OK Music Hall of Fame inducts 3 Native artists

MUSKOGEE, Okla. - A map and a dart helps The Ventures plan their touring schedule.

“Wherever it landed was where our first job was,” Nole “Nokie” Edwards, lead guitarist for The Ventures, said.

Edwards joined the band in 1959 and said initially they played anywhere they could. Eventually stardom ushered the band to play at venues around the world. Most recently, Edwards performed at the Muskogee Civic Center in Muskogee, Okla. He and two other American Indians, Jessie Ed Davis and Cheevers Toppah, were inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame 2011 class.

“It’s great,” Edwards, 76, said. “I want to thank all the fans for supporting me over the years. If it wasn’t for them, this wouldn’t have happened.”

The Nov. 10 induction ceremony and concert celebrated the influence Oklahomans have in the music industry. Edwards, Davis and Toppah now join the family of previous inductees that include Carrie Underwood, Ronnie Dunn, The All American Rejects, Jean Shepard, Leona Mitchell, David Gates, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Toby Keith and others.

The “dart chart” method used by The Ventures guided them from Los Angeles to New York. They would drive all night to get to the next show. Once they drove through the night only to realize the next morning they were 20 miles from where they started. Yet, by far the best place Edwards says he played is Japan where the band was as famous as the Beatles.

While touring, Edwards played lead guitar on their famous hits, such as Hawaii 5-O, Wipe Out, Surf Rider, Let’s Go, Fugitive, Moon Child, Yellow Jacket and more. Their first hit, Walk, Don’t Run, was in 1960. A DJ first played the song as a news kicker but listeners began calling in asking about it and who the artists were. To hear it on the radio was surreal to him.

“It was almost like I can’t believe it,” Edwards, Cherokee, said.

Throughout his on-going career the music has remained Edwards’ passion and not the fame.

“It doesn’t change me. I’m just happy that people like me to sign autographs and I’m grateful because they’re the ones that bought our records. I sign everything. Sometimes we do a two hour autograph session after we get done playing. They’re good fans,” Edwards said.

Edwards has played with legendary musicians and also joined other bands when The Ventures were not on the road, including Lefty, David, and Allan Frizzell, and David Frizzell and Shelly West. His influences are Chet Atkins and Les Paul, whom he has played with. He earned two decades worth of awards and trophies for his work, most notably  Japan’s Emperor Award, the 2009 Guitar Legends Award, a 2010 Native American Music Award, 2008 Ambassador to Arkansas, and being inducted to the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2006 Grammy Hall of Fame, and now the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Edwards remains humble about his accomplishments and talent and uses humor to deflect from his contribution to the music industry. “They just pass them out,” he said of the awards. In addition to the honors, Edwards shares his knowledge in 15 guitar instructional videos. His advice for new musicians is to, “be dedicated, practice a lot, and play for someone that’s better than you.”

His wisdom and experience also created the HitchHiker Guitar, and hence the HitchHiker Guitar Company. More information about the company can be found at www.nokieedwards.org.

“Guitar companies used to hire me to tell them what was wrong with the guitar … but they don’t do anything about it,” Edwards said. “So I decided to build a guitar that I think is a perfect guitar … everything on the guitar is the best that you can buy so it’s real high quality.”

Edwards was playing guitar by age 5 and could play all string instruments by the time he was 11. By 12 years of age he was playing on an Idaho country radio station. As he grew up he became a regular at community fairs and events in Washington State.

“It’s just something that’s born into you,” Edwards said. “If you’re good at it you’ll follow through because you like it. Once you start making good money that helps a lot.”

Davis, Kiowa and Comanche, also got an early start in music. His father was a Dixie-land drummer.

“He was around music since he was a child,” Russell Saunkeah, Davis’ cousin, said. “His dad actually brought a guitar home for himself and my cousin wound up taking it over … He started kind of early and I know that he played in bands in high school and junior high.”

Davis, who was 44 when he died in 1988, was a session guitarist in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. His work is featured on many albums including some from John Lennon, Eric Clapton, John Lee Hooker, Neil Diamond, David Cassidy, and Willie Nelson.

Saunkeah said Davis had deep connections with Oklahoma musicians, such as Leon Russell, and he became well-known through his session work on albums. He toured with Conway Twitty and Rod Stewart and worked with blues artist Taj Mahal. He released three solo albums that showcased his friends Leon Russell and Eric Clapton. He also worked with Harry Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Jackson Browne, and George Harrison.

“I think that’s a testament to his professionalism and his talent that he could play pretty much any type of genre that he was asked to play as a studio musician and I was blessed to watch his work for a period of time,” Saunkeah said. “He was a consummate professional that would always strive to do the best that he could possible do.”

“I think the capstone in his career was the work he did with John Trudell,” Saunkeah said. “They became very close collaborators and friends. He helped John put music to his poetry. It was brilliant ...”

Trudell joined Saunkeah and his family in a tribute performance at the ceremony as they played a melody of five songs showcasing Davis’ work and his style of music. Davis received the Eldon Shamblin Session Musician Award.

“To be able to receive an award with Eldon Shamblin’s name … I think he would have found that quite pleasing so we’re glad to be able to be a part of it,” Saunkeah said. “I know he would thank them for the recognition. I know that he would have enjoyed being a part of it. I think he would have been thrilled to have this award …”

Saunkeah, who lived with Davis in California for awhile, said Davis was fun, outgoing, intelligent, well-read, a great cook and passionate about his music.

“His style of playing is definitely influenced by Native American music … his heritage was definitely a part of his art,” Saunkeah said.

Also drawing inspiration from his American Indian heritage is Toppah, who is Kiowa and Navajo.

Toppah, 28, took his powwow music and his choral background to new levels when his friend, a hip hop artist, asked him to fuse their musical styles together. They put together a demo CD and submitted it to Canyon Records. Their first CD Intonation was nominated for a Grammy award in 2006 in the Best Native American album category.

Toppah said they received good reviews when the first CD was released saying it was, “a start of something new, kind of like revolutionizing Native American singing, and a lot of the powwow people like it. People who weren’t Native American liked it because they could relate because of the English word in the songs. So it got a good response and we kind of just went from there and recorded more CDs.”

Now Toppah will have his seventh CD, True Melodies, coming out at the end of the month. The release is a mix of everything he’s done in the past. His recording, First Light, with Kevin Yazzie was a finalist for the 2008 Indian Summer Music Awards and the 2008 Native American Music Awards.

“My specialty is harmonizing,” Toppah said. “The guy who basically paved the road for me was … John Gerber, he was my music teacher. He always had faith in me, he always took the time to show me stuff and explain things so I could learn how and we keep in contact still today.”

Gerber was choral director at Weatherford High School. Toppah was in choir from junior high to high school and all-stated when he was in high school, scoring ones in solo competitions.

Toppah said his family and friends have always been supportive of his singing and they accompanied him to his induction into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame where he received the Rising Star award.

“I was really surprised because they only pick six (people) every year … it’s a big honor,” Toppah said.  “Thank you to the people who support Native American music ... A lot of open minded people have to listen to our music to understand kind of what it means. I just kind of want to thank those people for being open minded and seeing it for what it is.”

Toppah is from Weatherford, Okla. Davis is from Norman, Okla. and Edwards is from Lahoma, Okla. Other 2011 inductees include: Kristin Chenoweth; the late Wayman Tisdale; Gene Triplett; the late Ralph Blane; and the late Bob Bogle.

The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame began recognizing Oklahoma musicians annually in 1997. For more  about the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and Museum visit http://oklahomamusichalloffame.com