Roots Round-up (Khu.éex', Saltwater Hank and more)

Khu.éex’ originated in a musical partnership between the incredible Native American visual artist Preston Singletary (Tlingit), Seattle storyteller, actor and singer Gene Tagaban (Tlingit), and Parliament/Funkadelic’s founding keyboard player Bernie Worrell. Based in Seattle, after Worrell’s 2016 passing, Khu.éex’ continued on with their blend of Northwest Coast Native traditions and space age funk, R&B and hip-hop. It may seem a strange mix, but with Seattle as a locus point for Afrofuturism and Indigenous futurism via Shabazz Palaces and the Black Constellation, it makes perfect sense. Seattle’s also home to the largest urban Indian community, mostly made up of Northwest Coast Native folks from Alaska or Canada. Khu.éex’’s new album, Siyáadlan (Khu.éex’ ★★★★), adds new voices, like Haida singer and songwriter Sondra Segundo, to the mix and draws diverse influences like Touareg desert blues and Yupik throat singing while remaining rooted in Northwest Coast Native traditions through Tlingit and Haida hand drum songs as well as storytelling and spoken word poetry.

Hailing from just next door to the Tlingit and Haida of Alaska and British Columbia, Saltwater Hank’s Ts’msyen roots remain strong on his new album, Siip’nsk (Les Disques Passeport ★★★★). It’s sung entirely in Sm’algyax, the Ts’msyen language of which Hank is a teacher and archivist for the tribe. Less folk-oriented than his last album, the new album looks to electric blues and garage rock for inspiration, including Sm’algyax covers of Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Killing Floor’ (‘Ns’yaanda Lax Siiks’) and Link Wray’s ‘Rumble’ (‘’Yaak’) Though a rock album may seem an unusual choice for this column, Hank points out that the melodies of the old Ts’msyen traditional songs that he’s studied in his work with the language lend themselves really well to rock’n’roll, so he didn’t have to look too far afield to find inspiration from his roots.

Nashville’s been waiting for the debut album from queer country singer Chris Housman since 2019, but he’s been content just to release pitch perfect singles, including brilliant protest songs. Now with Blueneck (Chris Housman ★★★★), Housman’s finally got the full-length and it was worth the wait. He’s not fully roots country, but his deep rural twang meshes wonderfully with the progressive messages of songs like the title-track (‘I think y’all means all’), he shows how great country could be if it wasn’t wasting so much time trying to be right-wing propaganda. With LGBTQ+ rights under constant fire in the US Southern States we could use a lot more songs about drag queens and queer love. Keep ’em coming Chris!

Bay Area-based accordionist and composer Sam Reider is a bit of a musical polymath. He’s collaborated with everyone from bluegrass mandolinist Sierra Hull to bandleader Jon Batiste, and he was up for a Latin Grammy for his work with Venezuelan cuatro player Jorge Glem. His new album, though, released with his band as Sam Reider & The Human Hands comes a bit out of the left field as it focuses on a 22-minute tone poem recounting the ancient Jewish folk tale of the Golem. Much like the classical composition Peter and the Wolf, each instrumentalist in Reider’s ace band, the Human Hands, takes the role of a character in the story. True to his eclectic nature, Reiner doesn’t draw totally from klezmer but is influenced more by the legacy of Jewish-American composers from Leonard Bernstein to David Grisman. The Golem and Other Tales (Human Hands Music ★★★★) is a tour de force!

It’s not always easy for bluegrass instrumentalists to transition to singers, but Nashville fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes’ new album, I Built a World (Brownwyn Keith-Hynes ★★★★), has some great moments. Not only is she joined by a big who’s-who of great pickers and singers, from Sam Bush to Molly Tuttle, but some of these songs are impossibly catchy. Opener ‘Can’t Live Without Love’ has a lovely message and a great lilt, and ‘Answers’ is so soft and beautiful. This is real deal bluegrass, definitely hewing to the tradition. At times that gets a bit cloying, and it’s a reminder that bluegrass finds comfort in safety, so credit to Keith-Hynes for including at least one song with a strong statement: Peter Rowan’s ‘Angel Island’ about Chinese immigration to California. Of course, the fiddling across the album is blisteringly great, but let’s give extra credit to Keith-Hynes for nailing a vocal album of solid songs!

Prince Edward Island’s Acadian family band Vishtèn is back with a new album and some surprising new directions! Formed in 2000 by the two LeBlanc sisters, Emmanuelle and Pastelle, from PEI, along with Magdalen Islands fiddler Pascal Miousse, the passing of Pastelle from cancer in 2022 threw the group into a state of mourning and flux. Rallying around their friends in another PEI sibling band, The East Pointers (who also tragically lost a brother), Vishtèn has reformed around the duo of Emmanuelle and Pascal and have retained much of the fire and vigour of their unique French-flavoured music. With Expansion (Les Éditions du Corfus / Les Productions Takashoun Inc ★★★★), they fill out their sound with guests, including Québécois trio De Temps Antan, PEI singers Rowen Gallant and Catherine MacLellan, Senegal-meets-Wales duo Seckou Keita & Catrin Finch, Mi’kmaw poet Julie Pellissier-Lush and Québécois soundscape artist Cédric Dind-Lavoie. Of special note is the song ‘More Love’ featuring 6 Hearts, a new band formed by the members of Vishtèn and The East Pointers who are due to release music soon hopefully.

This column originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue – subscribe to Songlines today