Guitar player Monte Briggs lives in Marty, South Dakota. His mother is from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge, and his father is from the Standing Rock Reservation. He grew up in a musical family and learned to play music from his uncle, who also taught many musicians in the Black Hill area. Monte was passionate about playing music since he was a child. With his brother, Robert Briggs, he plays and tours extensively with their group Still River, which in 2016 regrouped as Stones of Red, a high-energy group with haunting, soulful vocals and musicianship. With the release of their album Arianna Rain, Stones of Red showcase their ability to meld various genres and create vintage sounds with a whole lot of soul. The album was released and immediately gained traction within the blues and blues rock communities. To this day, the track “Arianna Rain” plays on major radio stations across America.
Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/06/2020.

Kevin Locke (Tokaheya Inajin in Lakota, translated as “First to Rise”) is a world famous visionary Hoop Dancer, preeminent player of the Indigenous Northern Plains flute, traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist, and educator. Kevin is Lakota and Anishinaabe. With nearly forty years of performing to hundreds of thousands of people in over ninety countries, Kevin’s concerts and presentations at performing art centers, festivals, schools, universities, conferences, state and national parks, monuments and historic sites, powwows, and reservations number in the hundreds annually. Eighty percent of Kevin’s presentations are performed through the educational system and shared with children of all ages in schools, community centers, and festivals internationally. As a folk artist, he uses his talents to teach others about his specific tribal background. His special joy is working with children on the reservations to ensure the survival and growth of indigenous culture. Kevin’s goal is to empower today’s youth in culture and “raise awareness of the Oneness we share as human beings.” His belief in the unity of humankind is expressed dramatically in the traditional Hoop Dance, which illustrates “the roles and responsibilities that all human beings have within the hoops (circles) of life.” Kevin Locke dedicates his life’s work to Baha’u’llah.
Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/18/2020