Andrew Hogarth & Chris Fisher

This is my tribute to the man who confirmed the existence of and helped me understand those shadows in my romantic childhood dreams. Raised on a steady diet of movies and television series about the wild west I wondered why the Indians were always cast as the bad guys, generally relegated to a treacherous mob and where did they go after their daring and deadly deeds? As a child and a Scot living under British rule I intrinsically understood that we were breaking their spirit, stealing their land and destroying their culture. It had happened to our people too. Fast forward twenty years and finding myself a casualty of Thatcher’s Britain I ventured onto the Great Plains with no particular purpose other than to have a look around. No not a potential redemption story but idle time put to good use with the expectation of nothing in return.

Early in my journey I met Jack Little a full blood Oglala-Brulé-Lakota from the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota. Born in 1920 in an eighteen pole framed tepee, named in the traditional way by a Lakota holy man and descended from survivors of the infamous 1890 Wounded Knee massacre Jack’s life like so many of his contemporaries would follow a previously unchartered path. A traditional man in an untraditional world. Our friendship engaged me with a reality much greater than the cowboys and Indians of my childhood in fact an epic story of conquerers versus the conquered, rich versus poor, the powerful versus powerless experienced by and witnessed through one man’s life. It showed me that if you believe in the Great Spirit or a God if you prefer that term then the measure of a man’s life is more likely to be judged in the here and now, in the small kindnesses, how you conduct yourself in everyday transactions during both the good times and the bad.

One of the great challenges in life is to make the complex easy to understand. In Jack Little’s story is a man’s life played out against the background of unprecedented change, unimaginable loss and institutionalised disadvantage approached with honesty, dignity and integrity. A staunch advocate with a generous heart for his people, culture and the land not afraid to speak out against the greed, paucity of spirit and often destructive nature of our society. In such a changing world Jack Little did not have the honour of earning his warrior’s name but like the coyote a master of adaptation his spirit lives on in his people the Lakota. A hard life no doubt but a life well lived. Andrew Hogarth.

It certainly has been an amazing year for Chris and I with our Great Plains Volume II Native American-Alternative Rock Album on the Number1Music Website. Our statistics for song plays and profile views were staggering to say the least!

For the record at the close of 2016 Great Plains had 129,400 Total Plays and 167,200 Profile Views. The album was also given extensive airplay on the Max and the Ducks Weekly Show on Radio Finlanda in the Spanish Costa del Sol region.

In January both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were played back to back on the two hour show. And in September the new songs Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns were also played back to back.

When Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns were uploaded online in early September, 2016, Coyote Man rose to the number two position in the N1M Global Alternative Rock Charts (791Artists). Buffalo Medicine Horns was also well received by music listeners rising to number five on the same global charts.

On the Australian Alternative Rock Charts for N1M both Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns held down the number one and number two spots respectively for fifteen weeks until the last week of December, 2016.

The Great Plains Volume II album songs Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns also performed amazingly well by reaching the number one spot in the N1M Sydney Local Charts (235 Artists). Great Plains also hit the number five spot on the N1M National Australian Charts (1000 Artists).

It was extremely rewarding for Chris and I to see our music and lyrical content about the Lakota-Sioux and Cheyenne Native American Freedom Fighters from the recent past embraced and enjoyed by N1M listeners in such a way. It is always pleasing to educate and inspire and in the process keep the history of the Indian Wars on the American Great Plains from 1854-1890 relevant in this modern age.

Our plan was always to showcase the entire eleven tracks from the original Great Plains Volume I album on N1M for only the 2016 calendar year. This allowed us a platform to build our Influencers (385) and Subscribers (1035) base while Chris was working on the creative processes composing the music for the two new songs Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns and also modifying my lyrics to fit the melody of the songs that were to be released to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of Great Plains. Both Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns certainly reached heady heights as mentioned in the earlier paragraphs of our post.

And now after much deliberation with our mammoth creative tasks completed we have decided not to renew our Gold Subscription for 2017 although we will still highlight on N1M the three new Great Plains Volume II songs Big Hole, Children of the Mist and Comanche Moon recorded in late December, 2017 and completed in early January, 2018 with the final mixing and mastering that fine tuned the songs on the 25th of March, 2018 by producer/engineer Adam Barns at Nick Irving's One Flight Up Recording Studios in the Sydney suburb of St. Peters in New South Wales, Australia. We are now moving back to the free N1M subscription.

