August 9, 2024 • 24 mins
This week on Hidden Heritage, we delve into the remarkable story of the Gordon Bird family, a talented group of artists from South Dakota who have been defying the odds for nearly four decades. Known for their contributions to Native American art and music, the Birds have not only found a way to work and play together but have also paved the way for future generations of Native American artists across the country.
Meet Gordon, Joanne, and Jackie Bird, a family whose artistic talents span visual arts, music, dance, and more. From their picturesque home on the north shore of Lake Campbell, they share their journey of blending traditional Native sounds with contemporary styles, creating a unique genre known as Indian blues rock.
Join us as we explore their rich heritage, their artistic achievements, and their ongoing mission to promote unity, world peace, and global healing through their work. The Gordon Bird family's story is a testament to the resilience and creativity of Native American culture, offering inspiration to the next generation of performers.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:56):
I'm Paul LaRouche, and the stories you are about to see are an attempt to share
this true American story of a hidden heritage.
Music.
Thank you for watching.
(01:23):
In his younger days, he had taken part in the sweat lodge. That face has been
there for hundreds and hundreds of years, maybe longer.
Well, I grew up right now.
Music.
(04:01):
This week on Hidden Heritage, we're going to visit a family of artists from
South Dakota. They have defied the odds now for almost four decades.
Not only have they found a way to work and play together, but they've paved
the way for generations of Native American artists from across the country.
If you're from the Midwest, you've probably heard of and seen at one time or
(04:21):
another the world-famous Gordon Bird family.
Join us now as we visit Gordon, Joanne, and Jackie, better known as the Birds.
Just north of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, sits the small, peaceful community
of Brookings, a typical small Midwestern town by most standards.
We picked a beautiful warm winter afternoon to visit with Gordon Bird and his
(04:43):
family, who reside on a picturesque property situated on the north shore of Lake Campbell.
Hi, I'm Jackie Bird from the Mandan, Hidatsa, Dakota nations,
and I live in South Dakota.
I know for a fact I started by absorbing it probably from being an unborn even
to an infant, toddler, teenage, young adult, and to early grandmother stage.
(05:08):
Now, all absorbing from my parents.
They're really amazing in their fields.
My mom's a visual artist, and then my dad's a musician.
And they're overall my best teachers ever. and
so so we just all are naturally involved
we just it's just all natural we
(05:29):
don't know anything else it's the realm we live in my
very most proud time as young as i can remember was when i was nine years old
and i played drums for my dad in the basement and he had friends come over and
the drummer wasn't there so i got to play to blueberry hill and i remember that
I went to boarding schools.
(05:51):
I went to Mardi Indian School and then Flandre Indian School.
And in the dorm rooms, a lot of the girls would come over to my room and I'd
tell them stories or cultural things that I've listened to.
I traveled with a medicine man and his family, the late Martin Heiber,
and when I traveled with them, it opened up a whole new world for me because
(06:12):
I knew I was at a turning point between worlds if I would fall in a downward spiral.
The other kids that were all doing what experimenting and
then or I could go into the real vibration
that would keep me going well through life which was
the spiritual growth and so I chose the spiritual
(06:34):
path and that opened up the traditional singing
and I had a rock band and I
would sing traditional from the night
before at our Indian Club and I'd sing with
the guitar a little bit it and then I was starting to combine it
and I and then I brought it home to my dad and then he made a side a side b
(06:56):
track of lovesick blues and then an original song I made whirlwind rider and
then right from there I just I just started keeping it just drove me everywhere.
Jackie is a singer, hoop dance performer, inspirational speaker,
fancy shawl dancer, designer and artist.
(07:18):
She has performed around the world, but is best known for mixing traditional
Native sounds with a retro 80s rock feel and Native American blues.
She calls it Indian blues rock.
She is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wapiton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.
Jackie has been performing alongside
her sisters and parents in the family group since she was a child.
(07:40):
Now her own daughters also perform in the same family group.
That was through my grandma, my Hidatsa side.
And she loves traditional ways. Her first language is Hidatsa, just as well as my dad.
And he'd play music all the time.
And then it just called me.
