WLM
| music
“Our families go way back,” says Small. “Jobe’s great aunts protected my dad at Indian boarding school. So in turn, now I have to keep him out of trouble!” With just a trio, Gary couldn’t reproduce the sound of the half dozen musicians he had put together for Wild Indians but under his leadership the band began to build a repertoire that blended his trademark blues sound with Cajun, rockabilly and even a bit of surf music. They became Gary Small and the Coyoté Bros. and never looked back. In addition to local gigs and forays back to perform in the Portland area, Gary and his band won the 2007 Nammy for Best Album and the 2011 Best Male Artist award. But somewhere in the back of his mind, this musician felt an urge to reconnect to his Wild Indians phase. In 2010, Small had organized a Wild Indians reunion concert at Sheridan’s WYO Theatre, flying in some of his favorite musicians from Portland to back him up, along with his regular band. The success of that show whet his creative appetite and he realized he had some material from that album that he hadn’t recorded. That was the niggling thought, the seed that grew into the idea of buying some equipment and creating his own recording studio in Sheridan. Thus began the journey to Gary Small’s next chapter. After creating the score to two PBS documentaries, Drawn to Yellowstone and Heart Mountain: An All American Town, he decided to revisit his Cheyenne roots with a new recording. Through the miracle of electronics, he was able to enlist some out-of-town talent, including keyboardist Jimmy Lange and Pamela Polland, a backup singer for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Santana’s Graham Lear came on board, too, along with Portland conga player Caton Lyles. Sending tracks back and forth on the internet, the end product sounds as if they were locked in a studio together for weeks. The title song, “Hostiles & Renegades,” is a nod to Gary’s late father, who used to regale him with stories about Chief Two Moons and others who fought at the Battle of Little Big Horn and lived to tell about it. “My basis for the song is that I will never be able to converse with my ancestors of that time era,” he says, his voice tinged with regret. “I’ll never know exactly how they thought, the importance of the things around them. That would be one of my three wishes, ??????????????????????????????t?Q??????????????????????M???????????????????????????q!????????I????????t???????????9???????????????????????????????????????????????????Q??5????????M?????? ???? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????()???????????????????????????????????$????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????t?]????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????%????????????????M???????????????????????????????????)???]??????????????9??????
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