Chris and I send our best wishes to all our Influencers and Subscribers for 2017. The Great Plains music can still be purchased online at the Amazon and Apple websites. Great Plains: A Visual Journey in Words and Music can also be found and enjoyed on the YouTube and Vimeo websites.

And thank you all for enjoying, supporting and sharing our music on Number1Music in 2018.

Andrew Hogarth and Chris Fisher.

Not one to normally get involved in modern day politics as a general rule although I must admit I have been filled with pride at how the Lakota-Sioux Nation and Native Americans from all nations across the USA have stood their ground against the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline at Standing Rock in North Dakota.

This is the largest gathering of native people since the occupation of Wounded Knee in western South Dakota in 1973. I guess Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and other Lakota Freedom Fighters from the recent past would be proud of their people and the stand they were taking to secure clean drinking water for themselves and also future generations. Also they are trying to protect sacred burial sites in the region as well.

It is not only a issue for native people but for people from all cultures and different walks of life. For without clean water there will be no life for the human population that inhabits this beautiful planet that we live on. Andrew Hogarth.

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Chris and I are pleased to announce that our album Great Plains now complete with thirteen songs recorded during the period 2001 through 2016 is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon Digital Music.

This is the first time since the album was originally uploaded to ReverbNation Music Distribution in 2010 that the missing track Lakota Spirit has been available on-line. Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns the two new tracks from our fifteenth anniversary recording session in August 2016 also make their debut and complete our Great Plains journey.

This year the connection with and response by fans on Number1Music has been amazing. We are truly humbled by the support we have received so far with 81,163 song plays, 105,571 profile views, 325 influencers and 777 subscribers. A special thanks to everyone for sharing the songs and enjoying the music.

During the past year we have received numerous e-mails from many different parts of the world asking how to best support the Great Plains album. As independent artists and publishers of our own music we do not receive any financial assistance from the music industry or philanthropic sources so it is important that we try and garner the support of Great Plains listeners. The best and most effective way to support Great Plains and indeed the work of any independent artist is to buy the album. Album sales assist us in meeting our production costs. Without the ability to employ the services of a highly skilled and empathetic sound engineer and hire state of the art studio facilities Great Plains just wouldn’t deliver the quality that we aimed for and that you can now enjoy.

Pictured is Danny Reyes a Cheyenne Powwow Dancer. The original photograph was shot while I attended the Cheyenne/Arapaho Annual Colony Powwow in Western Oklahoma in 1992. The painting is by internationally renowned artist Denny Karchner (2012) from Fort Rickey in the state of Florida.

Great Plains is available for download on both iTunes and Amazon. Links below.

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With Christmas and the New Year just around the corner Chris and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and safe festive season and a prosperous New Year in 2017.

Again thank you for all your Facebook social media support.

Andrew Hogarth and Chris Fisher.


Album Review by Sarah Bowing.
The Great Plains album is a journey through one of the most exciting and restive periods of American history. Andrew Hogarth’s extensive travels throughout the Great Plains are reflected in his lyrics and familiarity with his topic. He has captured the honesty and plight of the Lakota and Cheyenne people through his many meetings with both respected tribal elders and contemporary Plains Indian people, building a relationship of trust and friendship with them. Chris Fisher’s powerful voice and melodies wrap the words in the light and shadow that became so familiar to the people of the Great Plains. The music transports the listener through an age of violent change and sad inevitability, yet it is also a celebration of love and a way of life forever lost. Championing the lives and ways of some true leaders of humanity, Great Plains challenges the listener’s preconceptions and stereotyping of Native Americans as portrayed and encouraged by Hollywood and highlights an emotional genocide fostered and then largely ignored by the United States Government.

While I was working in early January, 2016 on the NumberOneMusic website uploading and promoting the complete Great Plains album I was asked by Marcos Kuusjarvi and his co-host Veli Eronen from the internationally renowned band Max and the Ducks originally from Finland but now relocated to sunny Costa del Sol in Spain that “Sitting Bull” and “Crazy Horse” would be highlighted on their Radio Finlandia show.

