown — who will perform songs from her upcoming album – is breaking out nationally and just returned from a one-month tour of Europe.   Add these veteran and remarkable singers like Prudence Johnson, Larry Long, and Robert Robinson together with Chastity and you have an evening to measure time from.

“…. a must-see event….…abundant talent”  – Star Tribune

Tickets are $30.00. The Dakota is located at 1010 Nicolet Mall, Downtown Minneapolis and at www.dakotacooks.com, 612-332-5299. American Roots Revue’s previous five shows there have all sold out!

For more information about American Roots Revue — or to interview the group — please contact Martin Keller, Media Savant Communications Co., 612-729-8585, mkeller@mediasavantcom.com

Tickets are still available for the September show at the Dakota. Don’t miss this chance to see American Roots Revue back together again for an end-of-summer celebration. And as if you didn’t have enough reasons, Robert Robinson is back!

Featuring Larry Long, JD Steele, Robert Robinson, Tonia Hughes, Waubanewquay Day & Fiddlin’ Pete Watercott with Cory Wong (guitar), Yohannes Tona (bass), Brian Ziemniak (Keyboards), Marc Anderson (Percussion), Petar Janjic (drums)

Fresh off of a 2014 five-city ‘Legacy’ summer tour, American Roots Revue celebrates in story and song the many nations of people who call this country home. The American Roots Revue works from the core of America’s richest musical traditions of gospel, folk, blues, R&B and First Nation traditions of the Anishinabe Ojibwe people. Backed by some of the finest Twin Cities musician’s making music across the world today.

In a satisfying two-hour performance that’s good for body and soul, this roots ensemble is led by Smithsonian/Folkways Recording artist, Larry Long, an American singer-songwriter who has made his life work the celebration of everyday heroes whom author, historian, actor, and broadcaster Studs Terkel called “a true American Troubadour.” Joining Long is national recording artist and producer, J. D. Steele, who heralds from the dynamic vocal family of siblings, The Steeles, a group that has garnered every major music award and accolade the state has had to offer. J.D. and the family began touring the international hit show “Gospel at Colonus” with Morgan Freeman around the world before finally landing on Broadway in 1988 for a successful nine-month run.

Rising powerhouse singer Tonia Hughes has deep roots in the African-American church but has also become a sought-after back-up singer on other genres and is a star in her own right. She’s served as a lead vocalist with the Grammy- and Stellar Award-nominated Excelsior Chorale Ensemble and has sung with a host of gospel and secular artists, including rock bands and pop performers. Keeper and Singer of the Song ‘Waubanewquay’ Dorene Day, the inspired Native Life Ways Singer/Practitioner, plays many roles in her rich artistic life. She sang as “Spirit Woman” in the play “Song Catcher” written by Marcie Rendon, performed in the WPT series, Wisconsin Stories-Ojibwe Music and sang for the Disney mini-series “Dream Keeper.” She also sings with her eldest Son’s Drum Group, ”Midnite Express” and is on several recordings. Dorene also won the 2010 Female singing competition in Mille Lacs Lake for the Minnesota Round Dance.

The American Roots Revue is a must-see event.

cost:  $30   Tickets: www.dakotacooks.com  or   BOX OFFICE 612-332-5299

About Robert Robinson

“I’m sure there are a lot of people like me who wish they had the ability to embrace every hurting person in the world and assure them that their lives will get better.  I can share that embrace and assurance in my songs.” – Robert Robinson

Robert Robinson is reason to believe that the greatest music reaches every name and crosses every boundary, from audiences in the Pontiac Silverdome to troops in South Korea. Standing five foot five and sipping Diet Coke, Robert is “God’s canary.”  He possesses the ability to sing any song and yet remain true to his vision.

