Joy Harjo

Is an award winning Native American poet and singer-songwriter-saxophonist from the Muskogee Nation. Her debut album for Fast Horse, "Winding Through The Milky Way", was produced by Grammy Award winning producer Larry Mitchell.

As Joy says in her own words:

"Singing called me into this realm. I was intrigued. I followed. The heart was the drum. We’re nothing without the bottom beat. Poetry was my response to the journey of the wandering soul. I found a way to travel and find meaning in the collective dream song, motivated by justice and an utter need for beauty in the post-colonial mess. I came of age in the midst of a shifting, political national native consciousness. I carried into the resurgence my mother’s love of singing and songwriting and my father’s family’s oratorical and artistic accomplishments. Then one day I couldn’t do without a saxophone, which led me back to the stomp grounds of the heart. I began to sing.

Winding Through the Milky Way is a little road music to accompany us as we make the timeless journey between earth and sky. We’re in a story that will always include the ancient while riding to the outer edge. We’ll get there with music, poetry, lyrics, stories, sheer sorrow and joy. Start with a voice. Let it fly free. Bring in a saxophone to touch those places the words can’t reach. Add an insatiable guitar, some heavy philosophical bass, a little piano and Mvskoke and other tribal rhythms to take us back to Congo Square and before, back up into the Milky Way. Add the good thoughts of those we’ve met along the way. We’ve got it and we’re traveling now."