Cultural Capital in “Redbone”

The graphic novel “Redbone” juxtaposes the tale of Pat & Lolly Vegas forming their Indigenous rock band with key historical scenes from the American Indian Movement, creating an incisive commentary on the forces informing the cultural capital of Indigenous identity. #Redbone 1/8

For many, Redbone is best known today for the song “Come and Get Your Love,” which was featured prominently in James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” and, in an incisively different context, in the FX series “Reservation Dogs.” 2/8

Founders Pat and Lolly Vegas are mixed-race (this is actually what the word “Redbone” means) musicians from Fresno whose musical stylings influenced the likes of The Doors and Jimi Hendrix (who happens to be of Cherokee descent). 3/8

As the graphic novel makes clear, the band’s deployment of Indigeneity into their performance was as much a question of timing as anything – a reflection of the world’s willingness to accept (or even commodify) Indigenous culture within Rock and Roll. 4/8

It is this same correlation to Settler/Indigenous relations that ultimately leads to the band’s decline with the 1973 Oglala occupation of Wounded Knee and the band’s subsequent protest song “We Were all Wounded at Wounded Knee.” 5/8

Though a massive hit in Europe, the song was not initially released in the US and played a strong part in the band being blacklisted by Bill Graham, a famous/infamous concert promoter of the day. 6/8

The overarching effect of the graphic novel is to present the way in which cultural identity (and Indigenous cultural identity specifically) is interconnected in a broader series of historical and economic forces. 7/8

It offers a look at what Indigenous identity meant to the Vegas brothers, to their audience & to the world at a time when said identity was deeply embroiled in a violent counter-cultural movement. It’s also however, a simple chronicle of a great band in a golden era of Rock. 8/8