Waiting And Mad - Cary Morin & Ghost Dog Live

Live from The Stewart Auditorium in Longmont, CO, November 2024
This song is from my release "Innocent Allies," - www.innocentallies.com -
a collection of songs inspired by the famous Western painter Charlie Russell and my life in Great Falls, Montana, where Charlie lived and worked.
The Charlie painting "Waiting And Mad" gets the point across without much explanation. This song, however, is written from the viewpoint of the object of Keeoma’s anger, a man.
Keeoma as a subject matter in this painting is the only one that seems to have some negative reviews, as it suggests the sexualization of Native women. The one thing that Charlie knew really well about Native culture, is humor. If one were to look at depictions of Keeoma with that in mind, maybe some of the reviews would be different. In Charlie’s letters to his friends, aside from delivering the news of the day, most of the letters are interjected with the humor that came so easily to him. To look at the image along with the lyrics of the song one can see the humor… The husband is in big trouble upon his delayed return.
My family is a combination of Native American ranchers and military personnel. Surrounded by music and art as a child, I was also surrounded by my father’s and grandfather's (Robert Yellowtail ) favorite artist and local hero, Charles Marion Russell also known as “Kid” Russell by his peers of the time. Montana was the home of all things Western and all things Charlie Russell.
As a young musician, I was inspired by the music of the day in Montana. Charlie Pride, Earle Scruggs, The Rolling Stones, and music I heard from family and friends always seemed better to me if it included pedal steel guitar and vocals rich with harmonies. As the years drift by I find myself slowly returning to the music my parents favored and can now hear it with a new love for nostalgia and the Native roots of my family.
It is important to note that Charlie Russell was a friend to Plains Tribes when Western Expansion was the word of the day. "If there is a white man who can be credited with preserving the history of Native Americans in the 1880s, it is the Western artist Charlie Russell." He was concerned with the destruction of Native culture and strived to portray Native Americans in his paintings with a dignity that was largely absent in many other artists' portrayals of the time.
As a Native Crow, I think I observe details in Charlie Russell's paintings from a cultural perspective that a non-Native person may not see. Situations depicted in his paintings that might not be obvious to some are subtle cultural or ritualistic details such as; an elder being served a meal first in Indian Hunters Return which is customary in Crow culture, or the style and distinctive detail of regalia and hairstyles from tribe to tribe, the variations in teepees and their distinctive art, the importance of buffalo jumps and how they were used, the understanding of the social implications of war parties, recognition of Charlie's depictions of the traditional “hot dance.” Some native dance is the imitation of the movements of birds, which you can see in these paintings. Charlie also knew much about tribal lore in the Crow culture specific to the Little People of The Pryor Mountains. He made a series of clay sculptures depicting The Little People. As an Indigenous artist, I bring a perspective to this aspect of Charlie's work by way of this body of songs.