May we all wave the cleansing smoke before us on a hot sweat hut day.
It's heartening to see this interest in "native" North American music.
I've included an attachment of a scan of an assemblage of a time in my life.
This "country singer", Lynn (DeVaulkener) Dee, cajoled Smoky (spelling for friends)
out of retirement to help her start a band, as an adviser.
This was her advice from her corporate owning boyfriend, a smart move.
Smoky's wife drove around in a new Cadillac, a "company" car,
given to her by the owner of the corporation she worked for, Reeces.
If you look at the names and the names of the bands in the ads,
you might wonder, and so you should.
Smoky had American income tax issues with international royalties,
and Lynn juggled her full time job with this, at first, part-time work.
I've been hired by three different entertainers with "Dee" for a last name.
A friend of mine was auditioning, and phoned me, saying I should see this guy,
he's my kind of guitar player. At the time I was all Strat and Marshall with effects.
Smoky was great. He could play bass and rhythm at the same time,
singing country, Dylan, Janis, Smokey Robinson, but most of all,
getting his audience to stand with tears in their eyes, hands over hearts.
He was using an all original '58 Les Paul with the same year Fender amp.
We gigged for a year and a half steady every week, sometimes two or three gigs,
with special requests for northern weekend weddings.
Smoky was Mohawk, and I got into a lot of new musical circumstances with him,
and some of his international brothers.
I met Doug Maracle, who's bronzes are sometimes used by the Canadian government,
as gifts for visiting dignitaries.
He won the annual Aboriginal Music Award for an instrumental guitar album,
that he recorded in his own studio, and played onstage with Willie Nelson.
It's on Canadian satellite, probably North American, but please,
see if you can find APTN, the "aboriginal" channel.
Sometimes it's English, French and various Inuit, and I get into it, intuitively.
"Rez Blues", is all about music,
and I'm also watching tribes fishing, filleting and smoke curing them on the shores,
it's all so natural wonderful, I feel like I'm going back there for more.
Smoky had been signed with Johnny Cash a long time ago,
and when a record company in Germany put together a retro tour,
Smoky got a phone call, and decided to go. One new release and a double live.
But he didn't want to take that guitar, and wanted to leave something for his wife.
So he hunted me down and phoned like he promised, offering to sell me his guitar.
He knew I couldn't afford it, and wouldn't chop it up to be left-handed,
but it was a great visit and he called me back in two weeks. I went over.
He said he made one phone call to a California friend,
and showed me some lovely stationary from Guns'n'Roses,
Slash thanking him for this original guitar, case, strap, booklet and receipt.
$7,000 cash, the one cheque, and a '64 mint Gibson Les Paul, in '92.
There's a lot more rushing than just waters going on in Niagara Falls.
May your Winnebago run forever!
as always, John Watt
It's called Prayer to the Mystery (by Little Wolf) and it meshes native american flavor with modern electronic soundscapes. Flutes, Indian chanting, drumming...but with an electronic touch. Very beautiful, tribal and trance-y. 
