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Tracer Rounds with Veteran Robin Hairston of Blue Mountain Tribe · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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MBR giving veterans a voice. And welcome back to the Trace
1:09
Around show. And I'm Terry, your host and
1:12
where you are on MBR, where we're giving veterans a voice.
1:14
And tonight's voice is to Robin Harrison of the Blue Mountain
1:18
Tribe. Welcome, Robin.
1:20
Well thank you for having me, I'm so excited.
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I love Trace Arounds. I think back on the day when
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we're on the range and we got to shoot the tracer rounds at night
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and that was the coolest thing to watch those rounds go out to
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your target. So that has a great meaning.
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And we were supposed to put in, remember this one regular
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bullet, one tracer round, one regular bullet, one tracer
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round. I loaded my magazine with trace
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surrounds, all trace surrounds. And it was so cool.
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And my, the gunny looked at me like, what are you doing?
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What are you doing? You know, I got my butt chewed
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out for that. But it was such a beautiful
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sight. But it was worth it, right?
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Yeah, it was well worth it, Yeah.
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That's funny. I love to see tracers, too.
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We used to be on the range and we do it during the summer when
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it's really hot in Oklahoma and we shoot off the tracers and
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then all of a sudden you'd see a fire start and so we'd have to
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call. Remember that?
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Yeah, we had fire to. Put out the fires.
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It's like, maybe it's not such a good idea in the heat of summer
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to fire tracers because they're going to start something on fire
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because it's. We had a fire every time.
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Yeah, we had a fire. So, so excited.
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So excited to be here. Well, you know, for the guests
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that haven't seen you before and don't really know your story as
2:44
far as military wise, do you want to kind of tell us when you
2:48
join and what branches you join and maybe some highlights of
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your service? I, I was kind of forced to join
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the Marine Corps. This goes back in 1974 and I got
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in trouble. And other, other listeners that
3:07
are old men like me probably know this, that they actually
3:11
gave me an ultimatum that you either go to jail because I was
3:16
a gang member. I was in gangs, I was a
3:19
president of a gang. And I got arrested, and they
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said, OK, Robin, we're going to give you a choice.
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Either go to jail for six months or you could go in the Marine
3:31
Corps. And I came from a broken home,
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and I never had a family or anything like that.
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So I thought the Marine Corps be a good thing to join, to help me
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straighten out my life. So I said, yeah, I'll go in the
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Marine Corps. And oh boy.
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So the recruiter was right there.
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So I went in the Marine Corps in 1974 and my MOS, but this is
4:00
going to blow your mind. I went in open contract.
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I didn't. I didn't have an MOS.
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They were going to give me the MOS that they felt fit for me.
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So what do they do to me? I'm a gang member.
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I'm in trouble all the time. They said Hairston OK.
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They said OK in boot camp after everybody was done, graduated
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everything else, they said Jones O 311 infantry so and so
4:28
infantry, so and so infantry so and so infantry, Hairston
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Military police. I said what?
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No, I didn't say. I was thinking to myself, I
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wouldn't say what to the drill instructor, Right, Right.
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And they said military police, and the reason why they did that
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is they took somebody with a criminal mind and they made them
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a cop. So they sent me to military
4:58
police school. I graduated military police
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school and they sent me to Quantico, Virginia.
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And I did my time in Quantico, Virginia.
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I did 10 years in the Marine Corps.
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And at the end they made me a cross country chaser and a cross
5:17
country chaser. I don't think they have those
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anymore. But we would go to different
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States and cities and pick up military people that have been
5:27
put in civilian jails and pick them up and bring them back to
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Leavenworth to serve time in a military installation.
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Oh wow. Yeah, so I got out of the Marine
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Corps. I was done with it.
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Couldn't get promoted when your military police cooks were
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getting promoted, transportation was getting promoted, everybody
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was getting promoted. But the military police.
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The cutting score was astronomically high.
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So I was a corporal and couldn't get Sergeant.
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I said hell with this, I'm getting out.
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I went out. So I got out and I was never
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deployed while I was in the Marine Corps.
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I did all my time, military police, Quantico, and then
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traveling all over the country and picking up prisoners and
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very dangerous job. Very, very dangerous.
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Some of these guys are Vietnam vets that killed people and I
6:28
had to go pick them up. We handcuffed them.
6:31
We couldn't take them on airplanes.
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So all our transportation was trains and buses, and so we had
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handcuffed them. We had our 40 fives on us and we
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had to bring him back. So it was a very dangerous job.
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I said I'm done with this. I love the core, but I'm done.
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So I got out and I've always had a longing and a love for the
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military. I wanted to get back with the
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military, but I wanted to ease your job.
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I didn't want to go back to the Marine Corps and get your butt
7:04
whipped. So I signed up for the National
7:06
Guard and so I got my National Guard and so I kicked back.
7:14
I'm thinking it's kicked back, you know, one week and a month
7:17
and then AT and blah, blah, blah.
7:20
So lo and behold, is I get deployed more times in the
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friggin National Guard than I did active duty.
