Crystal Shawanda collaborates on new single ‘The Rez’

By Brian Wright-McLeod (with notes from Eric Alper)

TORONTO— Crystal Shawanda, a two-time JUNO Award-winning blues and country music artist collaborates with the multi award-winning Sultans of String on a new country music single, “The Rez”. The accompanying music video was recently posted on YouTube in June of this year.

“The Rez” is the fourth single from the upcoming Sultans of String album, Walking Through the Fire. The album represents the group’s most ambitious project to date and celebrates collaborations with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists from across the country.

Shawanda is an Ojibwe Potawatomi singer, born in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island. Her new single brims with a strong country music flavour harking back to her music roots that characterized her first major album releases.

“I wrote ‘The Rez’ with Ed Hill and Shay Smith, and it came out of the stories I had shared with them when they asked me what it was like growing up on a reservation,” she said. “We [as Indigenous people] have all been through so much, but we’re still here.”

In addition, her recently released Midnight Blues marks Shawanda’s seventh album, which is already garnering much industry attention including a Juno nomination.

“We’re making this album in the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Commission’s 94 calls to action, and final report that asks for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to work together as an opportunity to show a path forward,” said Sultans of String co-founder Chris McKhool.

The TRC points include #63, which focuses on the Council of Ministers of Education to commit to Indigenous education, and #83 that calls upon the Canada Council for the Arts to prioritize funding for collaborative projects.

“We know that as a society we can’t move ahead without acknowledging and reflecting on the past,” said the Honourable Murray Sinclair, an Ojibwe Elder and former chair of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission pontificated. “Before reconciliation can occur, the full truth of the Indigenous experience in this country needs to be told.”

Tour dates have been announced and are listed on the Sultans of String website.