KFAI will present “For Pete’s Sake”, a celebration of the life and work of musician and activist Pete Seeger, as a holiday-brightening opener on Labor Day morning from 6 to 8 am. Seeger was a lifelong supporter of organized labor and union causes.
When Pete died early this year, his friend Larry Long promised to celebrate what would have been Pete’s 95th birthday with a cast of local musicians who had keenly felt Seeger’s influence. On May 3rd, that group gathered at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.

The event celebrated the many phases of Seeger’s life and activism with an abundance of music from across the cultural spectrum.

Start your holiday morning with a long list of local notables: Robert Robinson, Prudence Johnson, John Gorka, Estaire Godinez, Chastity Brown, Larry Long, Joyful Noize, Peter Ostroushko, Waubanewquay Day, Ann Reed, Dan Chouinard, Tonia Hughes, Cyril Paul, Kevin Fuhrman, Brian Barnes, Brittany Delaney, Mitch Walking Elk, Courtney Yasmineh, Aimee Bryant, Patty Kakac, Barb Tilsen, Pop Wagner, Tony Glover, Charlie Maguire, Marc Anderson, Joe Savage, Cameron Wright, Lorna Her Many Horses, and Timothy Frantzich.

Featured narrators: Dale Connelly (News Director, KFAI, Fresh Air Community Radio), Anthony Galloway (Student Learning Programs Specialist, West Metro Education Program), Randy Furst & Chris Serres (Minnesota Newspaper Guild), Rod Volker (Vietnam Veteran, Marine Corp, Bring a Vet Home), Alejandra Tobar (Actress), Kim Ellison (Minneapolis Public School Board), Louis Alemayehu (Poet), Jacqueline Long (Attorney, Community Activist), Sharon Sayles Belton (Former Mayor of Minneapolis), Alanna Galloway (Communication Workers of America AFL-CIO), Dr. Josie Johnson (Civil Rights & Social Justice Elder), Ann Bancroft (Polar Explorer, Founder of Ann Bancroft Foundation), Reverend Dr. Will Healy (Park Avenue Methodist Church), Rhiana Yazzie (Playwright, Artistic Director of New Native Theatre), Jacob Reitan (LGBT Activist, Founder of Soulforce Equality Ride), Scarlett Lopez Cruz & Hector Lopez Cruz (Actors and Youth Activists), William Bunton (Freedom School Scholar)

Live Stream:   http://kfai.org/news/2014/08/43767

Community Celebration of Place (501 C-3), through a Minnesota State Art’s Board ‘Legacy Tour Grant’, sponsored American Roots Revue, which features several of Minnesota’s most gifted performers and arts educators, to perform in five outstate Minnesota communities in partnership with homeless shelters, incarceration facilities; community and veterans organizations. Each event FREE and open to the public.

American Roots Revue features: Larry Long (Smithsonian Folkways Recording artist who has made his life work the celebration of everyday heroes.), JD Steele (Mr. Steele and his dynamic vocal siblings, “The Steeles”, have garnered nearly every major music award and accolade that Minnesota has to offer), Billy Peterson (Bass player, songwriter, composer, session musician, producer, and oldest musical son of the renowned Peterson family), Tonia Hughes (Tonia’s vocal style is colored with melodic acrobats and elements of Gospel, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Rock and Worship), Cory Wong (Cory Wong may be young, but he has already proven himself to be a standout guitarist/musician in the Twin Cities), Marc Anderson (World percussionist, ethnomusicologist, teacher, composer, grandfather, and bandleader), and Waubanewquay-Dorene Day (Traditional Midewiwin Anishinabe Ojibwe Head Woman Singer.)

American Roots Revue has now performed at festivals in three of the five host communities, including: Duluth, Cass Lake, and St. Cloud in partnership with Hands Across the World; Cass Lake Chamber of Commerce; Leech Lake Boys & Girls Club; and Peace United Church of Christ and Churches United in Ministry (CHUM).

Each American Roots Revue concert features a song collectively written by members of each host community at a two-hour songwriting session facilitated by Larry Long.

