Inspired by the earth Mother, who births us, sustains us, and to which we all return. 

Song, vocals and rhythm guitar by Elexa Dawson
Keyboard and percussion by Adam Stanley
Lead guitar, engineering and mastering by Isaac Nelson

Recorded at Remote Studios, Wellston, OK December 23, 2016

Mother

I See Me is the single from Elexa Dawson's debut solo album, "Music is Medicine." 

I See Me was inspired by relationships formed through First Peoples Fund's Fellowship convening. "It's about the tears that heal us. It's about recognizing our commonality in emotion. I'm grateful to First Peoples Fund for providing an opportunity for me to meet the three people who inspired this song." Elexa Dawson

Music is Medicine features Bassist Kelby Kimberlin, vocalist/percussionist Melissa Tastove and mandolin/engineer Peter Oviatt.

Single releases November 15th
Music is Medicine releases December 6th

Music is Medicine

I See Me

This song was partially written for over a year and finally came together in the studio. There are some heavy influences from Making Movies in this one. “You are another me and I am another you” comes directly from their albums. There's also a heavy influence from the Mishomis Book by Edward Benton Banai. I'm really pleased with the way this one turned out. We worked really hard on it in the studio and I think this is something that all the musicians on this album can be really proud of. Again, I was listening to a lot of Nahko when I wrote this one.

High Place

This song came to me in the van after a trip to Pokagon Band Potawatomi territory in Dowagiac, Michigan where I attended the Indigenous Foods Summit. It was a four day stay with people that I really had only met once or twice before. I was nervous about finding a way to fit into an existing tight-knit circle of people who are doing this really good work to revive indigenous foods and life ways. I was feeling a little self-conscious. As I left that place, I was overwhelmed with gratitude at how welcomed I had been made to feel. It hit me that no good relationship is a threat to another. Everyone can belong in the circle because the circles just keep widening and overlapping and this is how this good work is going to get done.

I think the meaning of this song really speaks for itself. I'm very glad that we got the male voices of Peter Oviatt and Kelby Kimberlin on that first song.

Circle Song

This one has a questionable placement on this album, because it isn't directly related to what I thought the project concept was going to be at the beginning, but since it did turn more toward a conversation about relationships I decided to include it.  It's a hopeful lament about how quickly my life was changing at that time and my perspective was shifting so quickly that I just felt like I was barely hanging on to the timeline with my toe tips. It's also about learning and growing and the trauma that you must go through in order to grow and change. Once you change, you can never go back to who you were before. You will always be a little bit smarter and a little bit braver and a little bit more grown.

Changed

This one came after Heyleon completed our first round of recording together in Taos. I wrote it on the way home in Brody’s back seat while we were driving through the Carson National Forest. I feel so blessed to be on this Earth at the same time as so many brilliant and talented friends and feel like we're all put in this place for a really good reason, to heal the world through music. This is about being lucky enough to be existing beside each other in this reality. It was also recorded on the Heyleon “Friends and Family” album.

Glad We Came

This was written early in the year when I began doing research on my genealogy through my Potawatomi ancestors. A common theme of French men and native women runs through by earliest recorded history and fairly recent history as well. Anishnabe people were trading with French fur traders since the 1500s. Although I was intending to write this album purely from an Anishnabe perspective, I learned a lot about my maternal grandmother's great-grandmother. Her name was Rosa and she is believed to be Cherokee, although her husband, who was French, would not allow her to keep her Indian identity. It also relates to the tension that still exists in a settler colonial relationship where one person loses her name and sometimes identity and is absorbed into the estate of another person. I've been in relationships where the woman just serves as an accessory in the man’s legacy and I think that's a really sad feeling that a lot of us maybe don't confront. Confronting this feeling will hopefully bring some clarity and healing to those feeling it.

His Name

This is a song I wrote for a friend who was beginning a new venture as a parish nurse. She asked me to sing at her commissioning. I asked for her song to come and this is what came. It is a healing song. It is a prayer song. It is musical medicine.

Sparrow Healing Song

Original Songwriting
Professional Entertainment
Studio Vocalist
Guitar & Mandolin
​2019 First People's Fund Fellow

Elexa Dawson presents a sultry, spirited performance with original music and a "warm honey mixed with prairie dirt" voice. Her newest album, "Music is Medicine" released December 6th, 2019.

The founding member of Kansas' folk homegrown favorite, Weda Skirts, Elexa is a born entertainer and skilled songwriter. Two albums self-produced by The Skirts (Many Moons - 2016, Mother - 2018) present a collection of songs that are influenced by her Potawatomi and Oklahoma heritage, nature, family, love and loss, all with a hopeful and heartfelt tone.

Elexa performs solo, with a blue folk trio and with Weda Skirts at private and public events, gatherings, pubs, and campfires.

Elexa Dawson

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