The show filters through the airwaves to many of the countries in Europe and has a listening audience of around 80,000. Over the last few years both “Sitting Bull” and “Crazy Horse” have had extensive airplay although this new venture was exciting to say the least. On the day of the show I stayed up and enjoyed listening to a 1970’s trip down memory lane with some great tracks floating in and out during the two hour show. Halfway through the show Chris and I were mentioned and talked about for around five minutes and then both the lead songs from Great Plains were played back to back.

As always it is nice to spread the word about two Lakota-Sioux Freedom Fighters who fought to save their peoples culture and way of life in the recent past of the taming of the American West. When both the new songs Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns were completed at the end of August as Chris, Adam and I celebrated the fifteen anniversary of the album they were again selected for back to back airplay with Radio Finlanda again on the Max and the Ducks Show.

This time around it was magic to listen to our song Coyote Man that paid tribute to my dear friend and fellow artist Lakota Jack Little. As for Buffalo Medicine Horns it fitted the up tempo set of many of the shows excellent songs and Buffalo Medicine Horns never fails to deliver on a musical platform. Both new songs continue to educate and inspire music listeners and fans of Great Plains on Number1Music with healthy song plays and profile views.

In only eight months Great Plains has had 74,203 Song Plays and 96,880 Profile Views. It does seem like the stories and music of the album have hit a nerve and that is always rewarding for Chris and I as working artists.

Best wishes from Sydney Down Under to all the Influencers and Subscribers from Chris and myself who are enjoying our offerings that have now taken fifteen years to write and develop the musical arrangements first at Adam Barns Smoking and Jokin Studios in the Sydney suburb of Artarmon in 2001 and again recently at Nick Irving’s One Flight Up Studios at the Sydney suburb of St. Peters in 2016!

Great Plains originally started out as one song (Sweet Medicine) and it has now become an extensive body of work with thirteen songs covering many of the stories that inspired me as I drove 200,000 miles across the Great Plains over a thirty-two year period.

Earlier this year I received a e-mail from a young gentleman who lived in New York City. He informed me that when he walks the dark shadowy streets of Manhattan with its imposing skyscrapers looming overhead he enjoys nothing better than listening to Crazy Horse through his headphone set. As I started my personal journey of exploration in late 1981 I also walked those same streets in New York wondering what lay ahead as I was about to venture out onto the Great Plains for the very first time.

And three weeks later while camping at the rim of the Grand Canyon I was handed the book Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglala’s by Nebraskan author Mari Sandoz by a Trek America driver. It was at that particular moment I knew the direction of my life’s path was to find out the true history of the Lakota-Sioux and Cheyenne Indian Wars History.

I would like to thank Chris Fisher and Adam Barns for their amazing musical collaboration with Great Plains. It was truly a exciting time in all our lives.

Andrew Hogarth.

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When Chris and I completed the Great Plains Alternative Rock Album after eighteen months writing and composing the music in 2000-2001 it seemed that as independent artists our music would find it hard going to get a listening audience with the major record labels operating at that time. It was frowned upon by the powers that be if artists were prepared to work in all areas of the creative processes. It was also the early years of the internet and there were few music sites established at that time.

The album was then put on the back burner and there it remained for over twelve years until early in 2014 when I uploaded the eleven tracks in cyberspace to established music websites ReverbNation, iTunes, SoundCloud and NumberOneMusic. I also created still image video clips from my travel images and created "Great Plains: a Journey in Words and Music on the popular YouTube and Vimeo websites.

When Chris and I caught up in late January 2016 after a fifteen year break I mentioned to him that we would be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the album later that year. It was decided over a coffee or two that we would re-arrange two of my Native American lyrics from 2009 Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns and record them as our way of celebrating our Great Plains album.

On the 27th and 28th of August we spent the weekend recording both tracks with engineer/producer Adam Barns at Nick Irving's One Flight Up recording Studios in the Sydney suburb of St. Peters. We all had a magic time as artists and were extremely proud of the music we created that weekend. Both the new songs Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns have now been online in cyberspace for around two weeks and the response to our new offerings has been amazing.

