Sister, Oh Sister

The new CD from Kenny Mullins featuring 11 new songs in support of Native American and Women’s rights.  This project started out 4 years ago as a request from a Lakota friend to do something for the people back home on the reservation. But in fact, this is the culmination of a journey that began for me back in Wilmington, DE, during the summer and fall of 1972. That was the summer that my social consciousness was awakened, and unbeknownst to my family, I hitchhiked twice, the 140 miles to Washington, DC, to march with my Native brothers and sisters in “The Trail of Broken Treaties,” and with my feminist sisters in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. I may have been the only 16 year old boy in America spurred into action by “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” and “The Female Eunuch.” It was in the fall of 2010, after deep prayer to the Great Spirit, that these songs were given to me, to bring to the people.

My objective is to raise awareness about situations affecting Native Americans and women, and to raise money for organizations that help the victims of domestic violence, both on and off of the reservation, as well as other organizations that serve the needy.

A list of charities to which this project may contribute:
www.nativeamericannyhtsfund/narf.org      www.futuresforourchildren.org
Congleska Inc.     Sacred Circle    Conscious Alliance      Looks for Buffalo Foundation
For more information:  email kenny@kennymullins.com

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP, FAITH, AND SUPPORT.
Mitakuye Oyasin (to all my relations).
Kenny

Listen to "Black Elk Speaks - by Kenny Mullins" below:

Statement of Purpose

This recording/video project is intended to draw attention to America's immoral, illegal, and unacceptable domestic violence situation, both on and off the reservation, and to promote unity, support, acceptance, and respect for all that is feminine in nature, beginning with our original mother, Mother Earth.  I support the rise of female energies now as never before – calm, gentle, kind, nurturing energies. 

I would be very pleased if, in any way, I could help to open a dialogue on domestic violence, its causes and effects.  Along with increased domestic violence, we naturally have an increase in homelessness as the abused flee their abusers.  The increase of women and children homeless is doubling that of men.  This is a serious and grave issue.  Children and veteran homeless are on the rise as well.

 I also wish to draw attention to the very real issues of modern day native peoples.  Indians are not just in the museums and the movies, and only a miniscule number of tribes have casinos.  They may not be the "vanishing race," but they certainly are the "forgotten people."  To see the poorest places in the Western Hemisphere, just behind Haiti, Google Indian reservations, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho.  This is 3^rd world poor, and it's right here in the USA.  This kind of abject poverty breeds despair, suicide, alcohol and drug addiction, and the highest rates of violence and domestic violence.  There are no jobs; there's little hope, and they need help.  The abused all over need help.  But the USA owes these people because they are our own.

And finally, I wish to help keep our hearts, minds, and spirits ever focused on our Mother Earth, giver of life.  Without her bountiful blessings, we cannot survive.  Mother Earth is crying.  She is in great pain.  Abused and exploited, disrespected and denied care.  There is much wisdom to be learned from the indigenous peoples.  Our greedy avarice, mendacity and egos are getting in the way of our very nature and good sense.  We need to heal and protect our Mother Earth, as she nurtures and protects us.  We must work to end her suffering and through this, our own suffering can be tamed.

So the focus of this project is to lend support and a platform for several relevant issues, domestic violence, homelessness, support and advocacy of women's rights, and protection of our Mother Earth, among them through its distribution and promotion, and that of its accompanying materials and videos.  It is also incumbent to give a voice to the voiceless and comfort and a feeling of compassion, caring, and understanding for those caught up in such terrible situations. 

Finally, it is also planned that a significant portion of the proceeds from sales, distribution, and downloads will go to organizations that help the homeless, and those caught up on both sides of domestic violence situations, both on and off the reservations.  Many of those involved in this project are donating their time and talent in support and solidarity.  This will significantly decrease the budget.  Any excess monies will be held in account, or pending further approval, be used for the promotion and furtherance of this project.

 Thank you for your time and consideration.

 Sincerely,
Kenny Mullins

click here to download the lyrics to Sister, Oh Sister.

click here to purchase Sister, Oh Sister.

PAUL ZOLLO GIVES KENNY MULLINS "SISTER, OH SISTER" A RAVE REVIEW IN AMERICAN SONGWRITER MAGAZINE.   8/20/15

Paul Zollo is the author of several books including those on the craft of songwriting.  He is an accomplished songwriter and singer who has collaborated with many songwriters and is currently a journalist who has contributed to Rolling Stone, Variety, and Musician Magazine.

