It was with another heritage of people that I had not experienced and I was bringing my stuff to them and they could relate to things but I didn’t want them to get caught up in what I call historical trauma and mention how that has hurt our people. I think that we need not to forget history. There’s no way that I’m saying that we’re going to forget what has been done to American Indians which is so complex with so many treaties and so many land issues and all these things that you could spend years going through the stuff that we’ve been through and still survived. With the Jewish people I wanted them to understand that I understand what historical trauma is and I can understand what it can do to a person and to a race of people, that in itself can annihilate our spirit. I guess that’s my base mission, to fight against historical trauma.

RV: And present day trauma too. It seems like there are still issues going on.

Bill: Definitely, the key is though, you cannot fight present day trauma without dealing with historical trauma first, it’s got to come in order. I’ve done it in my own personal life. It’s like I’m going to deal with this now and then someone’s going to pick me off at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (laughs). Somebody will say something rude and you’ll go right back to 1973, realizing that you not dealt with other things first. If you can deal with those same issues I really believe you’re going into history first and you preserve that and your protect it and you see what was right and let die what is dead and move on. Those issues come to us in the form of trauma on a daily basis but once you are aware of this, you’re able to catch the ball. You become armed with the tools, the helmet, the gloves and face mask. The ball is going to come your way, obviously, but you’ve got the tools. If you go in the world without them and you have historical trauma inside of you and you get hit.

RV: It knocks you down.

Bill: Yeah and you can reason with it, you can’t let it go through you, turn away from it and you can’t rise above it.

RV: Where does the idea for your music come from?

Bill: I think it just comes from life. I’m basically a stenographer of life, I just take notes and that’s pretty much where you have to be. You have to be somewhat of a journalist in my sensibility in order to become a great songwriter and a great composer. You’re generalizing your thoughts and interpretations of life which basically you’re putting into music.  I think that there is so much karaoke crap out there where people are copying each other and just becoming part of a system. Let’s say there is a big hit song or movement and then everyone jumps in on the train. I just put in a few drum beats in and I’m happy! (laughs). Somewhat, that’s what American Idol does. I don’t watch the show, my wife does. It’s interesting but sometimes I look at it and it’s a big karaoke stage because they’re not doing original music, they’re not doing original music, they’re seeing interpretations. I prefer not to interpret another Sting song or anything. I love Sting but I’m not going to try and reinterpret it because he did it so well. I think that all music can be very healing but I think as an original artist we need to stop karaoking.

For over 35 years, his music has moved audiences around the world. He is an icon of the Native American music community, and an accomplished artist whose paintings are exhibited nationwide. Yet, in the view of singer, composer, flutist, painter and storyteller Bill Birdsong Miller, he's just getting started.

Born in 1955 on Wisconsin's Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation, Bill began playing the guitar at age 12. As a young man, he performed with various bands, and released an album in 1983 as part of Bill Miller and the Native Sons. The following year, he garnered national attention when Tori Amos asked him to open for her on the "Under the Pink" tour.

Although most of Bill's music is inspired by his heritage -- winning multiple Native American Music Awards, including a 2007 Lifetime Achievement honor -- he has never let himself be confined to a certain genre. He has co-written songs with Nanci Griffith, Kim Carnes and Michael Martin Murphy, and he has toured with Eddie Vedder, Arlo Guthrie and Richie Havens, to name a few.

His passion for music has resulted in tremendous critical acclaim. Bill's 2005 instrumental album, "Cedar Dream Songs," won a Grammy Award. The following year, he shared Grammy honors for the collaborative album, "Sacred Ground – A Tribute to Mother Earth." And in May 2009, Bill joined other music legends in paying tribute to Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday at Madison Square Garden.

The achievement that garnered the most worldwide recognition was the "The Last Stand," an original symphony that Bill co-composed with Joshua Yudkin and Kristin Wilkinson, in collaboration with conductor Amy Mills. This "symphony of hope" commemorates the Battle of Little Big Horn of the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. The themes of conflict and reconciliation proved a natural fit for Israel -- a land of tribes, immense spirituality, and millennia of clashes between peoples. The symphony was performed in March 2009 across Israel by the Kibbutz Orchestra, with Bill playing the Native American flute as a concerto soloist.