(08:01):
And so I made my first dance regalia with help at seven years old.
I drew it out and the lady sewed it because just to keep rebounding is really good for your cells.
And then also the message, I do it mainly for the message of all people work
(08:21):
together for unity, world peace and global healing.
And my dad's the one that encouraged me the most on to make the each directions
visible. visible, and then I always remind wherever I'm performing that we're
all related and we can work together. It's really just a nice remembrance.
And then I make a medicine wheel, and what the.
(08:46):
Connects our hearts, and it brings centering and peace to that area,
so it's just a reflection.
I make star patterns, and then we reflect each other.
It's just so natural, I don't know anything else, so I never,
that's all I really know.
When I was younger, I had a rock band, and I used to like to be like Pat Benatar.
It's almost like I passed it down to my children now, because
(09:08):
now my daughters and my grandchildren children are really
involved in the on the powwow circuit and trail
and I'm really grateful to see
that they're carrying on what I used to
take part of but I just really I use
my heart like my navigator and I just
follow it wherever yes and so so lately I have my two sons and there's one more
(09:33):
that I'm still raising so I just put all my attention into motherhood I make
sure that each child that I bring into the world,
I encourage others to have a therapy of the arts, and that will help them get through life.
Because when I was in high school, I would draw all the time,
and then eventually moved into music.
(09:54):
But each one of my children are involved in the arts, and then I see them pursuing it.
One day when I see the creator and meet him, and he says, okay Jackie where
are the gifts I gave you and if I were to approach him I'd say I don't have
any I gave it all to the people.
(10:14):
Music.
Stories from across Native America. I'm Gordon Bird.
I'm from the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara people up at the Fort Berthold Reservation
(10:36):
in Newtown, North Dakota.
I've been more in the traditional area because I started singing traditional
music when I was like four years old.
And I sang all the time right up to when I went to the Pyrenean school when
I was singing. A couple of my brothers were dancers, and a couple of us were singers.
And so a lot of our tribal members from home up there in Newtown,
(11:00):
we went down to the Pierre Indian School.
That was about 400 miles from where we lived.
It also went there when I was five years old, went away to boarding school.
But then all the time I was involved in singing traditional music.
And then we used to go out and perform for a lot of the schools and the churches
and special functions where they needed traditional dancers and singers.
(11:25):
But I'd carry it on from there, and then when I got to Flandreau Indian School,
I started playing guitar.
And I was, I guess, probably 12 years old, 13 years old, right in that area.
And so I started singing rock and roll then. But when I'd go home with it,
I'd still be singing traditional music too.
And so I would sing with my dad and my brothers and different guys.
(11:47):
So I carried on, and then I started playing for dances when I was a sophomore in high school.
I had a band there at Flandreau, and we had like a trio.
And a guy by the name of Dale Benson, he played guitar, and Roy Hunter,
Roy Spotted Wolf Hunter.
Anyway, he played drums. And so we played for a lot of the dance.
Of course, I had a lot of other musicians there too.
(12:09):
I met Joanne when I was a sophomore, and she was a freshman.
And so when you find someone or something you like you got to grab onto it and
hold it. So that's what I did to Joanne.
I paid you for that. No shit.
So and then I started playing there all through high school.
And when I graduated, then I attended General Beadle State College in Madison.
(12:34):
Yeah, and now present day Dakota State.
Yeah, so I went there. I didn't do very well in my first attempt there because
I was only there for the first year and then we formed a group called uh gordon
burden the stingrays back in 1964,
some of the folks around here are going to recognize that yeah yeah that would
(12:55):
have been 1964 yeah i graduated in 63 i was uh 17 years old when i when i graduated that's because they uh,
Oh, no. I just got too big for the desk, so they just shoved me out of school.
Maybe too big for my britches, that's what it was. You know,
we played rock and roll, and we played a lot of the, you know,
(13:16):
the Beatles just started coming in at that time.
Of course, when I was at Flandreau, then I knew all of the rockabilly songs,
all of the Elvis songs, and Carl Perkins, and, you know, Ronnie Hawkins,
and a lot of different, a lot of the old rock and rollers at that time.
