Growing up , the idea of a “ career ” as a musician was a foreign concept . Sainte- Marie says she had never met anyone who worked in show business , let alone a professional musician . She banged away at the piano and wrote songs because she loved it , but never had anyone to play with . But getting her first guitar at 14 or 15 years old changed how she experienced music . With a portable instrument , music suddenly became a more communal experience .
“ That changed everything . I was living in Maine in a trailer and I could take the guitar to the woods , or I could take the guitar to a campfire and play with other people . So that ’ s when it started to open up for me ,” she recalls . When rock and roll hit the radio – Chuck Berry , The Everly Brothers , Jerry Lee Lewis , Elvis Presley , and the other innovators – “ it just changed my life ,” she adds . “ Here was this kid who couldn ’ t read music but played like a son of a gun , who would write songs that nobody was ever going to hear , and all of a sudden I got a train to Boston and New York to see the Alan Freed rock and roll shows .”
Even then , though , while making musical pilgrimages , Sainte-Marie says that back home she was a “ a social nothing ” in her high school , and treated as odd for being into this new music . Academia , in fact , was her calling until a guidance counsellor at the University of Massachusetts informed her she wouldn ’ t be graduating on time because of one missing credit she had previously been told she didn ’ t need . At the university – where blues great Taj Mahal was a classmate and remains a close friend – she ’ d played music in her dorm and at off-campus coffee houses .
“ Although I had straight As and was one of the 10 most outstanding students in my graduating class , they wouldn ’ t let me graduate ,” she says , still marvelling at the fateful stupidity of it all .
“ I had never considered becoming a professional musician . I thought I was going to take my oriental philosophy degree and go to India and become a saint ,” she laughs . The actual plan was to attend an artsfocused university in Santiniketan , India . “ I couldn ’ t graduate and that ’ s how I got into show business . I just had nothing to do , so I went to Greenwich Village to try my luck and I was lucky . It was just the right time – it was okay for somebody like me to be there . It was a little too early for songwriters but I had some fake folk songs .”
But while New York ’ s ‘ 60s folk scene , which drew international attention because of Bob Dylan and the like , is still widely viewed as an almost mythic haven of liberalism , Sainte-Marie says the “ folkies ” were far from open .
“ They were all about Woody Guthrie , right ? You know , ‘ This land is your land , this land used to be my land …’ So , there were certain attitudes , even in folk music , that were not exactly enlightened . Everybody would show up for , like , Black Lives Matter because you got your picture in the magazine , and it was a big photo op . But any of those people show up for Indigenous stuff ? No . But you know who did show up ? Dick Gregory . Stevie Wonder . Mohammed Ali . There were some people who were hearing me and my message and got to know a little bit about Indigenous stuff beginning with me , because I had the entrée that none of my peers on the rez would have for a long time .”
From that time on , Sainte-Marie would make it up and figure it out as she went along . From Greenwich Village she ’ d go on to perform concerts and festivals around the U . S . and Canada as invites and opportunities presented themselves , including spending some time in the folk-loving coffee houses of Toronto ’ s famed Yorkville district ( a . k . a . the Greenwich Village of the north ). In 1964 , she signed with Vanguard Records , which also had Joni Mitchell on its roster , and released her debut LP , It ’ s My Way .
That debut record is now considered one of the touchstone albums of the ‘ 60s folk era thanks to songs like “ Cod ’ ine ” and “ Universal Solider ,” which would be covered by Donovan , Graham Parsons , Janis Joplin , and many others . The latter song , especially , had a radicalness not seen in other anti-war songs of the time by emphasizing soldiers ’ individual responsibility for war instead of more abstract anti-war sentiments .
“ Glen Campbell recorded ‘ Universal Soldier ’ and later took it back . He didn ’ t like it ! It took him a few years to figure out what it was about , but he did a great job on it ,” Sainte-Marie says with some amusement .
In all , she would release an incredible nine albums in as many years for Vanguard , beginning with It ’ s My Way and concluding with 1973 ’ s Quiet Places before going over to MCA Records . Through that prolific decade , the reception she got was up and down , and Sainte-Marie herself feels she should ’ ve been more selective . As such , she laughs off any notion of being exceptionally prolific in this period . “ Oh , I just didn ’ t know any better !” she chuckles . “ Some of them aren ’ t very good , you know ? Some have three or four dynamite songs , and the rest is just stuff because Vanguard were in a hurry . I don ’ t mean to put down their taste , but it costs a lot of money for a record company to actually deliver . So , my early albums had some really interesting material , and the songs are really good , but it ’ s so terrible to
BUFFY IN 1968
have a bunch of businessmen be the ones who edit your album . They ’ re the ones who choose the takes .”
To this day she dislikes the vocal takes used on It ’ s My Way , feeling that better versions of those songs were left in the vault . Nonetheless , the frankness of her lyrics combined with the passionate vibrato in her voice characterised early classics like “ My Country ‘ Tis of Thy People You ’ re Dying ” ( 1966 ) and “ Now That the Buffalo ’ s Gone ” ( 1968 ).
“ I just didn ’ t know any better . I knew that I didn ’ t want to just come in and copy some other singer because that would be stupid ,” she asserts about her singing style . The distinctive vibrato , though , is still present and powerful on current songs like “ Not the Lovin ’ Kind ” from 2015 ’ s Polaris Music Prize-winning Power in the Blood , though it feels more in control . She also points out that the vibrato is just a natural by-product of singing with emotion – the more emotion she feels while singing , the stronger the vibrato gets .
“ In the first place , I wasn ’ t out to become a music star . I would just try to find something to do because I couldn ’ t go to India . So , I didn ’ t concentrate on singing at all ,” she continues . “ I think I ’ ve learned how to become a better singer . What I had , though , was the songs and I believed in the songs and there wasn ’ t anybody else who would sing them . If I could have gotten Judy Collins and Joan Baez to sing my songs , I would have , but they weren ’ t going to talk to me !... But when I was first recording , I wasn ’ t thinking like a singer , I was just thinking as the person presenting the song . I wasn ’ t listening to sharp , flat , fast , slow , or anything – I was just trying to get the song across and give the people that song . But CANADIAN MUSICIAN 35
PHOTO : JACK DE NIJS / ANEFO VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMON