Alt.Native: Follow the music
Every month brings something different. Sometimes it’s an album I can’t stop replaying. Sometimes it’s an artist I discover years after everyone else. Sometimes it’s a live performance or a film I can’t wait to see. This month has a little of all three.
By: Brian Edwards, Special to Fry Bread
What I Just Heard
Usually, a single song sends me down the artist rabbit hole. This time, the rabbit hole came first.
For almost two years, Caley Watts, whose family is Saddle Lake Cree Nation, kept showing up in my feeds. It started with “White Buffalo” and “East Wind.” Then came the colossal “Talk to Giants.” I liked them all, but never dug deeper.
A couple of weeks ago, I heard “Slow Burn,” the third track on her April 2026 debut album, River’s Daughter. I started digging.
On “Slow Burn,” Watts reminds me of Waxahatchee, with just a hint of Kacey Musgraves in the vocals — with maybe a little more twang. It’s the kind of song that doesn’t seem to be trying very hard, which, of course, is much harder than it sounds.
On Watts’ website, I found an earlier version of “Slow Burn,” recorded in 2018 with Buddy Thatcher at Box o Bones Studio in Bella Coola, British Columbia. I also found an acoustic garden performance from about the same time. Both are rougher, quieter and more guitar-forward than the version on River’s Daughter.
I ended up listening to all three versions back-to-back. That’s not something you get to do very often with a song. Most arrive as finished products. Here, you can hear the years in between. The melody is familiar from the beginning, and her vocals are crystalline throughout, but each version reveals a little more confidence. By the time I finished, I wasn’t just replaying “Slow Burn.” I was replaying the entire record. It’s become one of my favorite albums of the year.
Inside the Session
I found Kalyn Fay in May when “More”, the opening track on her April album ᎠᏫᏒᏅ (Garden), caught my ear. Her songs breathe. They don’t rush to the chorus — they unfold at their own pace with acoustic arrangements, understated vocals and a lived-in quality. She reminds me — in sound, storytelling and spirit — of Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, one of my longtime favorites.
Now Fay, a Cherokee Nation citizen and Muscogee artist, is heading into Tulsa’s Church Studio for IN SESSION, a live recording event on July 30. Two audiences of 50 people will sit inside the studio wearing headphones while Fay and her band record new music. Instead of watching a concert, they’ll hear the session as it’s being recorded, alongside the musicians and engineers.
I like the idea. Most of us hear songs after they’re finished. This lets listeners hear one while it’s still becoming a record.
On My Watch List
Robert Mirabal has never fit neatly into one lane. The Grammy-winning Taos Pueblo musician has built a career as a flutist, storyteller, visual artist and actor, and now he’s taking on a leading role in Road to Everywhere, an independent film.
Mirabal plays Jake, a casino dealer returning to the Navajo Nation after 30 years away to reconnect with family and watch his grandson compete in a Native rodeo. The film, written and directed by Michael Shoob, was shot in part in a Navajo community near Page, Arizona and co-stars Whip Hubley, reprising the role he first played in Shoob’s 1996 film Driven. The cast also includes DezBaa’ (Dark Winds).
I haven’t seen Road to Everywhere yet, so I’ll reserve judgment. But stories about Native people coming home — told with Native actors at the center instead of on the margins — always get my attention. This one opens in select theaters this summer before its digital release on Sept. 15, and it’s officially on my watch list.
In Heavy Rotation:
“Smiling” — Miesha and the Spanks
The loud/quiet dynamics and Miesha Louie’s guitar have that angular, off-kilter Pixies feel. It’s hard to believe this much sound comes from just two people. Calgary duo Louie (mixed Secwépemc heritage) and drummer Sean Hamilton have already released two strong singles this year, and “Smiling” might be my favorite yet. Put this one on loud.
“NDNEYES” drives forward at full speed and somehow keeps finding another gear. Punk rock is the foundation, but along the way you’ll hear powwow drums, ska, a traditional flute and, by the end, a burst of Mexican norteño. It shouldn’t work. It does.
Death, Taxes & Bitches — Natasha Fisher
This one is just fun. “Death, Taxes & Bitches” has the guitars and attitude of a great ’90s alternative rock song, but it’s Ojibwe singer Natasha Fisher’s delivery that sells it. She’s playful, a little mischievous and completely in command of the song.
The guitar and fiddle hooked me first. Then I realized I couldn’t stop bobbing my head. “Fur Queen” is a folk/alt-country song inspired by Wade’s search for her birth family and Métis heritage. The title honors her birth mother’s time as a Fur Queen at the Northern Manitoba Trappers Festival, giving a swinging country song an unexpectedly personal backstory.
This isn’t necessarily an easy listen, but I think that’s the point. Siichaq (Inuit) layers spoken word, hazy vocals, shoegaze guitars and clicky industrial electronics into an unsettling soundscape anchored by one unforgettable line: “Less human, more content.”
The Alt.Native column isn’t about a genre. It’s about Indigenous artists making great music — whatever that music happens to sound like. If there’s someone I should be listening to, send me a note at bedwards@indiancountrymedia.com.