So I learned a lot of the 50s music too and then when I got to Flandreau,
(13:37):
I mean to Madison and then we started doing the Beatles and Jerry and the Pacemakers the Searchers,
you remember all of those groups from back in that time you know at that time.
The ballrooms were really big and so we played I think just about every major ballroom in that,
let's see we had that band for a little over a year the Hollyhock was It was
(14:00):
at Hadfield, and then the Showboat Ballroom was run by Jimmy Thomas.
And Jimmy Thomas booked us for almost 10 years. We booked with Jimmy Thomas. Did you? Yeah, yeah.
So anyway, and that was from about 1980, no, 1976 up until 1986.
Yeah, and so he had us playing a lot of the different ballrooms and proms and homecomings.
(14:23):
I was still playing homecomings in 1986.
Isn't that unreal? You know, that started, I suppose, it would have been right
around the middle 70s, you know, when Jackie was, you know, and Sherry.
Sherry was six years old at that time, and Jackie must have been about 10,
9 or 10, right in that area.
(14:44):
And so they were going to the different celebrations.
We call them celebrations up there, and then, you know, most people call them powwows.
And I don't care for the phrase powwow. I'd just as soon have it be a celebration
rather than powwow, because powwow was kind of negative, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, they were attending all these celebrations,
(15:05):
and then, of course, I've always sang for them when they practiced.
But I always sort of coupled the traditional music with the rock and roll.
And then, you know, I played jazz and gospel and country and just about all
the different kinds of music through the years.
I've played polkas, too, and shodishes.
(15:28):
Yeah, yeah, right. But my favorite still is gospel, Indian first,
and then gospel, and then classical music.
We started, let's see, Joe, I don't know, we started traveling with art shows,
you know, and at that time, let's see, in 86, I quit playing,
you know, dances, and then we started doing concerts.
(15:49):
Concerts and then shortly after that I suppose it would have been like an 80.
Yeah, about 86. Then we made a trip over to Germany, and then we took our family
group over there, and we did traditional performances for Karl Mayer Spiele.
And that was on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and they had crowds,
(16:11):
you know, like anywhere from 10,000 per performance.
For 2012 they're inducting the band that I had back in the 1964s Gordon Bird and the Stingrays,
and then and then but there was five of us we had a sax player drummer bass
player guitar player and then I played a lead and sang lead and then after I
(16:31):
left and then the sax player also left when they became the original Stingrays
and so now there's seven of us that'll That'll be inducted,
and that'll be, let's see, that'll be,
yeah, I guess just seven guys,
yeah, and four of us from the original Stingrays, and then three guys from the,
I mean, four of us from Gordon Burnett's Stingrays, and three from the original Stingrays,
(16:55):
you know, so we're playing as a composite group, and they've really had some fantastic groups.
I don't know if you remember the Flippers and the Red Dogs, and yeah,
I played at the first one for Dean Burns. The Burns Brothers Band,
they were out of Rosebud.
And one of the guys, Russell Burns, he was the lead singer. And he was,
(17:16):
and they're from Borough Brule. Yeah.
Anyway, yeah. And they're enrolled there. Anyway, Dean is the only surviving
member of the Burns Brothers Band.
So the chairman of the board called me and asked if I could play guitar.
And I said, sure. He said, well, here's a group that's going to back him.
And he sent me a CD, and I thought, well, these guys won't be able to do that, you know, so.
(17:40):
So anyway, I put together a group, and I got my keyboard player and my bass
player and my drummer, and then a sax player came in, and then Dean played rhythm,
and then, of course, I played lead.
And then, of course, the family, whenever we need backing vocals,
can always count on Joanne, Jackie, and Sherry, and Lori, you know, so.
But anyway, we're still involved, and, you know, and we're always willing to
(18:02):
experiment, and if somebody needs a little assistance here and there, I could always do that.
So you're not really tired yet by any means? No, no, no, just tired.
Joanne Bird is one of the most famous artists of the Northern Plains.
She has a very unique style of painting that has kept her in demand for nearly four decades.
(18:22):
Her paintings depict her Native American heritage and much of her work is spiritual in nature.