For example: In Duluth Larry wrote music with incarcerated women in the St. Louis County Jail. The American Roots Revue performance of their song was filmed at the Rhubarb Festival (In memory of Steve O’Neil) in Duluth and later shown to the incarcerated women, who helped compose it.

Here’s the opening verse to their song, It’s Another Day:

I dream of a future sober and bright
Progressively moving towards the light
Free of shackles and jails, addiction and crime
The rattling keys which measures time
Of another day
Leech Lake Girls & Boys Club, Collective Songwriting, Cass Lake, Minnesota

The final two American Roots Revue ‘Legacy’ performances will be held: August 15^th, Crookston, Minnesota, in partnership with Beyond the Yellow Ribbon and theCrookston Chamber & Visitor’s Bureau; August 22^nd, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in partnership with The Refuge (regional homeless shelter)

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

American Roots Revue will be performing this Thursday & Friday, August 14^th & 15^th,  in Crookston, Minnesota, as part of Ox Cart Days to honor our Veterans, in partnership with Beyond the Yellow Ribbon and the Crookston Chamber & Visitor’s Bureau.  Free & Open to the public!

The 4^th Annual Veterans Recognition Ceremony is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at UMC Kiehle Auditorium.  We will be honoring three Veterans this year and will also be doing a special WWII presentation. We have the privilege of having the American Roots Revue performing their song “Welcome Home” at the ceremony. They have also agreed to sing the National Anthem at the beginning of the program.

Service Flag Line at Entrance – Civil Air Patrol

3:00 p.m.              Doors Open at Kiehle Auditorium

3:15 p.m.              Color Guard by B-Co 2/136 CAB

Service Flags by Civil Air Patrol

National Anthem – American Roots Revue

Pledge of Allegiance

3:30 p.m.              Welcome by Master of Ceremonies – Police Chief Paul Biermaier

3:35 p.m.              David Chaffee – Introduction and Presentation of Plaque by Paul Biermaier

3:40 p.m.              Jim C. Sheridan – Introduction and Presentation of Plaque by Leo Luettejohann

3:45 p.m.              Robert “Bob” Young – Introduction and Presentation of Plaque by Rich Simmons

3:50 p.m.              WWII Plague Presentation by Bill Cassavant, Chairman BYR to Chuck Whiting

Polk County Administrator

3:55 p.m.              “Welcome Home” song by American Roots Revue

4:00 p.m.              Retirement of Colors – B-Co 2/136 CAB

4:05 p.m.              Downtown Square for the Flag Retirement Ceremony presented by the Boy Scouts

4:15 p.m.              American Roots Revue – “Veterans Honor” song and “Crookston” song

Flag Retirement Ceremony by the Boy Scouts

5:00 p.m.              American Roots Revue Concert in the Town Square

After the Veterans Recognition Ceremony, everyone is invited to the DownTown Square to participate in the Flag Retirement Ceremony.  This ceremony shows the dignity and respect that is given to properly dispose of the flag that has flown with honor but is no longer suitable for display.  The American Roots Revue will be performing their special song being written for Crookston and will be performing their concert after the Flag Retirement Ceremony in the Town Square.

“This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.”

American Roots Revue will be performing for Hands Across the World in St. Cloud, Minnesota on July 31st, Thursday, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm at Wilson Park, 625 Riverside Avenue NE, St. Cloud, MN. Free and open to the public! Rain or shine!

American Roots Revue features Larry Long, JD Steeele, Tonia Hughes and Waubanewquay Dorene Day with Billy Peterson (upright bass), March Marc Anderson (percussion), Brian Ziemniak (keyboards), Cory J Wong(guitar), and special guest: Fiddlin’ Pete Watercott.

Hands Across the World is the first contact for the refugee & immigrant families of Central Minnesota

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

http://www.handsacrosstheworldmn.org/index.html

Larry Long sang on the front porch of the Old London House with Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon (Woody Guthrie’s Sister) – sharing memories at the Okfuskee Historical Society in Woody’s hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma! Performing with is Fiddlin’ Peter Peter J Watercott and Neil Gelvin, as part of the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival (Official) and Woody Guthrie Center annual celebration on Woody Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie‘s birthday.