Beyond music, Bill is an accomplished painter whose work has appeared in The National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution), the Barbara Able Gallery in Santa Fe, the Trickster Gallery in Chicago, and the American Indian Community House Gallery in New York. He is also an in-demand keynote speaker and lecturer, speaking at universities, race relations conferences and cultural awareness programs nationwide.

Music, however, remains Bill's primary bridge to his audiences, and he continues to compose new works at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. His most recent album, "Spirit Wind North," honors all the tribes of Turtle Island (North America) with flute songs and prayers. His highly anticipated next album, "Chronicles of Hope," will be released in winter 2009.

Bill Miller accepts the responsibility of his heritage, and artistic gifts, without excuse. He has shared his message of hope and reconciliation as a mentor to his community and the culture at large. He lives in Nashville with his wife, Renee of 31 years and their five children and grandchildren.

Awards

Three–time Grammy award-winning songwriter and musician: Best Native American Music Album, “Cedar Dream Songs”–2004, “Sacred Ground–A Tribute to Mother Earth”–2005. Winner of seven Native American Music awards: Lifetime Achievement–2007, Song of The Year, and Single of the Year-2006, Best Male Artist, Songwriter of the Year, Folk Artist of the Year, Single of the Year, and Song of The Year for “Ghost Dance”–1999.

RV: Thank you Bill for your time, I wanted to congratulate you on your win at the Grammy’s for Spirit Wind North. I saw that your CD Spirit Wind North is the first of a series of CD’s that you are compiling. When do you expect the entire series to be completed?

Bill: I’ve been working on it for a period of years actually. I already have South and West completed and just have one more to finish up which is East which I plan on completing in the studio around April 21-22nd.

“Click to listen to Lost Canyon”

RV: That seems like a lot of work?

Bill: It is because I’m in the process of touring and painting, doing art shows, speaking engagements and spending time with my family; I have 5 kids.  I’m doing another singer/songwriter project that I call American Roots Music. The name of the CD is called Chronicles of Hope that’s going to be released in another couple of months.

There’s a lot going on but this one is an extremely important project for me because in all the time that I’ve been playing. I just wanted to honor our people and just focus on the four directions (North, South, East and West), not so much of being an anthropologist and doing songs of the West. I’m interested in doing songs just of the Western tribes, although in North Spirit Wind I did do some field recordings with Northern tribes in Wisconsin where I grew up, I then had their voices recorded on my CD which was very special.

I’m taking the other CD’s and literally written the songs in the places that these songs have meaning at. I hold this handheld recorder and start writing the melody in the East, welcome melodies in the West or melodies in the South. Like that, that’s the way that I did it. I place my spots within the United States and then start to construct the albums. I also take the flute as a very important instrument that has this beautiful primal quality that no other instrument has except the drum and the rattle. The primal innocence to the flute is not that easy to play in that way. I mean New Age movement has taken our music to me what rap and hip hop has done to music in general. I have nothing against New Age music or anything but it’s jumped into our category to the point that it can obliterate us. When people think of Native Flute, they immediately think New Age.

I’m trying to distance myself from that. I love some of this ambience that music has and I believe Native people have ambience of their own. I try to bring this in as well as take confidence in who I am as a musician and basically simplifying it. I hear a lot of flute players who say that they can basically out lick so and so! What’s that all about? If you want to have a guitar championship; there’s mores frets on the guitar then there are holes in a flute. I can’t go there. I can’t be a competitive flute player in this world and I think the thing that I can do is to continue to lift the bar for my people. Continue to bring victory in our court and in our tribes. Continue to bring prayer and hope and continue to speak. Simplify the direct message to the people and to preserve what we have.

That’s basically all that I’m doing. If success comes out of this, it is much sweeter. That’s why I think this Grammy was so sweet. It’s not meant to be the top. I’m not trying to be the top of my category. I’m trying to top myself. Really I don’t need to compete in against others in my life anymore. I’m 55 and I don’t really need to prove myself. I’ve been in the industry for so long, I have no desire for that. I used to when I was between the ages of 19-22, I wanted to compete with everyone. I don’t think I’ll ever get back into it. The only competitor I have is myself.

RV: I saw a video performance of Last Stand in 2009. It was very inspirational and moving performance. When I was watching it, it warmed my blood. Your vocals were extraordinary.  I read that you were the first Native American to perform with the symphony orchestra in Israel. You also co-composed the production, what was that experience like for you?

