"The NAMM show, the annual music industry trade show, recognized something old that’s new during its recent run in Anaheim: a Native American Pavilion that featured musicians from tribes across the country.
Here, a flutist makes it sound like a bird is soaring through the pavilion as a couple of NAMM attendees rhythmically strike drums.
This is the sort of sound a lot of people think defines “Native American music.” It still is a tradition in the native community. But that’s not what you’ll hear from guitarist Tracy Lee Nelson.
"I always said I wanted to be like an Indian B.B. King, you know," Nelson says with a hearty laugh. "A blues player. And I said OK, well. Because I don’t think there was anybody out there who really stood out as a native artist."
But Nelson is one of the artists changing that. The former chair of the La Jolla Indian Reservation in northern San Diego County is the lead singer of Tracy Lee Nelson and the Native Blues."
Get the Story:Native American music covers wide variety of genres (KPCC 2/23)
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