David Huckfelt Steps in Footsteps of the Great
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Songwriters in various musical genres have throughout the years never shied away from writing about Native Americans. There have been famous classics, like “The Ballad of Ira Hayes;” songs of indigenous resilience, like “Now That The Buffalo’s Gone” by Buffy Sainte-Marie; through to Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s sorrowful “Indian Sunset” and even The Big Bopper’s romanticized pop ditty “Running Bear.”
Of course, the greatest musical compilation of songs dedicated to Native Americans came from Johnny Cash in 1964 when he released his much-lauded concept album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian. Cash was inspired by his mistaken-belief that he had Cherokee ancestry. But he was also motivated by the social activism of the 60’s which drew attention to the unfair treatment of the indigenous peoples of North America. The biggest musical influence behind Cash’s somewhat controversial album was a fellow-singer songwriter, Peter La Farge, who was prominent on the 1960’s folk scene in New York’s Greenwich Village.
There are five Le Farge songs on Bitter Tears, including the now famous ballad which tells the sad tale of Ira Hayes, a Marine of Pima descent who helped raise the American flag on Iwo Jima near the end of World War 11. Hayes struggled in the postwar years and would die of alcoholism on his native reservation. Le Farge himself had recorded “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” a year before it was released on Bitter Tears. Cash’s version reached # 3 on the Billboard singles chart and it would bring global attention to Ira’s troubles and over the years the lament would be recorded by countless artists.
But it was another Le Farge song on Bitter Tears, “As Long as the Grass Shall Grow,” which would personify his lyrical ingenuity. Cash would somewhat embrace it as his own, rerecording the song some years later - further establishing it as one of the great anthems of Indigenous resilience. In it, Le Farge creatively reflects on the loss of the Seneca nation land in Pennsylvania due to the construction of a dam in the early 1960’s. Nothing says it better than this mournful stanza:
They said that now and forever more that this was Indian land
As long as the moon shall rise
On the Seneca reservation there is much sadness now
Washington’s treaty has been broken and there is no hope no how
Now, some 61 years after Le Farge’s death, America – and indeed Americana Music – has a new writer of impactful songs dedicated to Native American tribulations. His name is David Huckfelt, an Iowa native, now Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter – and respected activist - who has just released what could be the most inspiring and imaginative musical reflection on Native Americans so far this century. It is titled “Chief Seattle’s Dream” - a song which explores both American Indigenous history and the spiritual consequences. It ticks all the boxes pioneered by Cash and Le Farge decades ago.
“Chief Seattle’s Dream” got international prominence on February 15 when it was featured on the Series 4 premiere of Dark Winds, the critically acclaimed AMC television drama focusing on Navajo culture. Huckfelt has released two versions of the song. There is the original, featuring Quiltman (Milton “Quiltman” Sahme ), a traditional singer and honoured elder on the Warm Springs Reservation in Simnasho, Oregon, while the TV version is a duet with Laura Hugo, an Indigenous singer-songwriter from the Navajo Nation.
As the title suggests, the song references Chief Si’ahl (Seattle) after whom Washington State’s largest city was named. He was a leader – and warrior – of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples in the mid-19th Century. And he became famous for a speech he delivered in January 1854 to representatives of the U.S. Government in what was then Washington Territory. The speech – now regarded as a poetical statement of historical significance -– reflects on the sacred relationship between Native people and the land; and the idea that the earth does not belong to man – man belongs to the earth.
Huckfelt’s song explores history, humanity, environment and spiritual consequences. And its imagery evokes loss and the consequences - especially of power and consumerism.
“’Chief Seattle’s Dream’ is the most important song I’ve written to date; I see it as a gift of gratitude to Native friends and mentors,” said Huckfelt, who reads the Chief’s speech annually and sees it as a perfect “connection with the earth and the enduring spirit of the land.”
In pre-release publicity, he added: “’Chief Seattle’s Dream’ came to me in a 15-minute vision one night. Writing alone in the woods of Wisconsin, as fast as I could take it down. But the song was conceived on a long drive west to east across the Navajo and Hopi Nations at dusk, where the time zone changes six times and man-made borders blur.”
Such imagery is instantly transposed into song with the poetical opening verse:
Acoma pueblo on a hoof black night
Reservation radio, mystery lights
I pass an old man walking nine miles from town
No house no lights no farms around
Well a one-eyed Ford with a Blackfoot girl
Just an Indian Car from the spirit world
Claw out your eyes it ain’t what it seems
Welcome to Chief Seattle’s Dream
And he doesn’t hold back on his vision of “billionaires going to outer space to escape their white gilt.”
When your pastures of plenty have all been spent
On a trip to space for the one percent
They gotta go that far just to try to be alone
The pale face running from the red man’s ghosts
In the cut for Dark Winds, Huckfelt ups the political ante with a substitute line in this stanza:
When your pastures of plenty have all been spent
By the cold left-hand of the Government
Gotta go that far just to try to be alone
It’s the pale face running from the red man’s ghosts
In publicising the release, Quiltman himself was not so subtle in expressing his views about the current administration. "I am very happy to put some vocals on David's great song. I have family from Nisqually Washington, who are descendants of this great man (Chief Seattle)," he said. "And this land is being terrorized and torn apart by the current government again - it is heartbreaking. But hearing this song this morning has brought some sunshine into my reality and I love David Huckfelt for snapping me back to a place of good and peacefulness."
It is Quiltman’s quivering vocal chants which provide a fitting introduction – as they do in the finale – to Huckfelt’s intoxicating composition. And his four-piece backing band – Jeremy Ylvisaker (electric guitar), JT Bates (drums), Erik Koskinen (bass), Mark Shark (guitar) – prove something of a match-made-in-heaven to this lyrical masterpiece, with Vlvisaker’s guitar and Quiltman nicely integrating across the melodic bridge.
Huckfelt become popular on the Minneapolis music scene as founding frontman of the Indie-Folk band The Pines. But in recent years, he has forged his own successful career, with three solo albums.
His debut release in 2019, the folkie Stranger Angels, featured 12 original compositions, while the second, Room Enough, Time Enough, mixed originals with covers and traditional interpretations.
His latest solo album I Was Born, But … explores America’s songbook with an eclectic collection of covers by some of the most prolific writers in modern music, among them Bob Dylan, J.J. Cale, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon. The album’s impact is instant with the opening track - an irrepressible cover of the Dylan ‘“Changing of the Guard.” Huckfelt stays true to the rhythmic simplicity of the original, with layered harmony from Lady Midnight and Aby Wolf. But he allows his band (The Unarmed Forces of Sonora) to provide a more exuberant full stop to the classic. The fact that the drummer Winston Watson once played with Dylan provides an intriguing aside! Speaking of Dylan coincidences, Huckfelt joins the great man as one of the many to cover Lightfoot’s memorable “Early Morning Rain.” Dylan included it on Self Portrait,
I Was Born, But … was released only a month before “Chief Seattle’s Dream” hit the airwaves, but the Indigenous tribute was not included in the new album. Pity! This lyrical gem would have rightfully stood proud among songs by the likes of Dylan, Lightfoot and Zevon!
Paul Cutler
Editor Crossroads – Americana Music Appreciation