Bill: That was a life changing experience for me. When I first began to take this on I’ve been going to the battle of Little Big Horn field since I was 9 years old with my grandfather. I studied it over the years over my life and heard every opinion known to man but I reinterpreted it and over 4 years ago I began to work on it.

At first people were basically telling me “that’s great, good luck, because it’s going to be hard to get that thing out there.”  It turned out to be a 4 year project and we got grants from the state of Wisconsin. I worked with the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin, they really helped me out as well as Maestra Amy Mills, helped me. It changed me because I started to see the complexity in the story and the music. It’s opposite of the flute music which I’m doing because it’s simple and primal and trying to maintain its innocence.

There’s a complexity and beauty in classical music that I hadn’t understood my whole life and I started to see it. The layers are just primal the first time that I played it was with an 83 piece orchestra which is like walking into a movie theater and hearing the soundtrack behind you. I wanted to turn around but I couldn’t. I could feel the music coming through me; every piccolo, violin, cello. The first violins were right next to me. It was a phenomenal, live experience. It was unlike anything I’ve ever done. It’s a great platform to take the last imagery of a native spirit to bring right in that world.

“Click on image above to read Symphony Magazine Issue”

That’s basically all we were doing was just taking my native spirit and placing it on classical stage to see if I could make it. Again, I didn’t want to compete against a real symphony, that wasn’t my point. The symphony faithfully accepted me, the Symphony Magazine reviewed it and then the American embassy took me over to Israel where it became a success. I wanted to try this and it just kept growing into a monster (laughs). I’m in love with it, I want to do more.

I’m also working on another piece called The Vision another short classical piece that I can add onto the Last Stand. It was a life changing experience, I think I saw the fertility of music and how we all need to work together or it’s never going to work; basically, healing can be done if we see each other through the battle, it’s basically that simple. You just can’t go off on your own, it’s not that easy anymore, it really never was. The classical music showed me how all these components can work together to make a beautiful piece of music.

RV: How was your performance received?

Bill: I had standing ovations every night, people were weeping and I was able to talk about reconciliation with them. It was pretty unbelievable, I was on the Gaza Strip where there were shootings going on over there; I was not far from the war zone. It wasn’t like going to Kansas! It was like gosh, I can hear machine guns over the border!

“Click to listen to Tumbleweed”

RV: Is that the issue that you were having with that record company that you were signed up with in your earlier recordings that just didn’t seem to click?

Bill: I don’t think so. I think it was just that they didn’t know how to market me. I’m not blaming them because a lot of people weren’t knowledgeable at that time. I was in a higher up record deal but they never had a native artist at that level, so they didn’t know what to do. They didn’t want to do it wrong but they didn’t know how to do it right. It is difficult to market it because the world doesn’t seem quite prepared or educated to take us on. It’s just not ready for it.

They want to put us in this one little slot. “We want you guys to stay in this museum”. “But wait a second I just toured with Tori Amos for a year?” “Oh, that’s cool, I know who Tori Amos is but you’re just an Indian guy”.  You’re sort of like that. I heard it from a radio guy. Tori and I were in a radio interview and I think it was Connecticut? The guy goes, “I love your music Tori”, and turns to me and says “I love your music Bill we use it in our hot tub all the time.” I was like ahhhh, hot tub? (laughs). It was like background music for them to drink wine to. I was like okay, whatever. I think people need to look deeper into what we’re about and what we’re representing and the industry itself needs to come together and help us promote what is really missing. For instance, at the Grammy’s, we went through hundreds of categories before the TV show came on and those hundreds of categories were excellent. They were Classical, Blue Grass, Folk, Blues, Rock, Hard Rock, Punk Rock, Traditional Blues, Metal, Heavy Metal, Hawaiian, Native American and just on and on and on.

The most interesting music was done there and we heard it. On the show, pop and hip pop and whatever. You don’t see the depth of music and I don’t think this country has ever seen the depth of true Native America the way that it should be seen. I like the categories this year, where our category fits in with a lot of things which is cool rather than grouping us into one category it’s rich music, and it is, Native American music is rich music as well as folk, contemporary folk and blue grass. It’s rich, it’s not about Paris about New Zealand, it’s about America, and it should be in there. You know some of those things `I can’t even waste my time or get involved with, You know what I mean, cause I’m looking at it like it’s like getting involved in politics. You guys fight over it but I’m going to start living my life and protecting my environment and my family and my spirit and soul, we’ll see what happens.

