Running for the Drum [CD/DVD]

Buffy Sainte-Marie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 11, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Appleseed Records
• ASIN: B002EZLPIA
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,511 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The Independent, UK

"Buffy Sainte-Marie's first album in 17 years finds her spirit as undiluted as her charm, still making persuasive, engaging arguments for Native American attitudes, and using the establishment's devices against itself - as in a version of `America the Beautiful' that features the rarely performed line, `Till selfish gain no longer stain the banner of the free.'. . . Delivered with passion and engagement. (4 out of 5 stars)"

"This album, her first of original material since 1992's Coincidence and Likely Stories, shows she has lost none of her talent and commitment. . . . An incredible range of influences takes the album in all kinds of directions . . . Infused throughout with the polychromatic approach she's known for . . . A welcome addition to her life's work. (4 stars)"

"Weaving politicized synth-folk, Native American mantras and aching torch songs into a blanket of irreproachable intentions and keening melodies, it's an album that's as eclectic as it is spirited. She can still sing up a protest storm too! (3 stars)"

Product Description

Buffy Sainte-Marie has been running for the drum practically her whole life, pursuing its internal call to life, love, independence, creativity and activism. That drumbeat has led her to multiple careers and finally drew her back into the recording studio to create Running for the Drum , her first new recordings since 1996.

Since her recording debut 45 years ago, Sainte-Marie's original songs have attracted cover versions by artists including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Janis Joplin, Cher, Roberta Flack, Neko Case, Courtney Love, and seemingly half the folksingers of the 1960s. Her co-written "Up Where We Belong," the theme from the 1982 movie An Officer and a Gentleman , won her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

The multi-talented Sainte-Marie recently shifted her focus from her work as a visual and digital artist, an educator, and a Native American sociopolitical activist to record Running for the Drum in her home studio in Hawaii. With musician Chris Birkett as her co-producer, as he was on her last two CDs, Buffy crafted eleven original songs and an expanded version of "America the Beautiful" into what she calls her "usual whiplash collection of many styles - pop, protest, country, rock, dance-remix, rockabilly and big love songs."

Using electronic samples and drum programming as well as more conventional instruments, primary musicians Buffy (keyboards, percussion, guitar) and Birkett (guitars, bass, percussion) match their music to Buffy's eclectic songs. Her contemptuous putdowns of corporate greed ("No No Keshagesh," which Buffy performs in a new video posted on YouTube) and the political establishment ("Working for the Government") are set to whirling electronica and wailing "powwow" vocals, as is the jubilant "Cho Cho Fire." There are contrastingly gentle arrangements of love songs "Too Much is Never Enough" and "Still This Love Goes On"; a boisterous "I Bet My Heart on You" features Buffy and guest Taj Mahal dueting on pianos; the quietly comforting "Easy Like the Snow Falls Down"; an amped Elvis approach to "Blue Sunday," and appropriately acoustic treatments of "America the Beautiful," outfitted with new lyrics to reflect the Native American community, and a lovely re-recording of a Sainte-Marie classic, "Little Wheel Spin and Spin."

Packaged with Running for the Drum is a DVD documentary, Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life. The biography traces Buffy's fascinating path from her birth on a Cree reservation in Saskatchewan to her early success in the Greenwich Village folk scene, her subsequent musical and political activism, which earned her a spot on the government's blacklist, and to her current role as artist, educator, unstinting activist and timeless musician. Directed by Joan Prowse, the documentary includes interviews with such influential artists as Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson, Bill Cosby, Randy Bachman, Appleseed labelmate Eric Andersen, and Steppenwolf's John Kay.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Native Rock, September 3, 2009

By 

D. Rachlin "wunland" (Stow, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Running for the Drum [CD/DVD] (Audio CD)

Buffy Sainte-Marie is not trying to please the white-bread eating, top 40-listening audience. People who don'''t understand the reason for such songs as Cho-cho Fire and why they sound the way they do need to go out to Indian Country, attend a powwow, have some fried bread and listen to the chanting, drumming, dancing and oratory. After 500 years of church and state supported genocide, you will well up with tears to see the joy and happiness and pride at these amazing events. That's what Buffy Sainte-Marie is all about. Granted, the new album doesn''t have the smooth cohesiveness of Coincidence and Likely Stories, but it is chock full of all the many ways Buffy Sainte-Marie has dazzled the entire world as a singer-song writer. What memories she must have of her glorious life beginning so innocently in coffee houses around the University of Massachusetts campus in the '60's to the reservations all over North America and audiences on every inhabited continent on the globe. Running for the Drum is a spiritual statement unto itself, which she successfully delivers to Natives and non-Natives alike who can open their hearts and minds to Native Rock. The drum is the center of the tribal universe...the heartbeat of most ceremonies. Listen to the drumbeat...that''s her heartbeat...put away your Doris Day albums and lemonaid and have a little fun now.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great new music from Buffy, February 27, 2009

By 

Kerry Brown (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Running for the Drum (CD/DVD version) (Audio CD)

"Running For The Drum" is a VERY eclectic smorgasbord of new Buffy music; from funky rockin' rock, chanteuse/blues, rockabilly, beautiful love songs, and ending with the sweetest song she's ever recorded; "Still This Love Goes On". All the songs are facets of a multi-faceted artist that defies pigeon-holed musical labels. A "must-have" for any fan, and a great introduction to her music and talent for those unfamiliar.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buffy is the Universal Warrior and Master Artist to All Artists, September 3, 2009

By 

G. C. Picchetti (Country Lost Face) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Running for the Drum (CD/DVD version) (Audio CD)

CD - Buffy's first CD in a long time has many genres. I loved all of them. She sings Native songs, protest songs, and Ballads. More than that Buffy rocks out.
DVD - I am very strict about not spoiling but since the DVD is a documentary I will spill some. Buffy hit The Village in NY during the transition from beatnic to hippy. One of the first people she met was Bob Dylan who helped her find a place to sing. After Buffy found professional management she helped Joni Mitchell find a manager also. Robbie Robertson, Joni Mitchell, and Taj Mahal and many more are on the DVD. This is one of the best documentaries for all time. Buffy was adopted and was one of two Aboriginals in her small town. Her work for Natives, the poor, civil rights, and against the war enlighted many. Buffy added the use of technology to her art. She was the first person to send a music file on the internet.