Samantha Crain Premieres New Video for "Outside the Pale"

Watch an acoustic performance of Samantha Crain's new single, "Outside the Pale".

Although Choctaw singer Samantha Crain's new album, Under Branch & Thorn & Tree, isn't coming out until July, the anticipation is already building.

After premiering the lead single, "Outside the Pale", earlier this month (grab the audio here)—this week Crain premiered a new video of an acoustic performance of the song over at Diffuser.fm.

Crain's incredible voice easily carries the tune, accompanied only by her acoustic guitar work, alongside bandmate John Calvin Abney. Minimal, hypnotic, and moving, "Outside the Pale" is a very good sign that Under Branch & Thorn & Tree will be another stellar release from one of our favourite Indigenous artists.

WATCH: Samantha Crain - "Outside the Pale"

Samantha Crain's Under Branch & Thorn & Tree will be released July 17, 2015. Preorder the album here.

VIDEO: Samantha Crain - "It's Simple"

If you didn't know about Samantha Crain, you should. Here's a video from Samantha, produced by Be Nice To Your Kids for you to get acquainted.

After a solid couple months of touring across Turtle Island, including dates from Phoenix to San Francisco to Denver, Shawnee based singer songwriter Samantha Crain will be heading up over the border for an appearance at Aboriginal Music Week 2012 in Winnipeg, MB to perform alongside cellist Cris Derksen. Not a show to be missed!

So while you wait for the end of October to catch your chance to see Samantha while she's in Canada, here's something to keep your musical tastes diverse and filled with talent. #Boom.

Samantha Crain - "It's Simple"

Indigenous Music For The Holiday Season

We've been keeping our antlers tuned to the moccasin telegraph to bring you this great list of holiday music from some of our favorite Indigenous musicians here on Turtle Island. Enjoy!

First on our list of holiday music is Star Nayea, a pop/blues/rock singer based out of Seattle, Washington. Here she brings us a classic tune first introduced by ElvisPresley called Blue Christmas:

Next, check out Swil Kanim, a Coast Salish violinist, and his version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas:

Métis singer-songwriter Don Amero has released a 7-track Christmas album this year entitled Christmastime. Stream the songs and buy the CD or download at donamero.com/christmastime.

Choctow artist Samantha Crain from Shawnee, Oklahoma, recorder her holiday song Breaking The Ice for Christmas compilation Fowler Volkswagen Presents: A Blackwatch Christmas. Preview her track here, and head to fowlervwchristmas.com to download the entire album for free.

Lastly, we've assembled a festive YouTube playlist of holiday season videos for your Christmas enjoyment!

Track listing:

War Child - Twelve Days of Indian Christmas (Round Dance) Laura Burnouf - Little Drummer Boy (In Woodlands Cree) Jana Mashonee - Silent Night (Sung in Arapaho) Joey Stylez - Snow Angel J Dizzay - You're My Present

To view this playlist in YouTube click this link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67440DA5AF9FBCD2 

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.

Shawnee From She King Never Misses A Thing

RPM asked the lead singer from Toronto band She King a few questions and found out that Shawnee definitely doesn't miss a thing.

She King, a musical collective based out of Toronto, is fronted by Shawnee, a Six Nations vocalist who is redefining the look and sound of contemporary rock music with her style and outlook on what it means to be a female on the stage. RPM is happy to share this interview with you.

RPM: What’s your name?

Shawnee: Shawnee - meaning fighter and warrior  and my family calls me radar cause I never miss a thing.

RPM: What’s your Nation?

Shawnee: My mother's side is from Six Nations.

RPM: How does your Indigenous culture inspire your music creation?

Shawnee: My culture inspires my music everyday. I am proud to be apart of my family and proud to know that my family fights to keep our culture alive. My music career at times is a fight for my place and right as myself and being true to who i am was a gift learned and passed down from my mother.

RPM: Growing up, what were your major musical influences?

Shawnee: My major music influence is Melissa Etheridge. I can remember listening to her music all the way from the age of 4. Her spirit and her words she puts into her creations is admirable.

RPM: What thoughts do you have about the labelling of Aboriginal music in Canada and in the global scene?

Shawnee: Labeling unfortunately seems to be what we do best. I can tell you that I walk my life carefully not to box and label anyone or anything. And I find myself making conscious decisions to never fit in one place, to never be able to sit in one spot for too long. The good news is I feel a change coming.

RPM: When did She King start as a band?

Shawnee: She King started about 2 years back. She King has been transforming and morphing since. There are a lot of changes in the works that I cant wait to share.

RPM: What else do you do other than music?

Shawnee: Other then concentrating on my own music I co-write with other artists, I co-produce with other producers and any extra time I spend either in the gym, cooking for friends or spending with my family.

RPM: If you could work with any artist past or present, who would that be and why?

Shawnee: Elvis, hands down if i could work with any artist it would be the man that single handily made the biggest success in music by simply entertaining with seemingly his heart not his head.

RPM: Future plans for "She King"?

Shawnee: She King's future is transforming - you are certainly going to see a lot of changes and new and exciting things in the works.

RPM: If you had advice to give you young artists getting into the music industry...what would it be?

Shawnee: My advice to any artist especially young is to find yourself in what ever way you can without being lead or transformed into what people around you might want you to be - hold on to who you are and never let go.

RPM: Anything else you want to promote or shout out?

Shawnee: The album will be out early next year. We are working hard behind the scenes and I have lots of stories to tell when it's finished.

You can check out Shawnee and She King on Facebook, Myspace, and their YouTube Channel.

Samantha Crain Fall 2011 Tour Dates

Fresh from her email newsletter, we have an amazing list of Choctaw artist, Samantha Crain's tour dates for Turtle Island and beyond over to the United Kingdom.