When Chris and I started out in mid June 2000 to collaborate together we had only designs on writing and recording one song only. And now a decade and a half later we have a thirteen track album that tells the inspiring stories of the Lakota-Sioux and Cheyenne Freedom Fighters who fought to save their culture and way of life in the mid to 19th Century from the advancement of white Americans Manifest Destiny.

Chris and I would like to thank everyone one who has supported the songs over the last eight months and we hope you continue to enjoy the Great Plains album for years to come. Below are the stories for both new songs Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns. And the stories for the original eleven Great Plains songs can be viewed in the lyrics section on the NumberOneMusic website.

Coyote Man: This is my tribute to the man who confirmed the existence of and helped me understand those shadows in my romantic childhood dreams. Raised on a steady diet of movies and television series about the wild west I wondered why the Indians were always cast as the bad guys, generally relegated to a treacherous mob and where did they go after their daring and deadly deeds? As a child and a Scot living under British rule I intrinsically understood that we were breaking their spirit, stealing their land and destroying their culture. It had happened to our people too. Fast forward twenty years and finding myself a casualty of Thatcher’s Britain I ventured onto the Great Plains with no particular purpose other than to have a look around. No not a potential redemption story but idle time put to good use with the expectation of nothing in return.

Early in my journey I met Jack Little a full blood Oglala-Brulé-Lakota from the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota. Born in 1920 in an eighteen pole framed tepee, named in the traditional way by a Lakota holy man and descended from survivors of the infamous 1890 Wounded Knee massacre Jack’s life like so many of his contemporaries would follow a previously unchartered path. A traditional man in an untraditional world. Our friendship engaged me with a reality much greater than the cowboys and Indians of my childhood in fact an epic story of conquerers versus the conquered, rich versus poor, the powerful versus powerless experienced by and witnessed through one man’s life. It showed me that if you believe in the Great Spirit or a God if you prefer that term then the measure of a man’s life is more likely to be judged in the here and now, in the small kindnesses, how you conduct yourself in everyday transactions during both the good times and the bad. One of the great challenges in life is to make the complex easy to understand. In Jack Little’s story is a man’s life played out against the background of unprecedented change, unimaginable loss and institutionalised disadvantage approached with honesty, dignity and integrity. A staunch advocate with a generous heart for his people, culture and the land not afraid to speak out against the greed, paucity of spirit and often destructive nature of our society. In such a changing world Jack Little did not have the honour of earning his warrior’s name but like the coyote a master of adaptation his spirit lives on in his people the Lakota. A hard life no doubt but a life well lived. Andrew Hogarth.

Buffalo Medicine Horns: These lyrics are quite dark and urgent and can be interpreted on more than one level. In a literal sense the verses describe the breakdown of a relationship leaving the enigma of the chorus but as a whole the song describes more of a metaphysical experience, the existence of good and bad spirit medicine. The Great Plains are full of stories if you stop long enough to make acquaintance of the people and allow the stories to be revealed. A story told to me by a well respected trader in the late 1990’s has long remained in my consciousness. It is the story of a pair of buffalo medicine horns that were traded around the American West for many years. Ill fortune from significant loss of property through fire, exploding cars and woes of a more personal nature variously plagued each of the owners of these horns.

After five years and driving through a heavy rain storm hoping to change his fortune the most recent owner of the horns presented them for sale. Assessing the extraordinarily stressed man and his offering the above mentioned trader left his counter and shortly returned with a shovel advising him “Do yourself a favour and dig a deep hole in a field and bury the horns forever. Forget about making money on a sale it’s not worth it.” Of unknown origin the buffalo medicine horns had never been deconsecrated and held bad spirit medicine. The man followed this advice and his good fortune slowly returned. This is a true story and an allegorical introduction to the issues of acquisition, custodianship and repatriation of sacred and cultural objects. On a lighter note buffalo do not shed their horns so exit that relationship with grace and dignity while there is still a semblance of life. Andrew Hogarth.

Chris and I are happy to announce that both Coyote Man and Buffalo Medicine Horns have been created at One Flight Up Recording Studios in the Sydney suburb of St. Peters over two twelve hour shifts on Saturday the 27th of August and again on Sunday the 28th of August.