Kenny Mullins
Sister, Oh Sister
Review by Paul Zollo - American Songwriter Magazine

There are great singer-songwriters who write songs of protest and outrage, like Dylan, who felt his job was to write, not to march in protests. Then there are the others, like Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Jackson Browne, who always did both. They wrote the songs for the protesters to sing, and then they showed up themselves, holding signs, fighting for change. Kenny Mullins is in the latter group: he’s a deeply spiritual songwriter who writes songs of conscience and social change, but also does everything he can to effect that change. Songwriters are, by definition, people who feel things very deeply. To write an effective song, there’s no other way to be. Mullins has connected powerfully with the history of Native Americans, and their subsequent slaughter. The destruction of the eons of peace in which they lived here both haunts and informs these songs. The opening cut sings the names of the tribes – every one of which was decimated and ultimately destroyed – and sets it against the chanting of Native Americans. The result is powerful. This isn’t going to be a lightweight trip. “Ghosts of Wounded Knee” begins with a beautiful prayer: “Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth. Hold onto what you believe even if it is a tree that stands by itself.” It is the understanding at the heart of this beautiful album, that every life – and every handful of earth – is sacred. Unlike most modern songwriters, Kenny honors and celebrates the sacred. Not the sacred separated from man, reachable only in church or temple, but the sacred in everyday – the sacred in every soul – the sacred in the mission of the songwriter to effect change. Words cannot contain the spirit which radiates from these songs. Suffice it to say that when people suggest songwriting is limited, and cannot express that which means the most to the enduring and unified spirit of all humans, a songwriter like Kenny Mullins comes along to remind us just how much can be done, and how gracefully. Dylan said that nobody needs any more songs, that the world has enough as it is. But he added – “Unless someone comes along with a pure heart.” That pure heart shines in all of these songs.

Native American Quotes and Prayers

☼ Great Spirit—I want no blood upon my land to stain the grass. I want it all clear and pure, and I wish it so, that all who go through among my people may find it peaceful when they come, and leave peacefully when they go.

                                                                                                            Ten Bears

                                                                                                            Yamparika Comanche

☼ When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle.

Where are our warriors today? Who slew them?

Where are our lands? Who owns them?

What white man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money?

Yet they say I am a thief.

What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian.

What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left unfed? Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?

Is it wrong for me to love my own?

Is it wicked for me because my skin is red?

Because I am a Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived?

Because I would die for my people and my country?

Sitting Bull

Teton Sioux

☼ Angry people want you to see how powerful they are.

Loving people want you to see how powerful you are.

Chief Red Eagle

☼ Listen, now. You cannot sell the ground you walk on.

Crazy Horse

☼ Grandfather, I ask you to bless the white man. He needs your wisdom, your guidance. He’s tried so long to destroy my people and only feels comfortable when given power. Bless them with your wisdom. Show them the peace we understand. Teach them humility, for I feel that they will destroy themselves and their children as they have done so with Mother Earth. I plead, I cry. After all, they are my brother.

                                                                                         (Attribution?)

☼ Great Spirit, help me always to speak the truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak, and to remember the peace that can be found in silence.                                                                                            Cherokee prayer

☼ Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe, even if it is a tree which stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do, even if it is a long way from here.

Hold on to life, even if it si easier letting go.

Hold on to my hand, even when I have gone away from you.

Pueblo Blessing

☼ We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God, as the Catholics and Protestants do. We do not want to learn that.

We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on this earth.

But we never quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that.

Chief Joseph

Nez Perce

☼ We return thanks to our mother, the earth, who sustains us.

We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.

We return thanks to the all the herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.

We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given us their light when the sun is gone.

We return thanks to the sun, which has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.

Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all goodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

Iroquois Prayer

☼ Oh, Great Spirit, have mercy upon us so that we may live with our relatives. Grand Father, hear our voices for we are small. Oh, Great Spirit, see that we come to you in a good way. Help us to see and recognize and understand our place in this great circle of life. Grand Father, we give thanks to you for this day and all the blessings we have received from you.   

Lakota Prayer

& 

☼ I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.

I walk with beauty above me. I walk with beauty below me. o:p>

Beauty has been restored from the East.

Beauty has been restored from the South.

Beauty has been restored from the West.

Beauty has been restored from the North.

Beauty has been restored from the sky-top.

Beauty has been restored earth-bottom.

Beauty has been restored from all around me.              

Navaho Prayer