Jan 05, 2023
By Mark Redfern
Photography by Nate Lemuel of Darlisted Photography
Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Swinomish Indian Tribal Community-based singer/songwriter/guitarist Katherine Paul) is releasing a new album, The Land, The Water, The Sky, on February 10, 2023 via Saddle Creek. Now she has shared its third single, “Nobody,” via a music video. Evan Benally Atwood filmed and edited the video. Watch it below.
Paul had this to say about “Nobody” in a press release: “When I was growing up, I didn’t have very many Native role models to look to on TV or the radio. It was within my own community that I found inspiring role models through our elders and our community leaders. With Native representation in music and television slowly growing, I often ask myself where I stand within representation in music and how I want to be seen. This song is about the relationship I have with my own representation in music.”
Of the video, she adds: “We see the love that Indigenous families have and the laughter that brings us together. Evan’s work in capturing the meaning of kinship is incredible.”
In October Black Belt Eagle Scout shared the album’s closing track, “Don’t Give Up,” which was one of our Songs of the Week. When the album was announced in November, Black Belt Eagle Scout shared its second single, opening track “My Blood Runs Through This Land,” via a music video for the song (which was #1 on our Songs of the Week list).
The Land, The Water, The Sky is the follow-up to 2019’s At the Party With My Brown Friends, also released via Saddle Creek.
In 2020, Paul returned to her ancestral lands from Portland during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I created The Land, The Water, The Sky to record and reflect upon my journey back to my homelands and the challenges and the happiness it brought,” she said in a previous press release.
Read our interview with Black Belt Eagle Scout on her debut album, Mother of My Children, along with our 2018 politically themed interview with her.
Black Belt Eagle Scout was featured on our Covers of Covers compilation, which came out in 2022 via American Laundromat.
Black Belt Eagle Scout Tour Dates:
Fri. Feb. 10 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater
Sat. Feb. 11 – Eugene, OR @ Soreng Theater
Wed. Feb. 15 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Fri. Feb. 24 – Manchester, UK @ Night & Day
Sat. Feb. 25 – London, UK @ Moth Club
Mon. Feb. 27 – Paris, FR @ Le Pop Up
Tue. Feb. 28 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique – Witloof Bar
Wed. March 1 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Upstairs
Thu. March 2 – Copenhagen, DK @ Stengade
Sat. March 4 – Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown
Sun. March 5 – Berlin, DE @ Badehaus
Thu. April 6 – Iowa City, IA, @ Mission Creek Festival