At present both songs will be fine tuned by Adam Barns our engineer and producer and the vital third member of the original Great Plains project that dates back to 2000 and into 2001.

Chris and Adam did a amazing job with the music for both songs and I was extremely proud of my lyrical content that I originally wrote way back in late January 2009. It was indeed a honour to complete the full circle of over three decades of creative endeavours by writing and listening to Coyote Man a song that speaks about the life and times of my dear friend Lakota Jack Little.

It was also a personal honour to sing with Chris on the harmony of Coyote Man and also play percussion. And not forgetting Buffalo Medicine Horns the second song we recorded it is a killer track that I am sure all music fans of the fifteen year Great Plains project will enjoy.

Both songs should be up online on NumberOneMusic in the next two weeks along with the videos on YouTube and Vimeo which will feature still images that I shot over the two days of recording the songs.

Pictured left to right is Nick Irving the owner of One Flight Up Recording Studios, engineer and producer Adam Barns, pictured in the Great Plains poster is navajo Powwow Dancer Calvert Dixon, Andrew Hogarth and Chris Fisher.

Hope everyone is keeping well and fighting the good fight!

Best regards from Sydney Down Under from Andrew, Chris and Adam.

I visited with Nick Irving the owner/producer/recording engineer of One Flight Up Recording Studios yesterday afternoon to look around the studio and get the lay of the land for two weeks time when Chris, Adam and I record "Coyote Man" and "Buffalo Medicine Horns." It is indeed exciting times and the creative process is in full swing with the music and visuals for the eventual videos for the songs.

During our meeting a few weeks ago Chris, Adam and I all agreed that the new material should have a 2016 sound although we still plan to still keep certain areas of the sounds from the original Great Plains album. The studio has state of the art technology and I also plan to have a selection of Native American artefacts in the studio to help create a working vibe for the songs.

I will be taking the original old typewriter document of Jack Little's life story along as it is the only actual artefact I know that came directly from Jack and his wife Shirley way back in 1984. I heard a rough demo of "Coyote Man" the other week and it is certainly going to be a classic song. As for "Buffalo Medicine Horns" it will be a blues sounding song and to help it along in the studio I will take my treasured pair of Cheyenne Medicine Horns along hoping they will help with the vibes of the recordings.

Chris is extremely excited and working hard at present fitting the musical jigsaw puzzles together. Pictured is the Great Plains Poster I made up last week for the studio recordings and the anniversary of Great Plains. The gentleman in the poster is my good friend Calvert Dixon who is a enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. I shot this image on my seventeenth road trip across the Great Plains in the summer season of 2013.

With only ten days to go until we enter the studio I was informed by Chris yesterday that both songs are almost completed. On a personal level as the writer and storyteller of Great Plains I am excited about singing the harmony vocal on "Coyote Man" and also playing percussion on the song. This in a way closes the circle which allows me the opportunity one last time to pay my respects in honouring the life and times of Oglala-Brule-Lakota Jack Little.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying life and Great Plains!

Andrew and Chris.

The dates for the recording of "Coyote Man" and "Buffalo Medicine Horns" are now booked in for the 27th and 28th of August at the One Flight Up Recording Studios in the Sydney suburb of St. Peters. Chris has informed Adam and myself that the initial demos for the two new songs should be in the can by weeks end.

It has been a hectic two weeks with all the image preparation, mounting and matting for potential display when Chris, Adam and I go into One Flight Up Recording Studios at the end of August to record the two new songs for Great Plains and to also celebrate the 15th anniversary of the albums creation. All my preparation work is now done and dusted and I look forward to catching up with Chris and Adam next Monday to plan our creative strategy for the songs and eventual videos.

It is amazing to think that Chris and I started out to record one single song way back in June, 2000 which told the story of the Sappa Creek Massacre of Southern Cheyenne in northwestern Kansas in late April, 1875. The song eventually became "Sweet Medicine" and the rest is now history following history. It is rare indeed to have a thirteen track album that will soon be fifteen years in the making and also have over thirty-five years of research material woven into the lyrics of the songs.

Next stop will maybe see the formation of a working band and a possible tour of the USA and Europe to bring the songs to a live audience. Exciting times ahead for the Great Plains album.

