From the KSPS PBS studios, It's Inland Sessions.

KSPS PBS welcomes Colville Tribal member and singer songwriter, Tony Louie ♪Chant ♪ ♪ Mama calls me the wind, I'll be gone three months and blow♪ ♪ back in.... ♪ Wonders when she'll see me again, prays her drifting boy ♪ ♪ would stop running.... But if she only knew, the pain I've ♪ ♪ felt the hells I've been through.... ♪ ♪ That's why I can't sit still, my mind starts running demons ♪ ♪ grab the wheel.... ♪ So I run, down this lonely road away I roam.... ♪ ♪ Can't look back, because backs the past that I'm ♪ ♪ running from.... ♪ Maybe it's my fault, for letting you go.... ♪ ♪ Maybe it's your fault, for loving this drifting soul.... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I swear this life I live would make a dead man grateful ♪ ♪ and a poor man give.... ♪ That's why I sing the blues, because the more I run the more♪ ♪ I lose.... Still I wouldn't trade a single day, a life of ♪ ♪ ease just ain't for me.... ♪ I swear the only way I feel alive, is if I run these roads ♪ ♪ until the day I die.... ♪ So I run, down this lonely road away I roam.... ♪ ♪ Can't look back, because backs the past that I'm running ♪ ♪ from.... ♪ Maybe it's my fault, for letting you go.... ♪ ♪ Maybe it's your fault, for loving this drifting soul.... ♪ ♪ So I run, down this lonely road away I roam.... ♪ ♪ Can't look back, because backs the past that I'm running ♪ ♪ from.... ♪ Maybe it's my fault, for letting you go.... ♪ ♪ Maybe it's your fault, for loving this drifting soul.... ♪ I grew up in Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation.

It's a real small place.

I only had eight, people in my graduating class, but we're river people right on the Columbia River.

was raised in a musical family.

My grandma played.

My great grandma played my uncle Jim Boyd.

My parents, we're in a band called Kiyote Moon.

So I, I was kind of born into this, ♪ father and farther is from the movie Smoke Signals that my ♪ ♪ uncle Jim, and Sherman Alexi actually wrote that song ♪ ♪ together.

♪ So those songs, that movie in particular, Smoke Signals and ♪ ♪ like that song, just about the dynamics with Indian kids and ♪ ♪ their dads back home, it rings true for me and so many back ♪ ♪ home so that song I always carry with me close to my heart ♪ ♪ and I always love singing it.

♪ Sometimes father you and I are like a three-legged horse, who ♪ ♪ can't get across the finish line.... ♪ ♪ No matter how hard, he tries and tries and tries ♪ ♪ Sometimes father you and I are like a warrior who can only ♪ ♪ paint half of his face.... As the other half cries and cries ♪ ♪ and cries and cries and cries ♪ Can I ask you father.

Do you know how much farther we have ♪ ♪ to go ♪ Can I ask you father.

Do you know how much farther we have ♪ ♪ to go ♪ Farther and farther, father and father, until we know.... ♪ ♪ Farther and farther, father and father, until we know.... ♪ ♪ Sometimes father you and I are like two old drunks who spend ♪ ♪ their whole lives in the bars.... ♪ ♪ Swallowing down all those lies and lies and lies ♪ ♪ Sometimes father you and I are dirty ghosts who wear the same ♪ ♪ sheets everyday.... As one more piece of us just dies and ♪ ♪ dies and dies ♪ Can I ask you father.

Do you know how much farther we have ♪ ♪ to go ♪ Can I ask you father.

Do you know how much farther we have ♪ ♪ to go ♪ Farther and farther, father and father, until we know.... ♪ ♪ Farther and farther, father and father, until we ♪ ♪ know....Farther and farther, father and father, until we ♪ ♪ know....Farther and farther, father and father, until we ♪ ♪ know.... ♪ (CHANT) ♪ (CHANT) ♪ (CHANT) ♪ Sometimes father you and I are like a three-legged horse who ♪ ♪ can't get across the finish line no matter how hard he ♪ ♪ tries and tries and tries All my heroes were always cowboys growing up my dad rode bulls for most of his life, and it was just what I wanted to be.

It was the only sound I heard in my life, out in the country so we've got a lot of blues on the rez, as far as lifestyle is concerned so a lot of those types of songs, sad country songs are what I grew up on so it fit more with my spirit at the time, and kind of the experiences I went through.

♪ Sitting across the lake from there ♪ ♪ Hearing the song through the summer night air.

♪ ♪ Feel the past from across the lake ♪ ♪ Its sticks and bones until daybreak When I was there I was♪ ♪ feeling fine Singing songs and sipping wine Cloudy visions our♪ ♪ feeling fine Singing songs and sipping wine Cloudy visions our♪ ♪ traditional lake.

♪ Its sticks and bones until daybreak ♪ ♪ (Chant) Ho-He-Lo ♪ Hidden Beach I've done my time Across the lake I did my prime ♪ ♪ When I think about the lake ♪ Its sticks and bones until daybreak ♪ ♪ (Chant) Ho-He-Lo ♪ (Chant) Ho-He-Lo This next song is a song I wrote.

It's, very meaningful and significant to my story in my life.

About our, traditional territories up in the Arrow Lakes.

So this is a mountain back home.

It's kind of, place of relevance to my people.

And so this song is dedicated to that mountain.

