| Humphrey was born and
raised on an Ojibwe Indian reservation in Northern
Minnesota where she learned first hand the struggles of
growing up as a minority. Eager to explore a wider
world, she left the reservation and joined the United
States Marines, traveled the country coast to coast, and
was stationed in Japan. When Annie returned home to her
Ojibwe homeland, it was on her own terms. She's now
living close to nature, no electricity, no running
water, in an A-frame cabin she helped build.
A strong,
determined, complex woman, whose life experiences can be
heard in her vocals, Humphrey says she doesn't want to
serve as a spokesperson for any particular group, yet
she doesn't hesitate to use her music to call attention
to causes in which she believes. Humphrey does more than
just sing, however. She works at local prisons writing
newsletters and singing for inmates. She is dedicated to
preserving the land and protecting wildlife and natural
medicines. Humphrey supports efforts to control logging
in the Chippewa National Forest. She also teaches
traditional skills (beadwork, wild rice harvesting,
maple sugaring) to reservation youth.
Humphrey wrote the
music for all of the tunes on the album except
"Falling Down and Falling Apart," a song
written by Sherman Alexie ("Smoke Signals")
and Jim Boyd. Her mother, the noted author Anne Dunn,
was the inspiration behind "500 Years." Adrian
Liberty, Anne Dunn and Humphrey wrote "See
Her," while "I Can See You" is Humphrey's
solo composition. Annie's primary writing partner,
Carson Gardner, wrote many of the album's lyrics.
Gardner, a unique story himself, gave up a lucrative
medical practice in order to better serve those in need
on the reservation. The CD's title track details
Carson's personal conversion, a remarkable story of a
great blue heron that visited Gardner and literally
changed his life.
Feeling stifled by
the reservation, Humphrey joined the Marines, left
Minnesota for the first time, went to Boot Camp in South
Carolina, and was stationed in Okinawa where she played
in two bands. She sang songs by Natalie Merchant and
Edie Brickell for one band, while the other band was
heavy metal covering Ozzy Osborne, Metallica, and Judas
Priest - "I learned to scream the words." The
rest of her time in the Corps was at Camp Pendleton in
San Diego where she joined up with a pop-rock group
"in the vein of the Dave Matthews Band." After
completing her tour with the Marines, Humphrey went on
to training at a Police Academy. She graduated with
honors, but decided not to pursue a career in law
enforcement. The pull of music and her need to express
herself was growing stronger. After hearing Reba
McEntire say the most valuable lesson ever taught her
was to sing from the heart, Humphrey got out her guitar
and started writing songs again.
While attending the
University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, she began
performing professionally at coffee houses. "At
college I concentrated on art -- painting, sculpture,
and art history." Humphrey recorded her first solo
album, the regionally-distributed Justice Hunter, in
1995. She moved back to the Ojibwe Reservation and began
performing at schools, educational workshops, rallies
for battered women and coffee houses throughout Northern
Minnesota. She sang in the musical "Tribe" at
The Ordway Theatre in St. Paul. Her first national
exposure came on the album The Whispering Tree (released
by Makoché), an album of poetry and music by various
artists, featuring Humphrey singing on three tunes.
"My music
addresses many of the things I feel strongly
about," says Humphrey. "Love is hard to find
and should be cherished. We need to care for children
wherever they are in the world. Alcoholism and abuse are
human problems everywhere. People everywhere need
healing. No one should judge another person by the color
of their skin. I consider anyone who walks in a sacred
way and honors the earth to be indigenous to our
planet."
|
HAvailable
from Annie Humphrey...
The Heron Smiled
|
Annie
Humphrey
