After returning from the war, Buddy tried his hand at music and acting, eventually getting involved with political activism.Īlthough he had some success as an actor with an appearance in the movie Pow Wow Highway where he appeared as a character based on his own life, his greatest impact was in music, where he recorded three albums. As a young man, Buddy served as a US Marine in Vietnam, a not uncommon path, as Native Americans have the highest percentage of military service out of any racial demographic. One of the few Indian tribes to ever fight the US cavalry to a standstill, the Lakota were driven by a fierce pride that refused to submit to colonial domination.Īdopted into the Red Bow family at a young age, Buddy would go on to live a life that in many ways deeply reflected the Native American experience. What I found was a treasure trove of songs that featured a range of styles, soul-stirring melodies and social commentary rooted in the Lakota experience.īuddy Red Bow was born Warfield Richards in 1948 on Pine Ridge Reservation, the home of the Lakota Sioux, a warrior tribe that had produced legendary chiefs like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Perhaps it was the humility of the words, and the experience of the Lakota Sioux wrapped up in the cultural art form of the American cowboy, but I had to learn more about Buddy Red Bow. As we made our way towards the site of Wounded Knee and further to our lodge, we were introduced to Buddy’s twangy voice as “Reservation Cowboy” blasted through the speakers with a tune at home in any old Western cowboy song. I was riding with Joe Kowalski, a friend who had taught for a stint at the reservation, and our radio was tuned to KILI, the local Pine Ridge station. Meanwhile, run-down buildings bore political slogans denouncing colonization, and the roads, which are maintained by the reservation, seemed to be of a grainier quality. This was the border town next to Pine Ridge Indian reservation, White Clay was basically composed of a few shacks selling liquor to the Indians in the reservation where its sale was prohibited.Īs I drove into the reservation, people were walking up the road to White Clay to buy alcohol. While I drove past the town of White Clay, Nebraska, the image of baked skin shirtless drunks laying lifeless out on the street made for a surreal site. I had driven over 1,200 miles over two days from Sacramento heading to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I remember the moment I first heard Buddy Red Bow’s music.
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