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Twisted Tales: Redbone Bring Native American Pride (and Controversy) to Radio

RedboneIf you called a Native American "Redbone" at the Thanksgiving table, you might get a drumstick upside the head. But in the late 1960s, when American Indians were reclaiming cultural pride alongside other minorities, two brothers sharing Cherokee, Apache and Shoshone blood defiantly took the term Redbone for the name of their band.

The brothers already had a fairly impressive résumé in the music business by the time they decided to make their heritage an asset. Born Pat and Lolly Vasquez in Fresno, Calif., they adopted the last name Vegas to downplay their birth name's Latino roots.

Pat and Lolly were proficient from a young age on bass and guitar, respectively, accompanying pianist Oscar Peterson at the Monterey Jazz Festival before heading to southern California in the early '60s to cash in on the surf-music craze. As the Avantis, the Vegas boys recorded several surf instrumentals, working in the studio with then-unknown session musicians including Glen Campbell and Leon Russell. Regulars at the Haunted House in Hollywood, which featured a stage designed to look like a monster's mouth, Pat and Lolly joined the house band on ABC's teen pop variety show 'Shindig' and bagged a cameo in the teensploitation movie 'It's a Bikini World' alongside the Animals and Bobby "Boris" Pickett.

While working as musicians for hire, backing Sonny & Cher and John Lee Hooker, they befriended a guitarist who claimed Cherokee ancestry named Jimi Hendrix. According to Pat Vegas, Hendrix urged the brothers to form a Native American band: "Native American is beautiful, man," he said. "Be proud of that."

Taking the advice, they recruited guitarist Tony Bellamy, a Yaqui Indian, and drummer Peter DePoe, a Cheyenne whose tribal name was Last Walking Bear. Together they formed the band Redbone -- essentially, "half-breed."

For a few years in the early 1970s, the band was one of the most prominent representatives of Native culture in the US. Specializing in swamp rock, they had a hit in 1972 with 'The Witch Queen of New Orleans' and a Top 5 US smash two years later with the funky 'Come and Get Your Love.'

But the band's efforts to politicize its music, at a time when Native Americans were fighting for their rights and facing off with federal agents, were less successful, at least in their native America. Redbone's song 'We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee,' a hit in Europe, not only failed to chart in the States -- it was banned by some radio stations.

After a brief foray into disco, the band fizzled out. Occasional attempts to regroup were hampered when Lolly Vegas suffered a stroke; for a time, an impostor band made the rounds, playing unauthorized gigs. Today, when Pat Vegas performs with the current incarnation of Redbone, more often than not it's in an Indian casino.

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Peter Thompson

My brother is dead now but he was the one that turned me on to Redbone in the 70's on 8 track tape. I thought it was cool and having some Cherokee ancestry myself made me like it even more. I was in high school and was probably the only one who knew who they were. Now my son is 13 and I introduced him to Redbone. He loves them and has downloaded every Cd I have of them. I am going to surprise him today with several albums I dug out of my collection. he's playing his I pod touch for all of his friends at middle school now. Shame the whole band isn't around anymore to do one of those comeback tours. I know it would go over big. Thanks again Redbone.

April 11 2010 at 2:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mary A.

SO SHOCKED & SAD to read of Tony Bellamy's passing! I CLOSELY followed Redbone's career during high school & STILL love to listen to their music! Tony was an AWESOME guitarist & SO FINE to LOOK AT! The music business has TRULY lost one of the GREATS! Peace, Tony & THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT MUSIC & THE MESSAGE! See you on the other side.

January 05 2010 at 3:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wayne

very sad...growing up in the '70s and living in Arizona...I would here them on the radio quite often...the name Redbone and knowing they were/are native americans made really like them specially since I was native american (half)...I'm a very big fan of Jimi and just recently found out he too is half native...can't believe I just found that out a couple weeks ago:/ I use the name redbone for passwords and such...had no idea what it really meant. Thanks for reading...RIP Tony.

January 05 2010 at 2:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mario

Is it really true that former Redbone guitarist Tony Bellamy died this Christmas? (25 December 2009) Can't find it on any news site...

December 27 2009 at 10:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Mario's comment
Evan

Cool story...neat they met Hendrix and he told them that.

November 21 2009 at 10:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply