WINE & MUSIC: GREAT BLUES ROCK AND A LOCAL STANDOUT

I’ve been on a big heavy rock jag lately, but I was reminded of a very cool blues band that I stumbled onto a few years back, thanks to one of my long time sales reps, Brian Scott, from Vintner Select. The band comes straight from the American Heartland – Indigenous. Begun back in 1998 by Native American guitarist and vocalist Mato Nanji, the guy has been lauded by the blues rock scene – including Mr. Eric Clapton himself, as possessing a warm soul, and universal blues sound. Though initially formed as a family band (with brother Pte on bass, sister Wanbdi on drums and cousin Horse on percussion, the children of the Nakota tribe in South Dakota recently split to find their own musical path, leaving Mato to continue the band alone.

The current release is entitled “Broken Lands,” and features the current single “Should I Stay.” I’ve been hearing it a lot on B.B. King’s Blues channel on Sirius, but here is the song “Things We Do.” The new stuff is phenomenal, and anyone into the blues that hasn’t heard this band, should definitely check them out.



Sort of tying in with an indigenous theme, of a different sort perhaps, is the Stonebrook Vidal Blanc from Kentucky, a well-done example of this Vitis Labrusca grape that grows around here like wildfire. Sure, it possesses that “foxy” element that most critics associate with the local wines, yet this one is not too sweet, holding on to a bit of Bartlett pear and Golden delicious apple notes, with a bit of nutmeg, maple candy, and sassafrass. I like that this particular Vidal doesn’t go to heavy into the sweet end of things, opting for a nice bit of acidity to give the wine a bit more universality – kind of like Indigenous and their music.

Wine and music, it’s a concept that yearns to bring different worlds together, and I think these match up well. I think both will be well worth the exploration.