Photo by Nancy SJ




http://www.myspace.com/graywolfbluesband

(also visit Graywolf's page at Luciole: Chumash Indian Museum)





BEST BLUES RECORDING
Dancing In The Rain
Graywolf Blues Band


at the ELEVENTH ANNUAL
NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS
SENECA NIAGARA HOTEL & CASINO, NIAGARA FALLS, NY
Held On October 3rd 2009 


NAMA: The Native American Music Awards was created as a method to provide Native Music its proper due and respect on a national level and to prove that there is a viable and professional industry. It was created not as a competition, but to give Native Youth on reservations the needed inspiration and opportunities to pursue a professional career in music and to garner greater exposure. We'd still like to see more Native American artists on major record labels. Buffy in the 60s (EMI), Redbone (SONY) & XIT (Motown) in the 70s, to Jesse Ed Davis (Capital) in the 80s, Indigenous & Walela (Mercury) in the 90s to Chrystal Shawanda (BMG) today. This needs to occur more than once a decade with a talent pool that is abundant and healthy.

The Native American Music Awards ceremony honors Indigenous people north and south of the US and Canadian borders. Our logo is a satellite picture of all of North America and the tip of South America, therefore we honor Indigenous artists from those territories.

NAMA began 10 years ago as a grass roots initiative among industry professionals and record labels such as; Canyon, SOAR, Silverwave, Turtle Island, Sweetgrass, and others to prove that there was a viable music industry. We launched our Awards show with 56 annual recordings. Today we receive over 200 each year. Members from various communities and tribal radio stations served as our first Advisory Board membership. The biggest complaint then was that those remote communities we involved couldn't find a way to vote. We have since resolved that and have expanded our membership.

Our awards ceremony was styled from other national music awards shows. In fact we created the first written proposal for the Native category in the Grammys and were invited to do so by its Vice President. Unlike the Grammys, we do open our voting to the general public and not a "private industry" board. All artists are treated with respect and fairness. Most all of the Grammy Award recipients for the Native category have previously won a NAMMY.

We are a music industry organization first and foremost. We are all volunteers. No one receives payment for their services.  Our membership fees pay for the administration of our submissions, digitizing the music for the website, hosting our website, printing and mailing voting ballots and having them tabulated. We are not government funded as a Native American organization. Our national membership and media coverage allows us to maintain a high level of credibility as a professional music industry organization.

Without NAMA there would be no recognition of Indian music initiatives on a national and professional level. The artists and their record companies enter their music recordings to receive greater exposure and awareness. After ten years, we are turning a new corner to continue the growth and our ever expanding international audience. We remain open to everyone's comments and suggestions. We welcome anyone interested in volunteering.




LEARN more here: www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/




Here is another song by Graywolf Blues Band:





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