Blues-rocker, storyteller Billy Joe Green channels rage into art

After spending more than a decade in a residential school, musician Billy Joe Green has spent his life channelling his trauma into his songs, using them to heal while spreading awareness about the injustices Indigenous Peoples have faced.

After decades of sharing his story through music, Green will continue to spread the word at Zhoonguweh nuhgaamwin, a free concert Sunday at The Forks to honour National Indigenous History Month.

The show is a part of Many Nations One Heartbeat, an event celebrating Indigenous culture that runs until the end of June.

The concert’s name means “the powerful song” and was gifted by knowledge keeper Colin Mousseau. Green will be playing alongside R&B artist Ed Riley and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist the Good Sky Woman.

The blues musician was taken from his parents at age four and was in a residential school for 11 years, which caused a lot of anger and resentment.

“My rage and anger was taken out on my guitar playing, so I had to replace my guitars often because I’d literally wear them out,” says Green, now 75.

His love of music stems from his dad and uncles, who were exceptional guitar players; he first picked up the instrument at eight but didn’t get the hang of it until he was 13.

The residential school often felt like a prison and all the kids were “under lock and key,” Green says.

The one thing that brought him solace during that traumatic time was the music of Elvis Presley, Hank Williams and Johnny Horton that played in the school before the kids went to bed.

In Grade 9, Green caught tuberculosis and spent his last two school years in an Indian hospital.

“I was able to avoid some of that cruelty of the residential school, but the nurses and the doctors were cruel in the hospital, too,” he says.

After leaving the residential school system, he was invited to play with Indigenous rock band the Featherman.

The band was successful, playing all over Winnipeg’s Main Street strip and being invited to play for former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

The band eventually dissolved, and Green spent 25 years battling alcohol addiction. At the time, many people in his community were dealing with suicide or addiction from the trauma brought on by residential schools.

Green used the support he found through cultural ceremonies, sweat lodges and peer groups to get sober, refocusing his energy into music.

“I didn’t want to die drunk,” he says,

Coming up as a musician, he was often overlooked and had to make opportunities for himself, he says.

This still rings true for Chantal Kuegle, who performs as the Good Sky Woman.

“I feel as an Indigenous artist there’s an air of needing to be at a higher level than other artists to get the same opportunities,” says Kuegle.

She often struggled with getting booked and eventually started her own space where she performs on First Fridays, and has begun offering the space for other musicians to play.

She said many bookers may overlook Indigenous artists owing to unconscious bias; large concerts such as Zoonguweh nuhgaamwin can help disrupt those biases.

“By being seen in a public space in the arts at such a high level, that helps to reframe what Indigenous is,” she says.

The concert runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The day kicks off with outdoor yoga at 10 a.m. at Oodena (bring a mat and water bottle), and features an opportunity to meet a team of snow puppies and learn about dog sledding at 1:30 pm. at The Forks’ second-floor event space.

tiago.resko@freepress.mb.ca