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Artists are often tagged as prolific but few have earned the distinction as thoroughly as my guest Buffy Sainte-Marie. Sainte-Marie was born on a Cree reservation in Saskatchewan, Canada, and raised in the United States. In the 1960s she became known as a singer and songwriter of protest and love songs, and her songs have been recorded by artists ranging from Janis Joplin, to Neil Diamond. Sainte-Marie was blacklisted from radio play during the Lyndon Johnson administration due to the political nature of her lyrics. Following this she left the music business while raising her son, Dakota, appearing with him on Sesame Street regularly. In 1982 Sainte-Marie won an academy Award for the song, Up Where We Belong in the film, an Officer and a Gentleman. In 1969 Sainte-Marie started a philanthropic non-profit fund, the Nihewan Foundation for American Indian Education, devoted to improving Native American students participation in learning. In 1996 she founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project, with projects reaching Native communities in eleven states, including the Cree, Hawaiian, and Apache communities. She is a sought-after speaker, lecturing at colleges and civic venues on a wide variety of topics including film scoring, electronic music, songwriting, and Native American studies. Sainte-Maire is distinguished as an early pioneer of digital art. Her electronic paintings have appeared in Art Focus, Ms. Magazine, and USA Today. Buffy Sainte-Maries new album, Running For The Drum, includes 11 new songs and an expanded version of America the Beautiful, as well as the DVD documentary, Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life.

GUEST: Buffy Sainte-Marie, singer, songwriter

Buffy Sainte-Marie is performing tonight, April 15, 2010 at the Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA. Tickets, if there are any left, at www.bootlegtheater.org.