Mato Nanji’s always provided the heartbeat of the band Indigenous—along with the warm dusty voice and the soaring, spirited guitar fireworks that have earned the group from South Dakota’s Nakota Nation a place among roots rock’s elite. But with the emotionally charged and musically visceral Broken Lands, the band’s second album on Vanguard Records, Nanji makes a transformation from sparkplug to visionary.
From the group’s beginning in his parents’ basement through the release of 2006’s Vanguard Records debut, Chasing the Sun, Indigenous was a family band. But after some time, his family went on a separate musical path. “Everybody decided to go their own way, leaving me to carry on Indigenous,” Nanji says. “Playing with my family for 10 years was a lot of fun, but it was time to grow.”
So Nanji recruited guitarist Kris Lager, keyboardist Jeremiah Weir, bassist Aaron Wright, and drummer John Fairchild to tour behind Chasing the Sun. They also appear on Broken Lands. It’s Nanji’s big-toned guitar on the new album’s dozen songs about romance and destiny that continues to demand comparisons to his idols Stevie Ray Vaughan, Los Lobos, Jimi Hendrix, and Carlos Santana.
Speaking for Indigenous, Mato Nanjy said:
I love the way Dean Markley strings sound and feel. I never leave home without them, whether I ’m taking my electric guitar or acoustic.
Mato Nanji uses Dean Markley Nickel Steel Electric in custom gauges 13, 15, 19, 28, 38, 58.
Be sure to visit the Indigenous website at:
www.IndigenousMusic.net or
www.FriendsOfLive.com.
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