Joanne is also an accomplished bronze sculptor and her work can be found throughout
the United States and Europe.
Joanne has won numerous awards and honors for her work. Hi, I'm Joanne Byrd,
and I'm originally from Sisseton, South Dakota.
(18:44):
I was given away when I was zero to my grandmother, fortunately, and she raised me.
Yeah, my grandparents were real religious, and we had to go to church four or five times a week.
They were so strict that we couldn't watch TV, listen to the radio.
And I remember we had a wood stove, and I melted crayons on it.
(19:06):
And I remember liking the smell and the effect.
And that's all I did was color and drawing.
At home, that's all we did. And in school, it was the only thing I got straight A's at.
Okay, when I first got married, I was working for 3M. I did airbrush work,
and I did turning black and white film into color.
(19:28):
I did each frame, and I'd do like 3,000 frames for a one-minute commercial.
And so I became an airbrush expert, but then we moved to North Dakota,
so then I started just doing my own art.
Yeah, at first they didn't know what to call me because I was so different,
but it happened by accident, which was a great accident.
(19:49):
We moved back to the reservation after many years, and it was really different for us.
And I was outside and I was just throwing my paint.
Out of disgust. And I found out I could control it.
And there was a man that came to our house and he was very interested in buying
(20:10):
this real loose painting.
And we didn't sell it to him. And I did a Northern Tribal Arts.
And Gordon brought in all my loose pictures. And nobody looked at my realism.
And we sold out. We couldn't believe it. And it just kept happening,
you know and it just took off yeah joanne is
an artist and uh and she's been an artist since the late
(20:33):
60s about 67 68 69
right in that area more more closer to
1969 and then so and then
when we first opened our business what you know and i
was playing all the time and we'd do all the art
shows too and then i'd you know try to juggle our schedules that way and that
isn't always the easiest thing and but in in 1976 well then we joanne and i
(20:58):
decided to become independent i think i mentioned that a little bit earlier
but we started a retail shop and a wholesale operation.
And then and then of course there was music and art and in those areas and so
we opened our first shop in uh pipestone and that was the then we named that
featherstone and uh it sounds kind of indian but it really is it's it's english
(21:21):
you know and a friend of ours was a was a doctor,
was a doctor over here at the university in brookings
and his name was uh jay featherstone and so we kind of liked that name and it
really sounded kind of nice so we took that name and named our shop then and
we also named our our band that and then our our wholesale operation so So we
(21:43):
used that name, and then we started,
we had our shop for, let's see, from 1976,
and we went in partnership with another guy, and then we built Fort Pipestone.
And, and that was kind of a different thing there to build it in a place of
peace, you know, where the stone is quarried. Yeah.
So, but anyway, all during that time I was playing and then we went out and
(22:07):
did art shows and, and then the kids, as they grew up with them,
you know, sort of recruited them to do different things.
And then we started performing at the art shows too, which was double duty for
me then. and really proved out right for us.
And then, of course, then I became more Joanne's assistant through the years.
So I do all of the paperwork and a lot of the computer work.
(22:28):
And some of the real high-tech IT stuff, I leave that to the grandkids.
Wise men. I always try and change or find something different.
But some people will buy the new things, but they still like old.
And I've seen artists where they didn't change and it went way down for them
(22:51):
so I'm always trying to come up with new ideas.
When Chakri first started Norman Crooks commissioned me to do a sculpture of
little ticks so I did that and then I
started doing sculptures I did one for a museum in North Dakota then I did a
lot of small ones and that was before painting.
(23:12):
It's been great and it hasn't have been easy because there's a lot of times
where you break down on the road, sometimes lose your trailer.
But otherwise, I'm really happy we did what we did. No regrets.
Do it again, too. Thinking about it. Kind of missed the road.
(23:32):
Thank you for joining us this week on Hidden Heritage. It's been our mission
over the years to find positive stories from within the Native American culture.
The story and legacy of the Gordon Byrd family is just the kind of thing that
many times goes unnoticed by the mainstream.
We'd like to express our appreciation to Gordon Byrd and family for all they've
done for the Native American culture over the years.
