There is a special creative identity attached to singer Joanne Shenandoah. It is evident throughout the course of her career, beginning with the numerous recordings of Iroquois social songs that have come to define her music. Though she has no single song that can be described as a hit, her productivity and creativity since the late 1980s have led to her position today as one of the top-selling and most widely recognized Native recording artists. This legacy has been highlighted by performances with the likes of Willie Nelson, Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree), Kris Kristofferson, Floyd Westerman (Dakota), Bruce Cockburn, Robbie Robertson (Mohawk), Bill Miller (Mohican), A. Paul Ortega (Apache), R. Carlos Nakai (Navajo/Ute), Neil Young and many others.

Despite the star power, her style also has its critics. Comedian Charlie Hill (Oneida) once joked, "Here's Joanne's first album: 'Heya na way hiya hey.' Here's Joanne's last album: 'Heya na way hiya hey.' Here's Joanne's new album: 'Heya na way hiya hey.'" Hill is notorious for his scathing material, and, in this case, he pokes fun at the perceived redundancy of Shenandoah's songs. However, her repertoire actually spans the realms of country, rock, techno, gospel, children's songs and folk, as well as her best-known traditional Iroquois social songs. She has simultaneously crossed musical cultural borders while establishing an immediately identifiable style. Her alternative arrangements of traditional music that she transforms with an eclectic array of instruments-including violin, water drum, cello and glass harmonica, among others-have become a boundless exploration. "My favorite album is always the next one," she quips with a hearty ease.

As a Wolf Clan member of the Oneida nation in upstate New York, Joanne Lynn Shenandoah was given the name Tekalihwa:khwa (She Sings). Her late father, Clifford, an Oneida chief, also was an accomplished jazz guitarist, and her mom, Maisie, a clan mother, a singer and music teacher. Her parents provided direction and inspiration. "I played almost everything I could get my hands on, starting with piano, guitar, clarinet and percussion," Shenandoah recalls. "Now I'm studying the harp." Her future holds as much surprise for her as when she encounters the creative process during the recording sessions. "That's the beauty of it all," she says.

Was on Corporate Track
A single mother in the early 1980s, Shenandoah was poised to rise to the executive level in the UNIX computer field designing architectural networks. She turned down the attractive six-figure salary to move into the arts and begin a singing career. "People thought I was crazy," she reflects, "but, I sat at my desk and watched a tree outside my office window being cut downand the realization hit me! I just couldn't continue in that lifestyle anymore knowing the Earth was being destroyed. I recognize myself as part of the Earth, and that did it for me."
Almost two decades later, she has recorded more than a dozen albums, appeared on numerous collections and received several awards, including a 1994 Pulitzer Prize nomination in music and a Grammy nomination for Best Native Recording in 2001.

Combining her reputation with good business sense and luck, Shenandoah's 2001 album Eagle Cries [Red Feather] covered newer collaborative ground. She shared co-writing credentials with Neil Young and sang a duet with folk icon Bruce Cockburn, while enlisting some of the top artists of the Native music scene. The many guests also included Bill Miller, flute player Mary Youngblood (Aleut-Seminole), longtime collaborator Tom Wasinger, and Shenandoah's daughter Leah and her sister Diane. Now she forges ahead with more exciting projects, like breaking out of one skin to reveal yet another creative layer. "I consider recording to be an extreme art," claims the 45-year-old singer/songwriter.

Her first self-titled debut album, released on Canyon Records in 1989, drew from country music and Iroquois traditions. She quickly moved into gutsy blues/rock on the single "Naduah Cynthia." The song, about Quanah Parker's white mother, was found on the French import Oyate (Nato 1992) and was produced by Tony Hymas, the keyboard player for the Jeff Beck Group. The album included Beck, Jim Pepper (Kaw/Kansa) and several other prominent artists on a highly experimental double CD. "It was extremely wild," she recalls with a laugh. "I never expected to perform work like that!"

Three Albums in 2003
In 2003, she released three albums for Silver Wave Records: one gospel, a best-of compilation album and a techno-experimental project. The first, a collection of gospel songs sung in the Oneida language with her mother, Maisie, and aunt, Liz Robert, is entitled Sisters. "When I did the album with my mom and aunt, I felt very moved. I cried, knowing that these older generations sacrificed for us so that we could pick up and continue on," she says. Her best-of CD, Peace & Power, was completed in five days. The third release, an explorative techno-trance project entitled Covenant, is a step in a completely new direction. This is attributed to working with producer Jim Wilson, who has collaborated in the past with the Coolidge trio Walela and with Robbie Robertson. Wilson takes Shenandoah's earthbound sensibilities into new creative waters. Silver Wave Records President James Marienthal points out, "Not everybody liked the new changes at first, but it's exciting and fresh and that's what Joanne is all about." He first heard Shenandoah in 1995 on Peter Kater's soundtrack How the West Was Lost. He admits, "She has a gorgeous voice! It's obvious to say that, but it's very true!"

Shenandoah's relationship with Silver Wave Records has proven to be a real success, with an excess of 200,000 units sold on the label. The venture began when she recorded the album Life Blood, with Kater. "It's been a very good relationship that allows for a certain amount of creative control for Joanne as an artist," Marienthal notes.

In this whirlwind ride, Shenandoah's focus remains on the teachings of her people. "We have a responsibility to our children to teach them the culture and to show them their responsibilities as human beings," she says. "We have to help them express their gifts, and I love helping develop children's talents. We've conducted songwriting workshops with kids as young as four and five years old. It's been a great experience." With her husband, Doug George, an activist and newspaper columnist, Shenandoah established a nonprofit foundation called Round Dance Productions. "The focus is education and the preservation of Oneida culture," she states. "We're building a recording studio and maintain one of the largest private collections of Iroquois music.

"I've paid my dues on the road," she says with a sigh. "I performed as many as 200 shows in a year, but that was a busy year!" She has also been the subject of two PBS television specials recently. In 2003, the network aired the autobiographical Dancing on Mother Earth, a "year in the life" documentary. "It was like being on Ed TV," she says, laughing. "It was very odd having a camera follow me everywhere." Songs of the Spirit, recorded with flute player R. Carlos Nakai, guitarist Bill Miller and the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, followed in March 2004. It included compositions from her work Sky Woman: Legends of the Iroquois, which made its initial debut with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.

Amid the flurry of documentaries, soundtracks, a feature film project, various community efforts, an honorary doctorate from Syracuse University awarded in 2002, and recording, her creativity continues to flow. "I'm fortunate to have had some great supporters throughout my career-they've helped me get this far," she says. "I'm very fortunate to have had my family stand beside through all of this."

Shenandoah's soft melodic patterns, delivered in her native tongue, exude a unique sincerity. It's little wonder that her earlier works were used by rehabilitation centers to help reconstruct broken lives. Her music speaks of the Earth, generations of connection to the land, and the enduring universal human spirit. And there is a wealth of material yet to come. She concludes with a pause, "You remain humble, work hard, and the rest falls into place."