The Native American Music Awards (NAMA), commonly known as the Nammys, are an awards program presented annually by The Native American Music Association & Awards, which recognizes outstanding musical achievement among Native Americans. The awards were created in 1998 to offer Native American musicians in the music industry greater exposure and opportunities for mainstream recognition.

The awards show honors national recordings released in the previous calendar year that encompass traditional Native American musical instrumentation and/or lyrics with strong native content or messages. Nominees are submitted and selected by a national Advisory membership, consisting of individuals directly involved in recording, manufacturing, distributing and promoting Native American music nationally. Winners are selected by a combined vote by the national membership and the general public, who can listen to and vote on nominees' tracks on the Native American Music Awards website.

The awards ceremony features live artist performances and 30 awards categories in various traditional and contemporary music genres, as well as Lifetime Achievement Awards and Hall of Fame inductions. The awards' contemporary categories are open to anyone with tribal affiliation. At times the program expands beyond the United States to award indigenous music initiatives originating in parts of Canada, Central America and South America. NAMA also honors music contributions by non-Native artists in one category ("Native Heart").

2010 Awards

The twelfth annual NAMA ceremony took place Friday, November 12, 2010 at the Seneca Niagara Casino

Seneca Niagara Casino

Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel is a casino located in Niagara Falls, New York and was built to compete with Casino Niagara and Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ontario...

 & Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...

. WGWE

WGWE

WGWE is an FM radio station licensed to Little Valley, New York. The station, with a tower atop Fourth Street in the village of Little Valley, broadcasts a classic hits format on 105.9 MHz and operates under the ownership of the Seneca Nation of Indians; the Seneca nation purchased WGWE's...

, the radio station owned and operated by the Seneca nation

Seneca nation

The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...

, is the official broadcaster of the event.

2009 Awards

The following awards were presented at the Eleventh Annual Native American Music Award ceremony on October 3, 2009, at the Seneca Niagara Hotel & Casino in Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...

, NY:

Artist of the Year: Jan Michael Looking Wolf

Jan Michael Looking Wolf

Jan Michael Looking Wolf is a Kalapuya Native American flute player from Grand Ronde, Oregon. With 42 National Award recognitions, Looking Wolf performs across the country sharing flute songs, tribal stories, and the message of One Heart. Jan Michael's latest projects showcase his vocals and song...

 (for The Looking Wolf Project)

Best Blues Recording: Dancing In The Rain by Graywolf Blues Band

Best Compilation Recording: Bitter Tears Sacred Ground by Joanne Shenandoah

Joanne Shenandoah

Joanne Shenandoah is an Iroquois singer, composer and acoustic guitarist. She is a member of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida Nation, of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Her music is a combination of traditional songs and melodies with a blend of traditional and contemporary...

 and Michael Bucher

Best Country Recording: Life Is Calling My Name by Shane Yellowbird

Shane Yellowbird

Shane Yellowbird is a Cree-Canadian country music singer/songwriter from Hobbema, Alberta. In 2007, Yellowbird was named the Aboriginal Entertainer of the Year at the Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards, Chevy Trucks Rising Star of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards, and had one of...

Debut Artist of the Year: Skylar Wolf (for Devil’s Son)

Debut Duo/Group of the Year: Will & Lil Jess (for Reservation Nights)

Best Female Artist: Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo is a Native American poet, musician, and author of ancestry. Known primarily as a poet, Harjo has also taught at the college level, played alto saxophone with a band called Poetic Justice, edited literary journals, and written screenplays. She is a member of the Muscogee Nation and...

 (for Winding Through The Milky Way)

Best Folk Recording: Four Wolves Prophecy by Atsiaktonkie

Flutist of the Year: JJ Kent (for Tate’ Topa Win)

Best Gospel/Inspirational Recording: "Amazing Grace" by Lenape Spirits from Wind Spirit Drum

Group of the Year: Brulé

Brulé (band)

Brulé & AIRO is a multi award winning contemporary Native American group featuring a New Age/Worldbeat sound. Based in South Dakota, they have sold over one million CDs worldwide and have made media appearances with the Live with Regis and Kathie Lee television show, CNN WorldBeat, QVC, and others...

 (for Lakota Piano II)

Best Historical Recording: Native Pride by Thunder Hawk Singers

Best Instrumental Recording: Tango! by Gabriel Ayala

Best Male Artist: Bryan Akipa

Bryan Akipa

-References:...