Hope everyone is still enjoying the music and the stories of the album.

Andrew.

One of the most popular songs outside of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse on the Great Plains album is the song about the life and times of Cheyenne War Chief Medicine Water. Listed below is the liner text for the album booklet that was written by his great great grandson Cheyenne Chief and Tribal Historian John Sipes Jr.

Medicine Water was born in 1835 in Yellowstone Country. As a chief of the Bowstring Warrior Society he sought to preserve the traditions and lifestyle of the Cheyenne. Medicine Water recognised the unjust acts the United States government inflicted upon all Indian people. The taking of land, the depletion of hunting resources and the establishment of artificial boundaries. He knew that for the Cheyenne that this was done without their consent or in consultation. Throughout his life Medicine Water demanded respect as Chief of the Bowstring Warrior Society. He rode his mount refusing to acknowledge fences, markers or other confinements. He would travel the middle of the road, refusing to yield to oncoming travellers making others move to the wayside for him to pass by. Medicine Water died in 1926 aged 91 years old. John Sipes Jr. Northern Cheyenne Chief & Tribal Historian. Great great grandson of Medicine Water. (Image Courtesy Chief John Sipes Jr Private Collection).

Chris e-mailed a update on how the two new songs are progressing last night.

"At the moment I'm contemplating the use of hand percussion in the place of a traditional drum kit. There's an instrument that I like the look of that is called a Cajon - I think it would add a nice warmth and texture to the acoustic guitar on Coyote Man, which is turning out to be a cracking song! I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to sing and play that one at the same time due to some of the intricacies in the guitar parts but I'd rather put my best musical foot forward. I think Buffalo Medicine Horns will be a bit of a contrast in that it will be a little more simple and traditional in its sound but I hope to make it gutsy and rhythmic, like good blues should be!" Chris Fisher.

We are also planning to contact Adam Barns the third member of the Great Plains team to see if he is available to work his engineering magic on the new songs. This will depend if his work commitments allow him the time out. It is exciting times ahead for the Great Plains album and the upcoming fifteenth anniversary in late September this year.

The album continues to rack up the song plays with last count at 46,498. Also the interest in the project has seen over 61,436 people enjoy the profile view material on the NumberOneMusic website page. Thanks again to everyone for all their support on the project and keep enjoying the songs. If you get a minute drop a line and let Chris and I know what are your favourite songs on the album. It is always nice to get feedback on our musical creations.

Andrew.

Both "Sitting Bull" and "Crazy Horse" continue to educate and inspire music listeners around the world. At present both songs are number one and two for the Native American genre in Australia. When the album was released in late 2001 Chris and I published the album with a sixteen page colour booklet and stories about each of the eleven tracks highlighted on the album. Below is the text that accompanied "Sitting Bull."

The memory of Hunkpapa-Lakota Chief Sitting Bull, the man, his life and vision always provides a source of inspiration and a sense of determination that accompanies me during my journeys throughout the plains. In the summer of 1995 I attended a pipe ceremony held in his honour at Bear Butte in South Dakota. It was the nineteenth year that a group of his descendants and their friends had gathered to honour him. My lingering memories of the ceremony are of the vast number of dragonflies that flew among the participants and the eagle that circled overhead. It was indeed an experience. A visit to Sitting Bull’s grave which lies on the banks of the Missouri River, near Mobridge, South Dakota always offers me the chance to pay my respects to this truly remarkable freedom fighter of the Lakota people.

The new songs "Coyote Man" and "Buffalo Medicine Horns" are still on track for release in late September this year. Chris said recently that both songs will soon be ready for their initial demo recordings. Hope everyone is keeping well and staying out of trouble and thanks for continuing to support and enjoy our music. Andrew and Chris.


Great Plains Album Review by Sarah Bowing.

Great Plains captures the essence of the landscape and the history. The intense collaboration of haunting melodies and soulful lyrics on Great Plains provide a unique experience for both the student and novice of the American West and its native peoples.