“American Roots Revue” has now performed in two of the five out state Minnesota communities this summer. 

Each concert features a song collectively written by members of the host community at a two-hour ‘World Café’ model workshop with Larry Long.

In Cass Lake, Minnesota, the host organization was the Leech Lake Boys & Girls Club. Attached is the photograph of the young people I worked with. That evening we brought them all up on stage to sing the song they wrote for their community at the annual Summer Fest in downtown Cass Lake, Minnesota!

Gii Zah G’iin
(I Love You)

Jessica, Jenni, Alayna
James, Lia, Davie
Plus Marla, Gabi, Sue
Lindsey and Larry
These are the people who
Wrote down this song
At the ‘Girls & Boys Club’
We promise it won’t take long

Oh-ah-oh-ah
Oh-ah-ah-ah-ah

Gii Zah G’iin, Gii Zah G’iin
I love you!

Indian Tacos with frybread
Sure does taste good
In Cass Lake where we live
In our neighborhood
The Big Drum, Circle of Life
Heartbeat of Giimaamaa Aki
At the Pow Wow at Summerfest
Where we play and sing

Gii Zah G’iin, Gii Zah G’iin
I love you!

We are all related, family and friends
If that is so, let us go
Celebrate ‘til the end
Begins a new, me and you
A new life has begun
Beneath the sun and the moon
And the stars above

Oh-ah-oh-ah
Oh-ah-ah-ah-ah

Gii Zah G’iin, Gii Zah G’iin
I love you!

Words and music by Larry Long
With Youth at the Boys & Girl Club
Cass Lake, Minnesota

© Larry Long Publishing 2014 / BMI

These series of performances is being organized by Community Celebration of Place (501-C3) through an Arts Tour Minnesota grant made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

SUNDAY, JULY 20, Noon to 4 pm., Wabun Picnic Area D, Minnehaha Park Minneapolis 55417 Music/ Brief Speeches/ Children’s Games/ Historical Display FREE LUNCH-RAIN OR SHINE Featuring: LARRY LONG, Social Justice Troubadour, with Fiddlin’ Pete Watercott & Neil Gelvin; WISCONSIN SING ALONG GROUP, Nation’s longest running musical protest; TWIN CITIES LABOR CHORUS; CENTRO DE TRABAJADORES UNIDOS EN LA LUCHA (CTUL) members who participated in janitorial strikes againt Target Corp.; JENNIFER BECKHAM, Hamline University adjunct professor and organizer in SEIU/ Adjunct Action campaign; SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION (SEIU) worker-organizer for home health care workers; BRAD LEHTO, Chief of staff, Minnesota AFL-CIO; PAUL SLATTERY, Organizer/Political Director, Teamsters Local 120; BRIAN ALDES, Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 320; LINDA LEIGHTON, SEIU Local 284 steward, IWW member and granddaughter of V.R. Dunne, 1934 strike leader; BOB McNATTIN, Retired member, Teamsters Local 120 Treasurer, Remember 1934 Committee; BRYAN PALMER, Trent University professor, author of new book, “Revolutionary Teamsters: The Minneapolis Truckers’ Strikes of 1934”; PETER RACHLEFF, Labor historian; founder, East Side Freedom Library; DAVE RIEHLE, Labor historian; United Transportation Union Local 650 www.facebook.com/Remember1934

 For the past thirty nine years, a quiet unassuming organization has been very busy ‘saving’ what they call America’s old-time music.  Located in the very Midwestern State of Iowa, it was founded by Smithsonian Institution recording artists Bob & Sheila Everhart who make their home in the Corn State.  Over the years they have managed to build a Performance Arts Theater, a Pioneer Music Museum, a Fiddler’s Hall of Fame, an Old Time Music Hall of Fame, and an Ag-Expo Festival of acoustic old-time music to support it all.  One of the major responsibilities of the 501(c)3 corporation is to recognize contributors to the music they are saving. 

