LAS CRUCES, N.M. — They play on the weekends, and have been entertaining the Navajo people since the "black and white era." They are the unsung heroes of the country music industry. In fact, they are in an industry all to themselves: the Navajo Rez band.
"We always opened for Waylon [Jennings]," said Francis Mike, drummer for the Poyer Band, which plays weekends across the Navajo reservation. "We played with a lot of people."
Rez bands are usually a network of musicians who know each other and are sometimes related, said Allen Hill, a Rez band drummer. Commonly, they are just a group of friends getting together to play music on the weekends across the Navajo reservation.
Mike, 60, lives in Gallup, N.M., and is now retired, but not retired from music. He's been drumming since the early 1960s, and in high school he idolized legendary Rez band The Wingate Valley Boys. That group is one of the original Navajo bands to pioneer country music on the reservation, he said.
"I always had a thing for watching drummers," he said.
He's seen drummers for Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Kenny Vernon, Johnny Paycheck, George Strait and other country greats when he opened for the bands that played the reservation. "All of them came out at one time or another," he said.
Small Venues Mean Few Big Acts
Recently, the "Rez" hasn't seen any modern country artists. The last artist to visit was Sugarland on Sept. 5 for the annual Navajo Nation Fair. New artists ask for too much money and only want a profit, said Mike, and there is no auditorium on the reservation to host the large crowds needed to generate big ticket sales.
But that doesn't mean country music can't be heard all over the reservation. The music has managed to stay alive and has created a subculture within the Navajo culture. More Rez bands playing original and cover music have sprouted in almost all communities on the reservation. From the Aceswild band in Chinle, Ariz., to Native Journey in Torreon, N.M., Navajo musicians have been making music for swingers, line dancers and two-steppers.
On "cardboard sheets," otherwise known as Navajo billboards, Rez bands have advertised their gigs and dances at chapter houses, activity centers and middle school gyms. A Web site, rezbandz.com [1], shows a list of more than 40 bands and their gigs at more than 130 venues.
"There was a time when there were not as many bands and people," Mike said. He remembered a time when tickets to see a Rez band cost $2. "[Now] it's $10 to $15 to come, and they'll come over and over."
Mike plays about twice a month at two bars in Farmington, N.M., and says Thursdays have the most activity because it's "Ladies Night."
"It's amazing to see how many people who dress up and drink water (at the bar) and dance for two hours and then go home," Mike said.
Drummers Captivate 'Old-School Guy'
Another Wingate Valley Boys idolizer is Allen Hill, drummer for the Wild Bunch band from Ganado, Ariz.
"I'm just an old-school guy," Hill said. "I like to play music clean and 'Strait.'"
Hill, 53, said he started in music back in 1968 when music used to be on LP 33s and 8-track tapes. He doesn't like anything too complicated and keeps it simple by holding the equalizers to a minimum. He started by playing piano and percussion in school when he was a boy and listened to music constantly.
Inspired by watching Freddie Chester and the Wingate Valley Boys, he went on to play in bands like The Regulators, Full Deck and The Common People.
"In my mind and my heart I wanted to be like that," Hill said about his mentors.
Hill has toured with Keith Secola, who is known for the song "Indian Car." They toured in Louisiana and then Hill came back to the Rez for his family and day job, he said. He also opened for country artists Gary Stewart and Tommy Overstreet.
Hill is now with Wild Bunch but plays with other bands when they need help. As for Wild Bunch, they're a group of friends.
"Sometimes we just goof around and then sometimes we have a song," Hill said.
It's all about practice and feeling the music and he takes great pleasure in knowing that his music makes people feel good and forget the troubles in the world. "I can just close my eyes and feel no problems," Hill said.
[Editor's note: In the above photo, guitar player Tim Murphy, left, is the father of the writer of this story.]