(23:54):
In looking back over our visit with the Gordon Byrd family, I came to a realization.
It's fair to say that the circuit of music festivals, art shows,
and theaters that we perform at today were forged out by the hard work of pioneers
like Gordon Byrd and his family.
All of us with Brulee and Hidden Heritage who would like to sincerely say thank you.
(24:16):
It's our hope that we can inspire the next generation of Native American performers
as we continue to pioneer one of the last musical frontiers.
Music.
Music.
(00:56):
I'm Paul LaRouche, and the stories you are about to see are an attempt to share
this true American story of a hidden heritage.
Music.
Thank you for watching.
(01:23):
In his younger days, he had taken part in the sweat lodge. That face has been
there for hundreds and hundreds of years, maybe longer.
Well, I grew up right now.
Music.
(04:01):
This week on Hidden Heritage, we're going to visit a family of artists from
South Dakota. They have defied the odds now for almost four decades.
Not only have they found a way to work and play together, but they've paved
the way for generations of Native American artists from across the country.
If you're from the Midwest, you've probably heard of and seen at one time or
(04:21):
another the world-famous Gordon Bird family.
Join us now as we visit Gordon, Joanne, and Jackie, better known as the Birds.
Just north of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, sits the small, peaceful community
of Brookings, a typical small Midwestern town by most standards.
We picked a beautiful warm winter afternoon to visit with Gordon Bird and his
(04:43):
family, who reside on a picturesque property situated on the north shore of Lake Campbell.
Hi, I'm Jackie Bird from the Mandan, Hidatsa, Dakota nations,
and I live in South Dakota.
I know for a fact I started by absorbing it probably from being an unborn even
to an infant, toddler, teenage, young adult, and to early grandmother stage.
(05:08):
Now, all absorbing from my parents.
They're really amazing in their fields.
My mom's a visual artist, and then my dad's a musician.
And they're overall my best teachers ever. and
so so we just all are naturally involved
we just it's just all natural we
(05:29):
don't know anything else it's the realm we live in my
very most proud time as young as i can remember was when i was nine years old
and i played drums for my dad in the basement and he had friends come over and
the drummer wasn't there so i got to play to blueberry hill and i remember that
I went to boarding schools.
(05:51):
I went to Mardi Indian School and then Flandre Indian School.
And in the dorm rooms, a lot of the girls would come over to my room and I'd
tell them stories or cultural things that I've listened to.
I traveled with a medicine man and his family, the late Martin Heiber,
and when I traveled with them, it opened up a whole new world for me because
(06:12):
I knew I was at a turning point between worlds if I would fall in a downward spiral.
The other kids that were all doing what experimenting and
then or I could go into the real vibration
that would keep me going well through life which was
the spiritual growth and so I chose the spiritual
(06:34):
path and that opened up the traditional singing
and I had a rock band and I
would sing traditional from the night
before at our Indian Club and I'd sing with
the guitar a little bit it and then I was starting to combine it
and I and then I brought it home to my dad and then he made a side a side b
(06:56):
track of lovesick blues and then an original song I made whirlwind rider and
then right from there I just I just started keeping it just drove me everywhere.
Jackie is a singer, hoop dance performer, inspirational speaker,
fancy shawl dancer, designer and artist.
(07:18):
She has performed around the world, but is best known for mixing traditional
Native sounds with a retro 80s rock feel and Native American blues.
She calls it Indian blues rock.
She is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wapiton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.
Jackie has been performing alongside
her sisters and parents in the family group since she was a child.
(07:40):
Now her own daughters also perform in the same family group.
That was through my grandma, my Hidatsa side.
And she loves traditional ways. Her first language is Hidatsa, just as well as my dad.
And he'd play music all the time.
And then it just called me.
(08:01):
And so I made my first dance regalia with help at seven years old.
I drew it out and the lady sewed it because just to keep rebounding is really good for your cells.
And then also the message, I do it mainly for the message of all people work
(08:21):
together for unity, world peace and global healing.
And my dad's the one that encouraged me the most on to make the each directions
visible. visible, and then I always remind wherever I'm performing that we're
all related and we can work together. It's really just a nice remembrance.
