Hall of Fame another honor for Sainte-Marie

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Buffy Sainte-Marie's recent induction into the Juno Hall of Fame is one more award in what is becoming a lengthy and prestigious list of achievements.

But as far as the career of the 54-year-old Cree Indian, who has been a major force in music since she made her first recording more than 30 years ago goes, the induction into the Juno Hall is similar to the inductions of The Band and Leonard Cohen.

Sainte-Marie is an artist whose best days may still be in front of her.

Coincidence and Likely Stories, her album of three years ago and her first in 14 years, was arguably her best recording to date, although this is a woman whose agenda is anything but dictated by the music business.

Despite all the awards, including Grammies and an Oscar, the latter for her song Up Where We Belong from the An Officer and a Gentleman sound-track in '83, Buffy Sainte-Marie has far too much on her plate to channel everything into one slot.

In essence, she quit the music biz back in '78 when her son was born.

"I'm an artist rather than just a recording artist," stated Sainte-Marie matter-of-factly.

"The music business means spending a lot of time in the city and I had other options," continued Sainte-Marie.

"Living in Hawaii, which is a multi-ethnic community, was what I opted for and I got a lot of input from the people in Hawaii over the years."

Not that "the city" didn't treat her well way back when.

"I lived in Nashville for a long time. People like Chet Atkins were very good to me, as were the Bryants, who wrote a lot of the songs for The Everley Brothers. "I still think there are a lot of things you can say in country songs that you can't say in other types of music. You can get really sappy or you can just wind up the fiddles and have fun and dance to it," added Saint-Marie.

Her songs have been recorded over the years by the likes of Glen Campbell, the late Dottie West and Elvis himself, who cut her Until It's Time For You To Go back in '72.

Her first taste of song royalties came long before Nashville entered her world, as folkies like Donovan sang her anthem Universal Soldier back in the '60s.

"I am first and foremost a songwriter, one who writes about contemporary problems. And if I can put down something that satisfies me and means something to you and wrap it all up in three and a half minutes, that is when I think I've done my job and succeeded," said Sainte-Marie.

There are no shortage of topics for her to choose form these days but on her last album she saw one of the main themes as, "How do honest people survive in a system that is basically corrupt?"

Three of the 11 songs on Coincidence and Likely Stories dealt with Native issues including the radio friendly single Star Walker.

"I address that addiction of succeeding, no matter what the moral consequences are, through a character that turned up in three songs in the album.

Those songs, Fallen Angel, Disinformation and The Big Ones Get Away, not only packed a powerful lyrical punch but were wrapped in easily accessible melodies that were hard to shake after one listen.

As high tech as the disc sounded, much of it was recorded at her home in Hawaii with a state-of-the-art computer.

She doesn't tour with a band, so why employ one for the album?

"When I'm, out on the road touring, it's either playing really fancy upscale fund-raising events for UNICEF in ballrooms in Burma and travelling with someone like Marlon Brando, or playing a hall on a reserve," said the singer-songwriter. She doesn't do your typical 60 days in 60 nights tours booked by someone out of Toronto, L.A. or New York City.

"I'll finish a UNICEF show in Australia and as soon as it's over I'm out the door with the Aboriginal people. The earth is so rich."

With 13 albums to her credit, Sainte-Marie has written a lot of songs since Vanguard Records producer Maynard Solomon first discovered her in a Boston coffee house in '63.

Upcoming artists like Susan Aglukark make no bones about the insiration provided by Sainte-Marie and the two have become friends since working together a couple of years ago.

Sainte-Marie's music continues to defy pigeonholed as she performs solo and acoustic in live settings, while over the years the recording studio has allowed her to infuse rock, classical and orchestral arrangements into her sound.

Not that it's all been an easy walk. A lot of her work, songs like Soldier Blue, Now That The Buffalo's Gone and Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee were suppressed in the '70's if not outright blacklisted. That didn't stop her from playing benefits on behalf of Leonard Peltier and other Northern American political prisoners.

She also scored two Indian films, Harold of Orane and The Great Spirit in the Hole in the early '80s.

True to her nature of going where she was needed and could make the most impact, she was also appearing regularly on Sesame Street.

Vanguard has released a number of her early albums recently but it's still up in the air as to when a follow-up to Coincidence and Likely Stories will be released.

One thing is certain: There won't be a 14-year gap between solo albums this time around.