♪ ♪ ♪ How long does it take, for a broken man to break, all the ♪ ♪ walls his soul cannot seem shake.... ♪ ♪ Because I've spent a lifetime dreaming, of existing with a ♪ ♪ meaning, living life extinct is such an empty feeling.... ♪ ♪ Now we finally can come back home, had to fight and fight to♪ ♪ right the wrongs, so let my spirit sing a victory song.... ♪ ♪ Sing me back home frog mountain...let my spirit sing ♪ ♪ me home ♪ Sing me back home frog mountain we've been gone far ♪ ♪ too long ♪ ♪ ♪ Now the years and years have passed on by, but the memory ♪ ♪ never seemed to die, the motherland shall not be ♪ ♪ denied.... ♪ Because the queen has tried to hold us down, but our blood is ♪ ♪ older than the crown, we'll ♪ fight until were six feet in the ground ♪ ♪ I just pray the trees remember me, because its been so long ♪ ♪ since they could see, the land my heart has longed for ♪ ♪ desperately.... ♪ I'm coming home frog mountain let my spirit sing me ♪ ♪ home ♪ Sing me back home frog mountain we've been gone far ♪ ♪ too long ♪ Sing me back home frog mountain...let my spirit sing ♪ ♪ me home ♪ Sing me back home frog mountain we've been gone far ♪ ♪ too long These last five years I've been working for the Inchelium language house, my main line of work is With language and language revitalization for n?séli?cn?, our, our dialect of Salish and it's dying languages.

Some would say, when we've been working hard to revitalize that with the youth, with the kids, how do you reach them with language when it's it's a very challenging task when it may not be as interesting.

Their attention spans may be varying now days, but I think that is our duty as the next gen as the leaders paving the way.

We should find different lenses and frame it in a way that they are interested.

♪ I was born in a firestorm, the world was burning down the day ♪ ♪ they brought me home Flames never really seemed to die, ♪ ♪ I've been running through the coals nearly all my life.... ♪ ♪ Just the son of a blues man, Mom and Daddy rocked my craddle♪ ♪ in a 5 piece band.... ♪ Wonder when the song would ever end, now daddys 6 feet in♪ ♪ the grave and the music's dead.... ♪ ♪ Kiyote Moon, sing me home.... ♪ I've been gone, gone too long.... ♪ ♪ I hear the devil whispering my name, so I sing until I can't ♪ ♪ feel my shame ♪ Kiyote Moon, sing me home.... ♪ ♪ ♪ Now I'm picking all the same old songs, the words may have ♪ ♪ changed but they feel like home.... ♪ ♪ Can't decide if it's right or wrong, it sounds all the same ♪ ♪ sipping something strong.... Stop and look about how far ♪ ♪ I've come, how'd I end up where I swore I never belonged♪ ♪ I guess that's just the way god tells the story, for us ♪ ♪ guitar pickin' whiskey sippin' ndn boys.... ♪ ♪ Kiyote Moon, sing me home.... ♪ I've been gone, gone too long.... ♪ ♪ I hear the devil whispering my name, so I sing until I can't ♪ ♪ feel my shame ♪ Kiyote Moon, sing me home.... ♪ I love you like a fizzly soda pop, I love you like a dead end♪ ♪ traffic stop.... ♪ I love you like a moonlit river walk.... I love you like ♪ ♪ some midnight tipi talk ♪ Ho-oh-oh He-lowww ♪ Ho-oh-oh He-lowww ♪ Because I'm a merciless savage Because I'm a merciless savage ♪ ♪ I love you like a wagon burning on the planes, I love ♪ ♪ you like the whiskey swiming through my veins.... ♪ ♪ I love you like the devils gonna love the flames.... I ♪ ♪ love you like the desert wants to love the rain ♪ ♪ Ho-oh-oh He-lowww ♪ Ho-oh-oh He-lowww ♪ Because I'm a merciless savage Because I'm a merciless savage ♪ ♪ Because I'm a merciless savage Because I'm a merciless savage ♪ ♪ Trying to focus more into finding the light within the ♪ ♪ art and the music, because there's a lot of death and a ♪ ♪ lot of tragedy on the reservation.

It's probably the ♪ ♪ most common theme on any rez you go to.

There are ways, you ♪ ♪ know, that you can thrive through, tough soil.

You know, ♪ ♪ we can all grow, just, perseverance is kind of the, ♪ ♪ the main key, and keeping love in your heart even when it's ♪ ♪ broken.

That's my message I like to pass forward to our ♪ ♪ kid's is don't let the world get the best of you for sure.

♪ ♪ (Chant) ♪ I'm a Colville Tribal Indian, and I come from Inchelium ♪ ♪ From the Lakes band by the river, across the border we ♪ ♪ begin.... And my people fished the waters, till the Columbia ♪ ♪ turned a lake.... Grand Coulee took the salmon, and my ♪ ♪ people's heart did break.... Grand Coulee took the salmon, ♪ ♪ and my people's heart did break.... ♪ ♪ (Chant) ♪ I was raised in politics of time, they tried to ♪ ♪ terminate.... Our existence as a people, yet were here to live♪ ♪ our fate.... ♪ Of the strength of all my people, as their blood runs ♪ ♪ strong through me.... ♪ My children and their children, will be proud of who ♪ ♪ they'll be..... My children and their children, will be ♪ ♪ proud of who they'll be.... ♪ (Chant) ♪ The Inchelium is calling, I'll follow by demand.... Inchelium ♪ ♪ is calling, that's the place it all began.... I'll love it ♪ ♪ there forever, yeah no matter where I go.... ♪ ♪ Inchelium is in my heart, and the people there are in my ♪ ♪ soul.... ♪ (Chant) Hear more from the artist on this program on the Inland Sessions Podcast