Music - April 2011
Native Contemporary
Full Circle
Shelley Morningsong
www.shelleymorningsongonline.com
Play "Return"
from Full Circle
Story by Emily Drabanski
Shelley Morningsong has emerged as one of New Mexico’s finest Native performers. Like a growing number of the state’s Native population, she didn’t grow up here, but found that the Land of Enchantment offered the perfect place to put down roots. Morningsong was raised primarily in California by her non-Native mother and grandmother, but she also identifies with her father’s Northern Cheyenne roots. Her husband and musical partner, Fabian Fontenelle, is from Zuni Pueblo and also has Omaha tribal roots. They live in Albuquerque, and operate Elk Dance Music & More, in Old Town.
With an alto voice that pulls from the depths of her cowboy boots, and songs with lyrics that cut to the heart, Morningsong will appeal to those who enjoy the music of Buffy Sainte-Marie and Bonnie Raitt. The talented singer-songwriter leans toward story-songs that compassionately tell of the joys and sorrows of Native peoples. The gut-wrenching “Crazy Johnny” was written about a relative of her husband’s who died of alcoholism. “Slow and Gentle,” cowritten with Donna Sivoli Burse, speaks of and to battered women who seek a gentle partner to show them love. “I was one of those women. It’s not my situation any more. But I know what it’s like, and I hope it helps women who need to heal,” Morningsong says.
Morningsong has played guitar since she was a youngster, when she also learned to play the classical flute. Since then she’s mastered the Native flute, on which she performs an amazing instrumental, the eponymous “Morning Song.”
Morningsong and Fontenelle often perform as a duo at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, in Albuquerque, where they offer stories and songs. They also tour internationally with the full band featured on Full Circle, which was skillfully engineered and produced by Grammy Award winner Larry Mitchell in his Santa Fe studio. Mitchell, who tours with Morningsong’s band, contributes a strong rock sensibility with his electric and acoustic guitars. He also pounds out the thundering, reverberating drums that shake the listener to the core on several tracks, including one of the most powerful, “Return,” in which Morningsong invokes the spirits of her ancestors to help her through her days. Other standouts include “Everything Is One Thing (We Are All Related)” and “I’m a Warrior.”
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