And then I make a medicine wheel, and what the.
(08:46):
Connects our hearts, and it brings centering and peace to that area,
so it's just a reflection.
I make star patterns, and then we reflect each other.
It's just so natural, I don't know anything else, so I never,
that's all I really know.
When I was younger, I had a rock band, and I used to like to be like Pat Benatar.
It's almost like I passed it down to my children now, because
(09:08):
now my daughters and my grandchildren children are really
involved in the on the powwow circuit and trail
and I'm really grateful to see
that they're carrying on what I used to
take part of but I just really I use
my heart like my navigator and I just
follow it wherever yes and so so lately I have my two sons and there's one more
(09:33):
that I'm still raising so I just put all my attention into motherhood I make
sure that each child that I bring into the world,
I encourage others to have a therapy of the arts, and that will help them get through life.
Because when I was in high school, I would draw all the time,
and then eventually moved into music.
(09:54):
But each one of my children are involved in the arts, and then I see them pursuing it.
One day when I see the creator and meet him, and he says, okay Jackie where
are the gifts I gave you and if I were to approach him I'd say I don't have
any I gave it all to the people.
(10:14):
Music.
Stories from across Native America. I'm Gordon Bird.
I'm from the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara people up at the Fort Berthold Reservation
(10:36):
in Newtown, North Dakota.
I've been more in the traditional area because I started singing traditional
music when I was like four years old.
And I sang all the time right up to when I went to the Pyrenean school when
I was singing. A couple of my brothers were dancers, and a couple of us were singers.
And so a lot of our tribal members from home up there in Newtown,
(11:00):
we went down to the Pierre Indian School.
That was about 400 miles from where we lived.
It also went there when I was five years old, went away to boarding school.
But then all the time I was involved in singing traditional music.
And then we used to go out and perform for a lot of the schools and the churches
and special functions where they needed traditional dancers and singers.
(11:25):
But I'd carry it on from there, and then when I got to Flandreau Indian School,
I started playing guitar.
And I was, I guess, probably 12 years old, 13 years old, right in that area.
And so I started singing rock and roll then. But when I'd go home with it,
I'd still be singing traditional music too.
And so I would sing with my dad and my brothers and different guys.
(11:47):
So I carried on, and then I started playing for dances when I was a sophomore in high school.
I had a band there at Flandreau, and we had like a trio.
And a guy by the name of Dale Benson, he played guitar, and Roy Hunter,
Roy Spotted Wolf Hunter.
Anyway, he played drums. And so we played for a lot of the dance.
Of course, I had a lot of other musicians there too.
(12:09):
I met Joanne when I was a sophomore, and she was a freshman.
And so when you find someone or something you like you got to grab onto it and
hold it. So that's what I did to Joanne.
I paid you for that. No shit.
So and then I started playing there all through high school.
And when I graduated, then I attended General Beadle State College in Madison.
(12:34):
Yeah, and now present day Dakota State.
Yeah, so I went there. I didn't do very well in my first attempt there because
I was only there for the first year and then we formed a group called uh gordon
burden the stingrays back in 1964,
some of the folks around here are going to recognize that yeah yeah that would
(12:55):
have been 1964 yeah i graduated in 63 i was uh 17 years old when i when i graduated that's because they uh,
Oh, no. I just got too big for the desk, so they just shoved me out of school.
Maybe too big for my britches, that's what it was. You know,
we played rock and roll, and we played a lot of the, you know,
(13:16):
the Beatles just started coming in at that time.
Of course, when I was at Flandreau, then I knew all of the rockabilly songs,
all of the Elvis songs, and Carl Perkins, and, you know, Ronnie Hawkins,
and a lot of different, a lot of the old rock and rollers at that time.
So I learned a lot of the 50s music too and then when I got to Flandreau,
(13:37):
I mean to Madison and then we started doing the Beatles and Jerry and the Pacemakers the Searchers,
you remember all of those groups from back in that time you know at that time.
The ballrooms were really big and so we played I think just about every major ballroom in that,
let's see we had that band for a little over a year the Hollyhock was It was
(14:00):
at Hadfield, and then the Showboat Ballroom was run by Jimmy Thomas.