 According to Bob Everhart, the President, “This year, Minneapolis resident, Larry Long, enters a Hall of Fame with the likes of Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Sr., the Carter Family, Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, even Patti Page, already in it.  Selection is not determined by a popularity contest, neither is it determined by huge record sales or miles traveled.  It’s determined by ‘talent’ and how it is used to enhance the choices offered in todays hodge-podge music world.  Old time ‘real-deal’ acoustic music is perhaps the most discriminated genre of music in America today, and that makes it doubly important to us to make sure that those who actually perform it, play it, share it, enhance it, promote it, create it, gets a pat on the back, and a standing ovation of appreciation from our membership.  We will be doing that this year at our 39th Annual National Old Time Festival of Traditional Music & Rural Lifestyle at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds in LeMars, Iowa, August 25-31, 2014, and Larry Long is the centerpiece. “

According to Everhart, “Larry Long of Minneapolis, will certainly be a deserving addition to America’s Old Time Music Hall of Fame.  Larry is a troubadour, much like the medieval singers who traveled from court to court, town to town, delivering messages in songs.  For 40 years, Long has sung at protests, festivals, union actions and political rallies around Minnesota, the nation and the world.  He writes, and in his lilting voice sings in the social justice tradition of Pete Seeger.  He hews to Seeger’s belief that everyone has ‘a sacred obligation to do their best at what they’re called upon to do.”  According to Larry, “When I was younger, I lived life like a bullet.  A quarter-credit shy of graduation, I took off with my friend Fiddlin’ Pete.  We rode the rails just like Woody Guthrie.  According to Atesh Sonneborn, the Associate Director for Programs at the Smithsonian, “Folk music isn’t easily defined, but we know it when we hear it.  That’s one of the reasons I keep tabs on Larry Long’s personal project, “Elder’s Wisdom, Children’s Songs,” which is based intensely in place.  Larry goes into a community, working with the children and elders to find their own traditions – their music traditions in that place.”  According to Larry, “When I’m doing the best of this work, I’m pretty anonymous.  This systemic work is tougher to write about than say,sulfide mining issues.  At heart, the work is rooted in love and empathy and core values.  Out of core values, we tend to make decisions about what touches our hearts.” This wonderful creative artist certainly will be a welcome addition to those we have honored in the past for keeping America’s rural and traditional music alive.

 Some of the activities Larry will participate in during his time at the Iowa Festival is a Guitar Pull, a Harmonica Howl, a Fiddler’s Jubilee, a Carl Sandburg Reading, a Banjo Jamboree, an Autoharp Gathering, a Dulcimer Do, a Mandolin Pickin’, an Accordion & Concertina Get Together, a Songwriters Circle, and a Poet’s Corner, as well as main stage performances.  

The Everharts honor many different contributors to the music they love.  “We are very happy to be able to have John Carter Cash with us at this year’s event,” Everhart said, “he is the only child of John and June Carter Cash, and is more producer and director than he is vocalist and instrumentalist, but he does it all incredibly well.  He is a staid supporter of America’s old-time music.  After all, his grandmother was Maybelle Carter.  Joining John are other interesting performers of America’s great old time music.  LuLu Roman, the funny lady from Hee Haw will be with us, however not as the comedy figure she portrayed on that very popular television show, but as an extremely lovely vocalist of old-time country Gospel music.  Terry Smith the composer of “Far Side Banks of Jordan” for Johnny & June Carter Cash will be with us, and Hugh Moffatt who wrote “Old Flames Can’t Hold A Candle To You” will also head up the Songwriter’s Circle.  Add to that terrific bluegrass bands like David Davis and the Warrior River Boys from Alabama, Larry Gillis and Swampgrass from Georgia, and well over 650 other musicians and music makers and you begin to realize why this event lasts seven days, on ten stages, from 9am to midnight every day.” 