 (for Songs From The Black Hills)

Best Native American Church Recording: Peyote Ways by Primeaux & Mike

Best New Age Recording: Deep Within by Tony Redhouse

Best Pop Recording: Na Unu Nahai (Shape Shifter) by Apryl Allen

Best Pow Wow Recording: Band of Brothers by Midnite Express

Best Producer: Kelly Parker (for Out Of The Blue)

Best Rap/Hip Hop Recording: All Day All Night by Rezhogs

Record of the Year: Earth Gift by Kevin Locke

Best Rock Recording: Sirensong by Eagle & Hawk

Eagle & Hawk

Eagle & Hawk is a Canadian First Nations rock group, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The core of the band consists of lead guitarist Vince Fontaine, lead singer and guitarist Jay Bodner, bass guitarist Lawrence 'Spatch' Mulhall and drummer Marty Chapman...

Song/Single of the Year: A Change Is Gonna Come by Jana Mashonee

Songwriter of the Year: Samantha Crain

Samantha Crain

Samantha Crain is an American songwriter, musician, and singer, from Shawnee, Oklahoma. She often played as part of the Ramseur Records band, Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers. Also in the band are Jacob Edwards, Andrew Tanz, and Stephen Sebastian...

 (for The Confiscation: A Musical Novella)

Best Spoken Word Recording: "The Great Story From The Sacred Book" from Rain Song by Terry and Darlene Wildman

Best Traditional Recording: It Is A New Day by the Oshkii Giizhik Singers

Video: Movin On by Charly Lowry & Aaron Locklear

Best World Music Recording: Ceremony by Michael Searching Bear

Native Heart: Michael Brant DeMaria (for Siyotanka)

Living Legend: Tommy Allsup

Tommy Allsup

Tommy Allsup is an American musician.He worked with entertainers such as Buddy Holly and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys...

Hall of Fame: Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

2008 Awards

The following awards were presented at the 10th Annual Native American Music Awards ceremony:

Artist of the Year: Jim Boyd

Jim Boyd (musician)

Jim Boyd is a singer/songwriter, actor and member of The Jim Boyd Band on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington. Boyd has performed in several groups, including XIT, Greywolf, and Winterhawk....

Best Blues Recording: Deep Downtown by Jimmy Wolf

Best Compilation Recording: Old Style Round Dance Songs

Best Country Recording: No Lies by Tracy Bone

Debut Artist of the Year: Cheryl Bear

Debut Group of the Year: Injunuity

Best Female Artist: Nicole

Best Folk Recording: Where the Green Grass Grows by The Crow Girls

Flutist of the Year: Jan Michael Looking Wolf

Jan Michael Looking Wolf

Jan Michael Looking Wolf is a Kalapuya Native American flute player from Grand Ronde, Oregon. With 42 National Award recognitions, Looking Wolf performs across the country sharing flute songs, tribal stories, and the message of One Heart. Jan Michael's latest projects showcase his vocals and song...

Best Gospel/Inspirational Recording: Precious Memories by The Cherokee National Youth Choir

The Cherokee National Youth Choir

The Cherokee National Youth Choir was created in part by Chad "Corntassel" Smith, the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. It consists of youth of Cherokee descent who sing gospel music in the Cherokee language. The directors are Mary Kay Henderson and Kathy Sierra. The choir has sung at various...

Group of the Year: Native Roots

Best Historical Recording: Chief Seattle Speaks 1854 by Red Hawk

Best Instrumental Recording: Mirror Lake by Golaná

Best Male Artist: Edmund Bull

Best Native American Church Recording: New Beginning by Janelle Turtle

Best New Age Recording: Homeland Security by Carroll Medicine Crow

Best Pop Recording: Phoenix by Fara Palmer

Best Pow Wow Recording: Hear the Beat by the Blackfoot Confederacy

Best Producer: Adrian Brown, Tim Sampson, Jonathon Joss, Charles Button

Best Rap/Hip Hop Recording: Native American Hustle by Dago Braves

Record of the Year: (Silence) is a Weapon by Blackfire

Blackfire (band)

Blackfire is a Navajo traditionally-influenced, high-energy, politically-driven musical group composed of three siblings: two brothers and a sister...

Song/Single of the Year: Broken Dreams by Nightshield

Songwriter of the Year: Star Nayea

Best Spoken Word Recording: The Storytellers by Ken Quiet Hawk

Best Traditional Recording: Traditional Navajo Shoe Songs by Gilbert Begay Sr

Best Short Form Music Video: "The Enlightened Time" by Jana

Jana (Native American singer)

Jana Mashonee is a singer, songwriter and actress. She is Lumbee and Tuscarora, originally from Robeson County, North Carolina, currently residing near New York City, in Greenwich, CT...

