BLUE MOUNTAIN TRIBE

Our band is Blue Mountain Tribe. I’m Robin Hairston. I was brought up in the sixties when everyone was listening to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

Every time I heard the Blues I got so excited. The music resonated through my soul. My friends thought I was crazy or smoked too much pot. When I was 16, my mother was in hospital dying of cancer. I never had a father. My papa was a rolling stone, where he laid his hat was his home. My mother’s last words to me before dying were, “Robin, you’re going to be a great musician someday. Don’t knock on doors, kick the SOB’s i!” At the age of 18, I joined the Marine Corps. A friend of mine played harmonica. I loved the sound of it and started learning it. After a while, everyone told me I sucked.

But I kept remembering what my mother had told me. Years later I became a very good harpist playing in a lot of blues bands. As my son Caleb grew up, he had a great talent for guitar, so we started a band together. Starting off as a Blues and classic rock cover band. Though we didn’t have a vision, we jammed where we could. One day my wife Paris and I were watching TV, and Native American rock band named Xit came on. Man, they rocked! I told my wife and Caleb that I wanted our band to become all Native American and all original Blues. A work friend, Pat Mata, was a great drummer and Native American and joined us. Jeff Cooper, also known as “Cooper Hawk”, was a local bass player who was also Native American, who also joined. Blue Mountain Tribe is an all-original Blues/rock band who sing about Indigenous people, war veterans, people with disabilities, love, desire, rage, pain, and hope. Blue Mountain Tribe’s mission is for the greater good to support charitable Native American events, with emphasis on Indigenous Youth, people with disabilities, our veterans, and stopping suicide amongst Native American youth. We are twotime winners of the Native American Music Awards. Our song, Pray For Our Planet, has been played all over the country including Australia and Ireland. We have been in six newspapers. We’ve been on five radio interviews.

We’ve performed at numerous Las Vegas concerts. Winners at the Latino/Native American film festival. We’ve been rated by Spinditty as one of the top Native American bands of all time. This is a great honor since there have been thousands of Native American bands since the sixties. Our members are Robin Hairston (vocals and harmonica); Caleb Hairston (lead guitar); Pat Mata (drums); and Jeff Booper (bass. It’s a long way to the top if you want to play the Blues. We made it. We’re in The Blue Matters! Magazine.

The start of Rare Union began in 2019. It started with LA Smith a percussionist from New York.

LA Smith had been wanting to produce a CD, with a lot of percussion, to pass percussion on to kids all over the world. After completing a national tour with The Randy Oxford Band in 2014, LA decided to play at festivals with headliners, and do percussion workshops. Passing percussion kids all over the western hemisphere.

At the same time, Martin Cage lead guitarist from Nemesis, was looking to put some of his original compositions on a CD. LA now out of Columbia MO, and Martin out of Salt Lake UT, decided to get together.

They went into El Centro studio in Columbia, Missouri and start recording. They added Jerry Russo, a local rhythm drummer and the three of them put together the first six songs. Then the pandemic hit, and it was a challenge to bring any artists together. The studio added UV lighting and slowly they started to work on the CD. Martin Cage had played with vocalist, guitar player Max Soler from FT Myers in the group Nemesis, so when they called Max, he was ready to go. They had Will Reeves on bass and Danny Carrol on drums, both from Columbia, MO and they played together in several groups.

The songs started to get real heart felt lyrics, guitar breaks and solos that bring out the original sound of Rare Union. They did not go into the studio trying to produce a particular sound, just wanted to make good music. What happened was chemistry, with five artists, with all different backgrounds, from 5 states playing together. Songs Martin had composed evolved and began to take shape, Max would add lyrics and guitar. Both Martin and Max would switch off on lead and rhythm. LA and Danny would build the structure of the songs and decide how to incorporate the drums and percussion. They ended up with a new blues rock sound.

Micael Kott was added on Cello, from Santa Fe NM. His recording was done at Frogville Studios in Santa Fe. Michael Kott plays cello all over the world with Peter Buffet.

With the CD getting produced the band needed a name. That’s where Dawn Smith suggested Rare Union. It described this band, born in a pandemic. Dawn set up the production of the CD, web site, Domain, copyright, and trademarks.

Naming the CD, Max Soler and Martin Cage had a friend who passed, he was considered a brother. So, the band named the CD, “Brother of Mine”.

Rare Union is now setting dates to do three videos and the start of the next CD in March with projected release by Mid October.

They have been invited to several festivals and are lining up festivals around the world to play, hoping for 2022, but with the pandemic touring may start in 2023.