It’s not every day that Haines is visited by a woman whose many hats include indigenous cultures activist, women’s rights advocate, and award-winning neo-soul musician.
On Sunday, however, Haines residents will be able to see Martha Redbone perform on the Chilkat Center’s main stage. The show is sponsored by the Haines Arts Council and starts at 7 p.m.
Redbone, who is of Cherokee, Choctaw, European and African-American descent, blends funk, Appalachian folk, Peidmont blues, soul and traditional Native American music into a melting pot of sound.
The New Yorker referred to Redbone’s music as “a brilliant collision of cultures,” and the New York Times said her voice contains “both the taut determination of mountain music and the bite of American Indian singing.”
Arts council president Tom Heywood said he jumped at the opportunity to have Redbone play in Haines when the Anchorage Concert Association saw her live and wanted to put together an Alaskan tour.
During the three-week tour, Redbone is playing under the billing the Martha Redbone Roots Project with husband Aaron Whitby on piano and melodica and Alan Burroughs on guitar and vocals. They are traveling to the major Alaskan cities, but also Valdez, Kodiak, Bethel, Cordova and Skagway.
The group’s latest album, “The Garden of Love: The Songs of William Blake,” is an interpretation of the works of the English Romantic poet best known for his collections “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience.”
In addition to producing and recording award-winning music, Redbone also makes time to give workshops, talks and presentations around the world on topics ranging from indigenous rights to the role of art in politics.
Redbone has served as ambassador to the National HIV/AIDS Partnership, holds an annual Traditional Music Workshop within the United Houma Nation’s Cultural Enrichment Summer Camp, and currently works as the creative advisor for the Man Up Campaign, a global youth movement to eradicate violence against women and girls.
Tickets to the Martha Redbone Roots Project show are $15 for adults and $5 for students.