The Great Plains album is a journey through one of the most exciting and restive periods of American history. Andrew Hogarth’s extensive travels throughout the Great Plains are reflected in his lyrics and familiarity with his topic. He has captured the honesty and plight of the Lakota and Cheyenne people through his many meetings with both respected tribal elders and contemporary Plains Indian people, building a relationship of trust and friendship with them. Chris Fishers’s powerful voice and melodies wrap the words in the light and shadow that became so familiar to the people of the Great Plains. The music transports the listener through an age of violent change and sad inevitability, yet it is also a celebration of love and a way of life forever lost. Championing the lives and ways of some true leaders of humanity, Great Plains challenges the listener ‘s preconceptions and stereotyping of native Americans as portrayed and encouraged by Hollywood and highlights an emotional genocide fostered and then largely ignored by the United States government.

Track 1 Sitting Bull: The opening track “Sitting Bull”, encapsulates the philosophy of arguably the most complex of all Plains Indian leaders. Sitting Bull was a man who knew so much more than his lifetime permitted him to reveal. He understood the importance of respect throughout the passage of life and struggled to bridge the gulf between victor and vanquished. The sonorous strains of the song honour a man whose vision was never clouded by what he saw and experienced. Widely reputed to be scornful of the white man and intolerant of fools, Sitting Bull’s laconic style belied a passion and determination that soars like freedom through the words and melody of this song.

Track 2 Medicine Water: “Medicine Water”, although a war song, transcends the persecution of one of the Plains’ greatest survivors, the Cheyenne, to celebrate the pride and dignity of one of their most respected chiefs, Medicine Water. There is a fatalism in these lyrics that somehow still manages to convey the power of respect for a true leader – a combination of a belief system that has been earned and learned over a lifetime of hardship is cleverly woven into a lyrical form that poignantly states the plight of minority populations. Andrew Hogarth’s respect and admiration for this leader and his people is unmitigated.

Track 3 In Dreams: The tying in of the contemporary with the historical is the essence of “In Dreams”. Chris Fisher’s journey to a higher destination is ambitiously based on his experiences garnered from the creation of Great Plains. It is a fluid and moving tribute to the impact Native American history and culture has had on his creative processes. The song crosses many boundaries and can be applied to the struggles and realisations of individuals world wide.

Track 4 Lightning Creek: “Lightning Creek” is an emotive recollection of the tragedy that was the Sioux massacre at Lightning Creek. The music sets the scene, thrumming guitar and the heartbeat of drums build to transport the listener back to a time of inexorable blood-letting. Looking over their shoulders in wild-eyed fear, the people ran before a hail of bullets only to fall further behind in their attempts to join the white race. The pain of the victims is tangible; the perpetrators of the crime, the trophy hunters, are replaced, many year later, by the tribe’s indefatigable elders ,who, using no more than innate programming, return to locate and reclaim the bones of their tribes people and lay their souls to rest. The weary patience of these battle worn people endures in this haunting piece.

Track 5 Sweet Medicine: For the Cheyenne, proud claimants of a long and rich history, “Sweet Medicine” tells some of the mystery surrounding this almost mythological figure. It is an insightful look into the 1875 massacre at Sappa Creek, yet another instance where Cheyenne women and children bore the brunt of military cowardice and Manifest Destiny. However, rather than focusing on the tragedy at hand, the lyrics and melodies encourage the listener’s imagination to relocate – to celebrate the power of solidarity and pride of lives less ordinary.

Track 6 Crazy Horse: In “Crazy Horse” we learn something of the life of “the Strange Man of the Oglala's”. A mystic in the true sense of the word, Crazy Horse led an arcane existence but was never far from the people who needed him. Chris Fisher has distilled the essence of a man who was rebel and a loner, but who surrendered his life for the people he loved and the cause of freedom. Short, sharp sentences of pure admiration are punctuated by what are said to have been Crazy Horse’s last words “A good day to fight, a good day to die! Brave Hearts…”

Track 7 Hands of Time: Andrew Hogarth’s message is clear in “Hands of Time”. He connects the past and present, blending them seamlessly, and exhorts us to look behind and heed the warning given him by Frank Fools Crow to “stop, look and listen, shake the hands of time”. Andrew’s passion must surely be his linking of the oral traditions of the past with the contemporary issues of today. Through his photography he is making history real, abolishing the static images of Native Americans and showing them to be a dynamic cultural force. The teachings and vision of such leaders as Fools Crow remain now, as then, an inspiration to people everywhere.

