This guy was one of my role models/heroes.

He lived a full, good, painful, but also insanely rich, creative life.

You can Google him and find out more, suffice it to say, he was one of the founders of the Native American rights movement in the 70s, and after his pregnant wife, three children, and mother-in-law were burned to death in a mysterious fire in their home on the Duck Valley Reservation in Nevada, he turned that pain into beautiful music/words.

Mixing poetry with music is, at it's face, a ridiculous proposition--especially then when you add in politics, but John Trudell got it right. He did it, and I don't know of anyone else who has. Pure. Original. Genius.

The song below is called "Baby Boom Che," and it is well worth the listen. It is in the top five best "songs" I've heard about rock n' roll, ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXSHQzvDm7E

It's not too late to appreciate John Trudell. I'd start with the albums AKA Graffiti Man, Johnny Damas and Me and 2014's, Through The Dust. In addition to everything else, he was someone who never stopped growing, never peaked and then kept repeating himself, as is the case with so many other artists. Like I said, a role model/hero.

Enjoy the next stage of your journey, big brother. Maybe I can meet you the next time around.

Yup, a big loss, and not just musically. I only had 'AKA Graffiti Man' and 'Johnny Damas & Me', but Graffiti Man is a stone classic. I got into it when a mate played "Rockin the Res" for me - with Jesse Ed Davis (Taj Mahal, Faces, etc.) on guitar, it sounded/felt like Lou Reed or Jim Carroll backed by the Stones.
Brilliant album.

RIP John. You said a lot and did even more. Such a life, such a life.

Of course it's just you and me on the Trudell thread, Yeats. LOL.

They took down my favorite YouTube video of Rockin' the Rez, but here's John being CRAZY HOT doing "Crazy Horse":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAyWre4j8U4