Best Long Form Video: Live at Mt. Rushmore: Concert for Reconciliations of Cultures by Brulé and AIRO

Brulé (band)

Brulé & AIRO is a multi award winning contemporary Native American group featuring a New Age/Worldbeat sound. Based in South Dakota, they have sold over one million CDs worldwide and have made media appearances with the Live with Regis and Kathie Lee television show, CNN WorldBeat, QVC, and others...

Best World Music Recording: Celebrate by Native Roots

Native Heart: Ed Stasium, producer for (Silence) is a Weapon

Lifetime Achievement Awards and Hall of Fame inductions

Another feature of the Native American Music Awards is the Lifetime Achievement Awards and Hall of Fame inductions:

Hall of Fame inductions

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

(1998)

Buddy Red Bow (1998)

Hank Williams (1999)

Jim Pepper

Jim Pepper

Jim Pepper was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and singer of Native American ancestry.-Biography:...

(2000)

Crystal Gayle

Crystal Gayle

Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...

(2001)

Kitty Wells

Kitty Wells

Ellen Muriel Deason , known professionally as Kitty Wells, is an American country music singer. Her 1952 hit recording, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts, and turned her into the first female country star...

(2002)

Doc Tate Nevaquaya (2006)

Link Wray

Link Wray

Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer....

(2007)

Redbone

Redbone (band)

Redbone is a Native American rock group that was most active in the 1970s. They reached the Top 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974 with the million-selling gold-certified single, "Come and Get Your Love".-History:...

(2008)

Rickey Medlocke

Rickey Medlocke

Rickey Medlocke is an American musician best known as the frontman/guitarist for the southern rock band Blackfoot and, more recently, as a guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd...

of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...

/Blackfoot

Blackfoot (band)

Blackfoot is a Southern rock musical ensemble from Jacksonville, Florida organized during 1970. Though they are primarily a Southern rock band, they were known also as a hard rock act....

 (2008)

Janice Marie Johnson of A Taste of Honey

A Taste of Honey (band)

A Taste of Honey was the name of an American recording act, formed in 1971 by associates Perry Kibble and Donald Ray Johnson. In 1978 they had one of the best known chart-toppers of the disco era, "Boogie Oogie Oogie"...

 (2008)

Felipe Rose

Felipe Rose

Felipe Ortiz Rose is a founding member of the disco group the Village People, in which he is the Native American. His mother is a Puerto Rican and his father is a Native American .-Early years:...

of Village People

Village People

Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics....

 (2008)

Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

(2009)

Lifetime Achievement Awards

Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...

 (1998)

Rita Coolidge

Rita Coolidge

Rita Coolidge is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American vocalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's Pop, Country, Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts.-Career:...

 (1999)

Tom Bee

Tom Bee

Tom Bee is the CEO and Founder of , the first Native American owned record label.Adopted at birth, Tom Bee was born and raised in the reservation border town of Gallup, New Mexico...

 of XIT

XIT (band)

XIT is a Native American rock band that released two albums in the 1970s on the Motown label, and regrouped in the 1990s as a new and different group under Tom Bee. They performed a 30th anniversary reunion concert and released a DVD, XIT: Without Reservation, in 2002.-History:XIT was originally...

 (2000)

R. Carlos Nakai

R. Carlos Nakai

Raymond Carlos “R.” Nakai is a Native American flautist of Navajo/Ute heritage.-Biography:Born Ray Carlos Nakai, in Flagstaff, Arizona, he released his first album, Changes, in 1983...

 (2001)

John Densmore

John Densmore

John Paul Densmore is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the drummer of the rock group The Doors.-Early life and The Doors:Born in Los Angeles, Densmore attended Santa Monica City College and Cal...

 (2003)

Tiger Tiger (2007)

Joanne Shenandoah

Joanne Shenandoah

Joanne Shenandoah is an Iroquois singer, composer and acoustic guitarist. She is a member of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida Nation, of the Haudenosaunee Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Her music is a combination of traditional songs and melodies with a blend of traditional and contemporary...

 (2008)

Bill Miller

Bill Miller (musician)

Bill Miller is a Native American singer/songwriter of Mohican heritage. He was born on the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation, near Shawano in northern Wisconsin....

 (2008)

Stevie Salas

Stevie Salas

Stevie Salas is a guitarist known for his work on George Clinton's albums, his collaborations with Koshi Inaba of B'z, and Hardware. He was in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, providing the fingerwork for George Carlin's guitar solo....