RV: Exactly, because it seems like it goes on and on and on and never cures itself and nobody comes to a medium to actually solve the issue.

Bill: I think that myself and all artist that are working out there need to have somewhat of a trust in that we can continue to go on and create freely. I was just at a science convention and played for scientist from New Zealand, England, Ireland, and France. They spend their time looking for cures for cancer, cures for this, cures for that and things to help the environment. If they’re freely allowed to do that, we’re going to get those cures from them someday; people are devoting their lives to it.

These scientist’s are amazing people but in the same sense art is just as important as science. What we are dealing with the images that we are seeing and what should be considered as artful instead of tasteless, you know? What should be considered beautiful instead of ugly? It’s just the way that we work with in the soul and the mind and in the spirit as artist. That’s going to affect our decision making for the rest of time. Those two things need to be more honored then what they are, not for the money to be made but for what the impact is.

RV: I was looking at a painted pony figurine called Ghost Horse that you did. Really inspiring piece, do you have any plans to do anymore of those?

Bill: I don’t know? That one’s out of print now, I did that back in the 90’s and it was quite awhile ago, I’d love to. I’m painting horses on canvas. I just did a show in Colorado at the Koshare Museum and was up there for a month. I plan on continuing to paint, I just don’t know about the sculptures and all? I just don’t have a lot of time lately.

RV: Where do your artistic inspirations come from?

Bill: It’s the same line. The art is more focused on Native America, I don’t paint anything else, I just paint warriors and horses. I don’t do a lot of landscapes, basically portraits.

RV: What’s it like to have your art revered and the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C.?

Bill: I’m honored that my art has been shown in great place and I’ve got to build that repertoire within the ring of the art world but if I get sidetrack and start thinking about it, I lose focus so I come out for pure love of painting, not out of totally trying to market myself. So it’s a fine balance between really forcing yourself to make paintings that are going to please people. I’m trying to place my heart first. I’m strongly influenced by native people and the colors of the United States. It’s a great pallet to draw off of. I’m not so much worried about where my paintings have been shown, it’s more or less that I just got to get the time to do what I love to do.

RV: What are you passionate about and what issues are close to your heart?

Bill: I’m passionate about life and the power of reconciliation. I reconciled my father 5 years ago and I’m still working on other issues that are related to it. He died an alcoholic and I had a lot of hatred and bitterness to him most of my life. I see the power of reconciling with those you’ve hated and reconciling with a world that seems against you and reconciling with a lot of things. It’s become a passion of mine to do that, it isn’t easy. It’s a very difficult passion to have. It’s discouraging with the highs and lows but the final results are incredible with life changing experiences because I’m reconciling my spirit into my music and my art; that’s my life and extend life. Those are my passions.

RV: So your music and your art provide you a means to deal with those issues then?

Bill: Definitely yeah, I wouldn’t call it an escape. I’m not trying to escape from anything this point in my life. I used to try to escape from things. I’m more or less opening myself, baring myself to the public and all like Picasso did later on in his line drawings because could really draw realistic stuff. Like he bare’s his emotions and feelings in his last works. That’s what I’m doing now, I’m not escaping them, I’m basically showing exactly what’s underneath the skin.

RV: What’s your philosophy on life?

Bill: It’s evolving, but my philosophy is to be more of a servant. The world has a corporate view lately where it’s apparent and things trickle down and the people at the bottom never really feel that and yet the poor people support that foundation. My philosophy is to flip it upside down. The leadership has to come from underneath down from the real roots. True leaders should be servants and should support the people. True leadership should show that their hands get dirty and the people get strengthened by those tools. My philosophy is to be a servant. Everything that I do now is working to send everything vertical. I used to be horizontal like going across the country and drive here. It’s vertical to my creator and I consider the sacred ground. I have to consider that as I walk, even in my own house. In my own marriage of 32 years you have to be aware that things can fall apart and if you don’t look at them as sacred then basically you are throwing it away. Sacred is sacred.

I would like to thank Bill for providing time from his busy schedule to offer an interview to Native Digest. Bill’s compassion, humility, talents and beliefs are humbling and inspiring. I look forward to Bill’s upcoming albums and artwork.

Please visit Bill’s website to learn more about Bill’s work by clicking here. You can also follow Bill on Facebook and on MySpace. I would like to wish Bill continued success, peace and happiness.