Book Review: Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band by Christian Staebler (2nd review)

Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band

by Christian Staebler, Sonia Paoloni, and Thibault Balaly (YA PB Staebler)

 

If you know the songs “Witch Queen of New Orleans” and “Come and Get Your Love”, you probably want to read this. Especially if you like graphic novels and American culture and history. An English translation of the original French, this volume is divided into chapters, much like individual issues of a comicbook series. It recounts the history of Pat and Lolly Vegas, American Indian musicians from California, and how they came to form the rock/native band Redbone. Thanks go to Jimmy [Jimi] Hendrix for the group’s name. Oh, and, the Brothers Vasquez [AKA Vegas] helped open the doors to commercial success for The Doors! The setting is contemporary, wherein surviving brother Patrick is visiting with his children and they start asking him to repeat stories of “the old days”. The content touches on their musical journey as a sibling duo and on into the group years but also their all-too-familiar challenges of identity and equality as Native people in modern America. Frustratingly, Redbone enjoyed much more fame in Europe than the U.S. but, gladly, they have left a considerable body of work behind. And gave the world an earworm tune that most recently was refreshed in pop culture consciousness in the movie “Guardians of the Galaxy”. p.s. I’m not crazy about the artwork but it is evident that the entire production team feels great respect and appreciation for the Redbone legacy.

 

( publisher’s official Redbone book web site ) | ( English translation of official Christian Staebler French language web site ) | ( semi-official Redbone band history site )

 

See also: Caitlin L.’s review of Redbone in the August 2021 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Becky W.C.
Walt Branch Library

 

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