Mary Youngblood - Biography
By J Poet
Two time Grammy winner Mary Youngblood (Chugach Aleut/Seminole) had no intention of becoming a groundbreaking artist, but when she recorded The Offering (1998 Silver Wave) for Silver Wave Records, she became the first Native woman to make an album of Native flute music. On her five albums for Silver Wave she’s recorded traditionally flavored pieces for solo flute, songs backed by a small rock band and singer songwriter fare. She’s the first Native American woman to win a Grammy.
Some Native people felt there were taboos about women playing Native flute, but research proves that some tribes, including the Cherokee allowed men, women and children to play flute. In fact, there are over 550 Nations in The United States country and many have no prohibitions about women playing flute.
Youngblood’s journey to the flute, and her own culture, took many years. Her mother ran away from an Indian government boarding school in Sitka, Alaska, and met Youngblood’s father in Seattle. When Youngblood was born, a non-Indian couple adopted her. They gave her books about Native culture, but Youngblood was raised in a white world. She was picking out tunes on the piano at four, started lessons at five and took classical guitar and flute from the age of nine. She’s played classical flute for 40 years.
Youngblood always loved music, but marriage, children and raising a family dominated her life. After having her own children, she looked for and found her birth mother. That experience got Youngblood involved in the Native community. One day she saw a Native flute in an art gallery. “I picked it up and melodies poured out of me,” she recalls. “I bought that flute, which I couldn’t afford, and started playing.” Twenty-seven days after buying her Native flute, Youngblood played her first professional gig at an Indigenous People’s celebration. Offers to play at other Native gatherings followed and soon Youngblood was a full time musician.
In 1997 Youngblood recorded The Offering (1998 Silver Wave.) It was a risk for the record company (to record a woman) so she played solo, inside Moaning Cavern in California. You can hear the water dripping from the ceiling in the background. The Offering’s meditative quality made it a favorite with massage therapists and hospice workers.
Youngblood’s sound evolved over her next four albums to embrace an impressive array of styles – American folk, blues, jazz, Celtic, North African, singer/songwriter and Native. Her records include the more traditional Heart of the World (1999 Silver Wave), the Grammy winning Beneath The Raven Moon (2002 Silver wave) which includes blues and classical pieces, Feed The Fire (2004 Silver Wave) which introduced her as a singer songwriter and features a guest spot by Jethro Tull leader Ian Anderson, and Dance With The Wind (2006 Silver Wave) another Grammy winner that includes Celtic fiddling and Youngblood songs delivered in her beautiful honey drenched alto. Youngblood is currently working with Hawaiian and Middle Eastern musicians and learning to play marimba and didgeridoo, instruments that will open her music to new melodic ideas.