Track 8 Reach Up: The theme of hardship and struggle is softened by a message of hope in “Reach Up”. Chris Fisher encourages us to gather our strength and look beyond, as Crazy Horse did, in times of need, and aspire. Throughout history, especially that concerning Native Americans, oppression and violence shaped what was to come. The ability to rise above pain and suffering is one of the greatest traits of human nature. The soul, however tortured, will endure – the passion of life and the promise of hope keeping us from being overwhelmed.

Track 9 Great Plains: In Andrew Hogarth’s words, the Great Plains “is a place where the distinctions between past, present and future are subtly blurred”. The ghosts of the past still roam the vastness of the prairie, haunting those places so redolent in tragedy and defeat. Entering this land through the lyrics and melody of “Great Plains”, one is taken by the timelessness of the space and the almost disturbing nature of the winds that blow with the magic of long-gone histories. History is alive here. A place of birth and death, of the absolute love of the freedom and honesty of life, the ancestral home of Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and Red Cloud, the undulating lands where the bison roamed, the Great Plains carry a message through eddies of burning sweet grass; it is all still here, waiting to cast its spell over today’s traveller.

Track 10 Angel’s Play: “Angels’ Play” is Chris Fisher’s celebration of the concept of love and as such, it applauds the sheer joy of being upheld in an embrace of trust and truth; of declaring it to the world. The love that sustains a culture, that will hold fast in times of trouble, is the love that endures and is passed on from generation to generation. For the embattled and persecuted, for the disenfranchised and vanquished, love stimulates protection – of systems and values. With love comes respect and a feeling of infinite capacity. “Angels’ Play” pays homage to this greatest of emotions.

Track 11 Lakota Spirit: “Lakota Spirit” sums up Andrew Hogarth’s belief in the indomitable spirit of the Lakota Nation. The struggle of the red man against the iron fist of his white oppressors is one that continues today. A painful legacy has been passed down to the survivors of one of the great nations in the world. But their spirit remains. Withstanding such onslaughts of near genocide against their culture, the Plains Indians are gathering strength and reforming, and in their sights is the mending of the sacred circle.

Album Overview: The message in this album is both historical and contemporary. It is one of hope and endurance, of tolerance and forgiveness – and of love; love for a people, a nation, a culture that blazed so brightly and was nearly extinguished so quickly and violently. It survives today and will continue to do so, a phoenix rising from the ashes.

I hope everyone is keeping well and having fun and still enjoying the songs on the Great Plains album.
And a special thank you to everyone who wrote back letting Chris and myself know about your favourite songs on the album.
It is always nice to get feedback when working with the creative processes when making music.

One of the two most popular songs on the Great Plains album is "Crazy Horse." A few months ago both "Sitting Bull" and "Crazy Horse" were played back to back by Veli and Marcos who host the Max and the Ducks Show on Radio Finlandia 102.6FM located in the Spanish resort of Costa Del Sol. It was great to spread the word once again about these two Lakota-Sioux Freedom Fighters from our recent past.

Pictured is a image of Crazy Horse that has only gained credibility in recent times with documentation to back up claims that this is the real deal. The picture was shot at Camp Sheridan in Nebraska Territory shortly after the war chief surrendered with his followers at the Red Cloud Agency located near Fort Robinson on the 5th of May, 1877. The photograph is now the property of Putt Thompson who owns the Custer Battlefield Trading Post in southeastern Montana one mile from the Little Bighorn Battlefield. I thought fans of the song would like to see this rare image of Crazy Horse.

As for Sitting Bull the Ceremonial Chief of the Lakota-Nation spent close to nine years living on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota after returning from exile in Canada. During that period Sitting Bull was photographed on a number of occasions by local photographers and his image was also recorded frequently when he was travelling with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show for a four month period in 1885.

The new website is finally completed and it has a excellent Great Plains music section with lyrics, stories and reviews plus interesting images that are important in the context with each of the eleven tracks. As for the two new songs "Coyote Man" and "Buffalo Medicine Horns" they are on track to be released sometime in September.

Take care and enjoy the weekend! Andrew.

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Photograph of Crazy Horse By Kind Permission of Putt Thompson.