 (2009)

John Trudell

John Trudell

John Trudell is a Native American-Mexican author, poet, actor, musician, and former political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz...

 (Living Legend, 1998)

Navajo

Navajo people

The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...

 Code talker

Code talker

Code talkers was a term used to describe people who talk using a coded language. It is frequently used to describe 400 Native American Marines who served in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages...

s (Living Legend, 1999)

The Neville Brothers

The Neville Brothers

The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art , Charles , Aaron , and Cyril The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in...

 (Living Legend, 2001)

Floyd Red Crow Westerman

Floyd Red Crow Westerman

Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman, also known as Kanghi Duta was a Sioux musician, political activist and actor. After establishing a career as a country music singer, later in his life, he became a leading actor depicting Native Americans in American films and television. He is sometimes credited simply...

 (Living Legend, 2002)

Tommy Allsup

Tommy Allsup

Tommy Allsup is an American musician.He worked with entertainers such as Buddy Holly and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys...

 (Living Legend, 2009)

Past honorees

Past recipients of Nammy awards include: Jana

Jana (Native American singer)

Jana Mashonee is a singer, songwriter and actress. She is Lumbee and Tuscarora, originally from Robeson County, North Carolina, currently residing near New York City, in Greenwich, CT...

,
Notah Begay III

Notah Begay III

Notah Ryan Begay III is an American professional golfer. He is the only full-blooded American Indian golfer on the PGA Tour. He is currently an analyst with the Golf Channel.-Amateur career:...

 (Thorpe Sports Award),
Black Lodge Singers

Black Lodge Singers

The Black Lodge Singers of White Swan, Washington are a Native American northern drum group led by Kenny Scabby Robe, of the Blackfeet Nation. The Black Lodge Singers are largely drawn from his twelve sons...

,
Jim Boyd

Jim Boyd (musician)

Jim Boyd is a singer/songwriter, actor and member of The Jim Boyd Band on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington. Boyd has performed in several groups, including XIT, Greywolf, and Winterhawk....

,
Brulé

Brulé (band)

Brulé & AIRO is a multi award winning contemporary Native American group featuring a New Age/Worldbeat sound. Based in South Dakota, they have sold over one million CDs worldwide and have made media appearances with the Live with Regis and Kathie Lee television show, CNN WorldBeat, QVC, and others...

,
Pura Fé

Pura Fé

Pura Fé is a singer-songwriter, poet, musician, artist and social activist. She founded the first native women's a cappella trio, Ulali, and created a style and genre that blends traditional Native American music with contemporary musical styles...

,
Cozad Singers

Cozad Singers

The Cozad Singers are a Kiowa drum group from Anadarko, Oklahoma. The group was founded by Leonard Cozad, Sr. in the 1930s, and consists of Leonard, his sons, grandsons, and other members of the family. Cozad, as they are commonly known, are southern style pow-wow and gourd drum, and have...

,
Joseph Fire Crow,
Indigenous

Indigenous (band)

Indigenous is an American blues-rock group that came to prominence in the late 1990s. The band originally consisted of two brothers, Mato Nanji , Pte , along with their sister, Wanbdi , and their cousin, Horse .Their music is heavily influenced by guitarist...

,
Litefoot

Litefoot

Gary Paul Davis , better known by his stage name Litefoot, is a Native American rapper and the founder of the Red Vinyl record label. He also portrayed Little Bear in the movie The Indian in the Cupboard.-Personal life:...

,
Buggin Malone,
Robert Mirabal

Robert Mirabal

Robert Mirabal is a Pueblo musician and Native American flute player and maker from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.His flutes are world renowned and have been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of the American Indian...

,
Pamyua

Pamyua

Pamyua is a Yupik musical group from Anchorage in the U.S. state of Alaska.-General information:Pamyua's music is self-described as "tribal funk" and "world music"...

,
Red Earth

Red Earth (band)

Red Earth is a 6-10 piece Native American Rock band from Albuquerque, New Mexico who has released three independent albums.-General information:...

,
Martha Redbone

Martha Redbone

Martha Redbone is a musician of part Shawnee, Choctaw and African-American descent. She has won awards for her contemporary Native American music. Her music is a mix of rhythm and blues, and soul music influences, fused with elements of traditional Native American music...

,
Keith Secola

Keith Secola

Keith Secola is an award-winning figure in contemporary Native American music. He is an Ojibwa originally from Minnesota.Keith Secola plays guitar, flute, and also sings. In 1982 he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in American Indian Studies. He has a band that's had the...

,
and Shadowyze.