The facility where the event is held is an alcohol-free drug-free venue, with over 350 RV parking spaces with hook-ups.  A number of food vendors on the grounds assures delightful dining options, along with arts & crafts, a flea market, a rendezvous village in an old ghost town, even an old log cabin front porch which is ideal for some of the old-time music makers.  “We did a television show for PBS,” Everhart noted, “called Old Time Country Music.  It aired in 22 states and became a household name in our state.  We’re still keeping that very pleasant idea of America’s music alive and well.  This music is from the hill folk, the sons of the soil, dirt farmers and cowboys and coal miners, sailors, and troubadours, and their music should not be relegated to the dust bins.  This is part of our heritage.  America’s heritage, and we’re doing our part keeping it alive. “

Bob & Sheila Everhart, P O Box 492, Anita, Iowa, 50020  – 712-762-4363  –   bobeverhart@yahoo.com

National Traditional Country Music Assn.

Featuring: JD Steele, ‘Waubanewquay’ Dorene Day, Larry Long, Tonia Hughes

American Roots Revue celebrates in story and song the many nations of people who call this country home. The American Roots Revue works from the core of America’s richest musical traditions of gospel, folk, blues, R&B and First Nation traditions of the Anishinabe Ojibwe people. Backed by some of the finest Twin Cities musicians making music across the world, the American Roots Revue is a must-see event.

In a satisfying two-hour performance that’s good for body and soul, this earthy ensemble is led by Smithsonian/Folkways Recording artist, Larry Long, an American singer-songwriter who has made his life work the celebration of everyday heroes whom author, historian, actor, and broadcaster Studs Terkel called “a true American Troubadour.” Joining Long is national recording artist and producer, J. D. Steele, who heralds from the dynamic vocal family of siblings, The Steeles, a group that has garnered every major music award and accolade the state has had to offer.  J.D. and the family began touring the international hit show “Gospel at Colonus” with Morgan Freeman around the world before finally landing on Broadway in 1988 for a successful nine-month run.

Rising powerhouse singer Tonia Hughes has deep roots in the African-American church but has also become a sought-after back-up singer on other genres and is a star in her own right. She’s served as a lead vocalist with the Grammy- and Stellar Award-nominated Excelsior Chorale Ensemble and has sung with a host of gospel and secular artists, including rock bands and pop performers. Keeper and Singer of the Song ‘Waubanewquay’ Dorene Day, the inspired Native Life Ways Singer/Practitioner, plays many roles in her rich artistic life. She sang as “Spirit Woman” in the play “Song Catcher” written by Marcie Rendon, performed in the WPT series, Wisconsin Stories-Ojibwe Music and sang for the Disney mini-series “Dream Keeper.” She also sings with her eldest Son’s Drum Group, ”Midnite Express” and is on several recordings. Dorene also won the 2010 Female singing competition in Mille Lacs Lake for the Minnesota Round Dance.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. 

Check out the great article from Kim Ode at the Star Tribune on Larry and his work:

Larry Long doesn’t care for the term folk singer, “which sounds like something from Greenwich Village in the 1960s.”

He prefers troubadour, like the medieval singers who traveled from court to court, delivering messages in song.

Troubadours, Long says, are bridge builders, which sounds all kumbaya until he adds what he’s learned from experience: “It’s been said that a bridge builder is someone who gets stepped on by both sides. So it can be a very uncomfortable place. Your very presence makes people uncomfortable.”

At peace rallies, he pointedly sings a song honoring veterans. At veterans’ rallies, he sings a song seeking peace.

For 40 years, Long has sung at protests, festivals, union actions and political rallies around Minnesota, the nation and the world. He writes and, in his lilting voice, sings in the social justice tradition of Pete Seeger, whom he knew for decades until Seeger’s death in January. He hews to Seeger’s belief that everyone has “a sacred obligation to do their best at what they’re called upon to do.”

Read the full article >