Blackfeet balladeer Jack Gladstone showcases music from his latest album,"Native Anthropology," Saturday during a free presentation at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. He appears from 2 to 3 p.m.
Co-produced with Philip Aaberg and David Griffith, Gladstone's 15th album is arguably his most elaborate to date. More than 100 people contributed to the album in some capacity, including the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School Honors Choir in Helena and the Glacier High School Echos Honors Choir in Kalispell.
Terrance Guardipee, who Gladstone refers to as "probably the hottest American Indian artist in the country right now," provided cover and liner art.
The album's lush tonal landscape comes courtesy of an eclectic range of instrumentation, including Native American hand flutes and drums, mandolin, bazuki, autoharp, mandolin, Dobro, fiddle, cello, saxophone, organ and shakuhachi flute, along with acoustic guitars, bass and percussion.
In a recent phone interview, Gladstone called the album "the most musically diverse album I've ever done."
The album's subtitle is "Challenge, Choice and Promise in the 21st Century." As the subtitle implies, an overriding theme presented in the recording's 14 tracks is raising the collective consciousness of current societal maladies and, drawing from a traditional Native American world view, relying on the mutual spiritual interconnectedness of humankind and the natural world to overcome challenges in the new century.
"On this planet, especially in this country, we are faced with an enormous challenge to grow up," Gladstone mused, "and to recognize that we are interdependent with the rest of the planet, people, creatures and biosphere. We have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and help our own survival."