Samantha Crain has been out on the road from her homeland of Shawnee, Oklahoma and updated her fans from Bozeman, Montana where she traveled from the Winnipeg Folk Festival and on her way to the Vancouver Folk Festival. She announced a bunch of dates including the Southern Fried Festival in Perth, Scotland as well as some recording news.

If you happen to be out in the United Kingdom from October on through November, be sure to check out Samantha Crain's live shows.

Here's a list of tour dates for Samantha Crain:

Canada, U.S. and Scotland Dates:

07/16/11 07/17/11 VANCOUVER FOLK FESTIVAL 07/24/11 PERTH SCOTLAND - SOUTHERN FRIED FESTIVAL 10/08/11 JOSHUA TREE, CA - JOSHUA TREE ROOTS MUSIC FESTIVAL

United Kingdom Dates:

10/27/11 SOUTHAMPTON UK - THE BROOK 10/28/11 BRISTOL UK - BRISTOL FLEECE 10/29/11 LISKEARD UK -  CARNGLAZE LISKEARD 10/30/11 EXETER UK - EXETER PHOENIX 11/03/11 BIRMINGHAM UK - BIRMINGHAM TOWN HALL 11/04/11 GLOUCESTER UK  - GLOUCESTER GUILDHALL 11/05/11 MORCAMBE UK - THE PLATFORM 11/06/11 HEREFORD UK - HEREFORD COUNTY THEATRE 11/09/11 COLCHESTER UK - COLCHESTER ARTS CENTER 11/10/11 NORWHICH UK - THE WATERFRONT 11/11/11 STAMFORD UK - STAMFORD CORN EXCHANGE 11/12/11 DERBY UK - DERBY THEATRE 11/13/11 HARPENDEN UK - HARPENDEN PUBLIC HALLS 11/17/11 MANCHESTER UK - BAND ON THE WALL 11/18/11 LEEDS UK - LEEDS VARIETIES 11/19/11 GATESHEAD UK  -THE SAGE 11/20/11 HULL UK - HULL TRUCK 11/23/11 BRIGHTON UK -  KOMEDIA 11/24/11 FARNHAM UK - FARNHAM MALTINGS 11/25/11 FOLKESTONE UK - THE QUARTERHOUSE 11/26/11 LONDON UK - UNION CHAPEL

Be sure to check out Samantha Crain's website for more details.

Have you seen Samantha Crain's guitar?

Samantha also announced in her newsletter that her guitar went AWOL in Winnipeg—by all accounts it looks like it was stolen.

If you want to help her buy a new guitar, you can donate by visiting the "Feed The Muse" page set up for her tour van fund and leave a comment saying you're helping out with the guitar fund instead.

Check out Samantha's song "Equinox" streamed on our Music page and our profile of Up and Coming Indigenous artists.

Also check out Samantha's amazing video for Santa Fe directed by Sterlin Harjo.

Got any tour dates you know about? Or maybe you are going on tour...we want to promote you to Turtle Island. Check out our Get Involved page.

On the Radar: Up & Coming Indigenous Artists

Here's a look at some up & coming young Indigenous musicians on the RPM Radar.

Beaatz Tobique First Nation, New Brunswick Canada

Shelby “Beaatz” Sappier is a 19-year-old rapper  and hip-hop producer from the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Canada.  When his music came across our desks, we were amazed to find such a stylish, bumping and professional style from such a young artist. Be on the look out for his new stuff and check out his music below:

Beaatz on YouTube Beaatz on Myspace

Sonia Eidse Métis

Métis artist Sonia Eidse out of Winnipeg is a singer-songwriter emerging onto the scene with a smooth and calming sound that immediately draws you in. She recently appeared on the APTN program Rising Stars, which featured some of the newest Indigenous musicians in the scene.  She is currently working on her first EP release and performing live shows around Winnipeg.

Sonia Eidse Manitoba Music Profile Sonia Eidse on APTN Rising Stars

Lil’ Pappy Métis

Lil’ Pappy is making a huge splash onto the scene with his driving pop sound.  Mastering a number of instruments including piano, electric guitar, slide guitar, harmonica, ukulele, synthesizer, organ, xylophone and banjo by the young age of 16 and exploring multiple music genres has served his music well. He has opened for the likes of Robin Black and Marianas Trench and climbed the ranks of the top 50 on Canadian Idol. Lil’ Pappie is definitely someone to watch out for. For more info see the links below and here's a preview of his Weezy-influenced latest:

Lil’ Pappie on Stressedstreet Lil’ Pappie on YouTube

Samantha Crain Shawnee

Out of Shawnee, Oklahoma, Choctaw singer Samantha Crain’s acoustic musical style has been taking her around the festival circuits and making a huge impression on the music scene. With some cowboy boots and a guitar, she has made her way into the collective roots musical conscience with her compelling songs, haunting melodies and great videos. Be on the lookout for Samantha Crain and her band Frontier Ruckus in Canada this summer. She will be performing in July for the Winnipeg Folk Festival and at the Vancouver Folk Festival.

Samantha Crain’s Website

Dey & Nite Arapaho

Identical twins from New Mexico, Dey & Nite are a fast-rising pop/R&B duo touring across Turtle Island to share their style and talent with crowds across Canada and the U.S. The twins have sung back-up for Paula Deanda, shared the stage with acts like Soulja Boy and Baby Bash and most recently toured Australia Mexico and Brazil singing back-up for Hilary Duff. These two amazing singers are a pop act you should definitely watch out for. Check out their a cappella rendition of the Bill Withers classic "Ain't No Sunshine":

Dey & Nite's Website

Stay tuned for more Indigenous music artists on the RPM radar.

Who's on your radar for Indigenous Music Culture? Check out our Get Involved section and Suggest an Artist