And Jimmy Thomas booked us for almost 10 years. We booked with Jimmy Thomas. Did you? Yeah, yeah.
So anyway, and that was from about 1980, no, 1976 up until 1986.
Yeah, and so he had us playing a lot of the different ballrooms and proms and homecomings.
(14:23):
I was still playing homecomings in 1986.
Isn't that unreal? You know, that started, I suppose, it would have been right
around the middle 70s, you know, when Jackie was, you know, and Sherry.
Sherry was six years old at that time, and Jackie must have been about 10,
9 or 10, right in that area.
(14:44):
And so they were going to the different celebrations.
We call them celebrations up there, and then, you know, most people call them powwows.
And I don't care for the phrase powwow. I'd just as soon have it be a celebration
rather than powwow, because powwow was kind of negative, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, they were attending all these celebrations,
(15:05):
and then, of course, I've always sang for them when they practiced.
But I always sort of coupled the traditional music with the rock and roll.
And then, you know, I played jazz and gospel and country and just about all
the different kinds of music through the years.
I've played polkas, too, and shodishes.
(15:28):
Yeah, yeah, right. But my favorite still is gospel, Indian first,
and then gospel, and then classical music.
We started, let's see, Joe, I don't know, we started traveling with art shows,
you know, and at that time, let's see, in 86, I quit playing,
you know, dances, and then we started doing concerts.
(15:49):
Concerts and then shortly after that I suppose it would have been like an 80.
Yeah, about 86. Then we made a trip over to Germany, and then we took our family
group over there, and we did traditional performances for Karl Mayer Spiele.
And that was on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and they had crowds,
(16:11):
you know, like anywhere from 10,000 per performance.
For 2012 they're inducting the band that I had back in the 1964s Gordon Bird and the Stingrays,
and then and then but there was five of us we had a sax player drummer bass
player guitar player and then I played a lead and sang lead and then after I
(16:31):
left and then the sax player also left when they became the original Stingrays
and so now there's seven of us that'll That'll be inducted,
and that'll be, let's see, that'll be,
yeah, I guess just seven guys,
yeah, and four of us from the original Stingrays, and then three guys from the,
I mean, four of us from Gordon Burnett's Stingrays, and three from the original Stingrays,
(16:55):
you know, so we're playing as a composite group, and they've really had some fantastic groups.
I don't know if you remember the Flippers and the Red Dogs, and yeah,
I played at the first one for Dean Burns. The Burns Brothers Band,
they were out of Rosebud.
And one of the guys, Russell Burns, he was the lead singer. And he was,
(17:16):
and they're from Borough Brule. Yeah.
Anyway, yeah. And they're enrolled there. Anyway, Dean is the only surviving
member of the Burns Brothers Band.
So the chairman of the board called me and asked if I could play guitar.
And I said, sure. He said, well, here's a group that's going to back him.
And he sent me a CD, and I thought, well, these guys won't be able to do that, you know, so.
(17:40):
So anyway, I put together a group, and I got my keyboard player and my bass
player and my drummer, and then a sax player came in, and then Dean played rhythm,
and then, of course, I played lead.
And then, of course, the family, whenever we need backing vocals,
can always count on Joanne, Jackie, and Sherry, and Lori, you know, so.
But anyway, we're still involved, and, you know, and we're always willing to
(18:02):
experiment, and if somebody needs a little assistance here and there, I could always do that.
So you're not really tired yet by any means? No, no, no, just tired.
Joanne Bird is one of the most famous artists of the Northern Plains.
She has a very unique style of painting that has kept her in demand for nearly four decades.
(18:22):
Her paintings depict her Native American heritage and much of her work is spiritual in nature.
Joanne is also an accomplished bronze sculptor and her work can be found throughout
the United States and Europe.
Joanne has won numerous awards and honors for her work. Hi, I'm Joanne Byrd,
and I'm originally from Sisseton, South Dakota.
(18:44):
I was given away when I was zero to my grandmother, fortunately, and she raised me.
Yeah, my grandparents were real religious, and we had to go to church four or five times a week.
They were so strict that we couldn't watch TV, listen to the radio.
And I remember we had a wood stove, and I melted crayons on it.
(19:06):
And I remember liking the smell and the effect.
And that's all I did was color and drawing.
At home, that's all we did. And in school, it was the only thing I got straight A's at.
Okay, when I first got married, I was working for 3M. I did airbrush work,
and I did turning black and white film into color.
(19:28):
I did each frame, and I'd do like 3,000 frames for a one-minute commercial.
And so I became an airbrush expert, but then we moved to North Dakota,
so then I started just doing my own art.
Yeah, at first they didn't know what to call me because I was so different,
but it happened by accident, which was a great accident.
(19:49):
We moved back to the reservation after many years, and it was really different for us.
And I was outside and I was just throwing my paint.
Out of disgust. And I found out I could control it.
And there was a man that came to our house and he was very interested in buying
(20:10):
this real loose painting.
And we didn't sell it to him. And I did a Northern Tribal Arts.
And Gordon brought in all my loose pictures. And nobody looked at my realism.
And we sold out. We couldn't believe it. And it just kept happening,
you know and it just took off yeah joanne is
an artist and uh and she's been an artist since the late
(20:33):
60s about 67 68 69
right in that area more more closer to
1969 and then so and then
when we first opened our business what you know and i
was playing all the time and we'd do all the art
shows too and then i'd you know try to juggle our schedules that way and that
isn't always the easiest thing and but in in 1976 well then we joanne and i
(20:58):
decided to become independent i think i mentioned that a little bit earlier
but we started a retail shop and a wholesale operation.
And then and then of course there was music and art and in those areas and so
we opened our first shop in uh pipestone and that was the then we named that
featherstone and uh it sounds kind of indian but it really is it's it's english
(21:21):
you know and a friend of ours was a was a doctor,
was a doctor over here at the university in brookings
and his name was uh jay featherstone and so we kind of liked that name and it
really sounded kind of nice so we took that name and named our shop then and
we also named our our band that and then our our wholesale operation so So we
(21:43):
used that name, and then we started,
we had our shop for, let's see, from 1976,
and we went in partnership with another guy, and then we built Fort Pipestone.
And, and that was kind of a different thing there to build it in a place of
peace, you know, where the stone is quarried. Yeah.
So, but anyway, all during that time I was playing and then we went out and
(22:07):
did art shows and, and then the kids, as they grew up with them,
you know, sort of recruited them to do different things.
And then we started performing at the art shows too, which was double duty for
me then. and really proved out right for us.
And then, of course, then I became more Joanne's assistant through the years.
So I do all of the paperwork and a lot of the computer work.
(22:28):
And some of the real high-tech IT stuff, I leave that to the grandkids.
Wise men. I always try and change or find something different.
But some people will buy the new things, but they still like old.
And I've seen artists where they didn't change and it went way down for them
(22:51):
so I'm always trying to come up with new ideas.
When Chakri first started Norman Crooks commissioned me to do a sculpture of
little ticks so I did that and then I
started doing sculptures I did one for a museum in North Dakota then I did a
lot of small ones and that was before painting.
(23:12):
It's been great and it hasn't have been easy because there's a lot of times
where you break down on the road, sometimes lose your trailer.
But otherwise, I'm really happy we did what we did. No regrets.
Do it again, too. Thinking about it. Kind of missed the road.
(23:32):
Thank you for joining us this week on Hidden Heritage. It's been our mission
over the years to find positive stories from within the Native American culture.
The story and legacy of the Gordon Byrd family is just the kind of thing that
many times goes unnoticed by the mainstream.
We'd like to express our appreciation to Gordon Byrd and family for all they've
done for the Native American culture over the years.
(23:54):
In looking back over our visit with the Gordon Byrd family, I came to a realization.
It's fair to say that the circuit of music festivals, art shows,
and theaters that we perform at today were forged out by the hard work of pioneers
like Gordon Byrd and his family.
All of us with Brulee and Hidden Heritage who would like to sincerely say thank you.
(24:16):
It's our hope that we can inspire the next generation of Native American performers
as we continue to pioneer one of the last musical frontiers.
Music.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.