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I got we got deployed to the, the, the earthquake in
7:37
California, Northridge, Rodney King riots, really, really scary
7:43
stuff. I bet they put it the cities
7:47
were burning. The, the whole Los Angeles was
7:50
being torn apart. So they called in the National
7:53
Guard and this, this is so funny that so we're getting on the
7:59
buses to go down to LA to support the LAPD and the supply
8:04
Sergeant. We have all our magazines ready
8:07
and our M sixteens and raw trained.
8:09
We've been training for two weeks with bayonets and so on.
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And so we're getting on the bus and they're handed on our ammo.
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They hand US1 bullet. They gave US1 bullet for our
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magazines. And I said, what the heck is
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this? That's a war zone down there.
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We're going down with all these criminals and people burning the
8:31
city. One bullet.
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The general puts one bullet. So we all get on the bus and
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we're thinking one bullet. So we get down there and there's
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the Crips and the Bloods and everything else.
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And come on, man. National the middle, we got more
8:50
bullets than you want to kick your butts.
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So we all, all of us said, no, we need bullets.
8:58
This this is a war zone. It was a war zone in our own
9:02
city. We were going to war with
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American citizens. And so we demanded that they
9:11
give us full magazines and an extra magazine.
9:14
So finally they said, yeah, let's give them the bullets.
9:19
So then after that's all over, we're we're down there for four
9:24
months, bringing peace to the city, gunfights, scooting at
9:28
people. We had barricades where cars
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would come flying down and try to break the barricade.
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And we shot the car, but we didn't shoot to kill anybody.
9:39
We shot to dismain the the vehicle, you know, hit the
9:43
radiator on the front end and was much firepower as we could.
9:47
We never shot to kill anybody or to hurt anybody because these
9:52
are Americans. You know, it was a different
9:55
situation then we would have did that.
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So after that deployment, I get activated to Katrina, Hurricane
10:06
Katrina, and then so they activated my unit again.
10:11
We go home, we go to our jobs, here comes Katrina.
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We need volunteers first. So I volunteered because I've
10:21
seen what was going on and I felt empathy and sympathy for
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what I seen. And so I was on the 1st.
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We were the first boots on the ground for Katrina.
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And that, you guys, was just horrific, horrific it.
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Was bad. Yeah, we were in wastewater.
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We were there to save lives and crowd control and patrol the
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streets while the streets were all full of mud.
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And so we had to we had my platoon was set up for body
11:03
recovery that we actually it was most horrible.
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So I got I got severe PTSD from my deployment for Katrina.
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Yeah, really, really bad PTSTI don't want to get into all the
11:20
the horrific things, the bodies and all that stuff that I had
11:24
experienced because I don't want to go back there.
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No. And yeah, so it was really,
11:31
really bad what we seen and what we did there.
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Then I'm thinking to myself, you dummy, you, you join the
11:40
National Guard for kickback and then Desert Storm happens and
11:46
then we get activated for Jesuit storm for Kuwait.
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And we went to Kuwait, never seen any combat.
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We were just there to protect Kuwait.
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So that's my experience with the military.
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So what's really ironic is the Marine Corps, no activations go
12:12
in the National Guard thinking that it's going to be easy and
12:15
go get the extra money and drink beer with the guys.
12:19
And I heard all these stories. Yeah, all we do on AT is drink
12:22
beer. And yeah, it was nothing like
12:27
that. Yeah, it definitely was not your
12:28
experience, was it? Yeah, so I spent 20 years total
12:34
in the military. I'm a 100% disabled veteran
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after 20 years in the military, it could really, really mess you
12:45
up. You know, I had hip replacement
12:49
surgery, PTSD, loss of hearing and everything else.
12:56
But yeah, so I love this country.
12:59
I love the military and I'm so proud that I was able to do and
13:05
what I was able to do. But I wanted to after 911, I
13:10
wanted to go to combat. I wanted to fight and just
13:17
protect our country. But it doesn't always happen
13:20
that way, right? So yeah.
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Well, while you're in Louisiana for Katrina, you, you had a
13:31
revelation, didn't you, about learning the harmonica.
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Yeah, OK, Good. You got a good memory.
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Oh, my goodness gracious. This was no, this was OK.
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I was a cross country chaser and I was going, we were going to
13:54
New Orleans pick up a prisoner. And I picked the prisoner up in
14:03
New Orleans at a civilian jail. And they all talk like this.
14:08
They have these real strange accents.
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What are you here for, boy? I'm, I'm here to pick up a
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prisoner of so and so. Here's my name, Sergeant.
14:16
Here's blah, blah, blah. And they gave me the prisoner.
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So we're walking through downtown New Orleans and there's
14:27
a real to go to the bus stop. Well, there is a real bad alley,
14:35
really bad, infested with drugs and criminals and big gang
14:41
bangers, everything else. And we're getting close to miss
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my bus. And so the only way I would miss
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my bus is to go through this alley.
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And people are saying don't go through the alley, you got to
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walk around the whole city block.
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And I said, no, if I do that, I'm going to miss my bus.
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And I got a prisoner here. I don't know what to do.
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I have to go through this alley. So I said we're going through
15:05
the alley. And the prisoner said I want to
15:07
go. Corporal Harrison, I don't want
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to go. I said we have to go, let's take
15:11
me. Back to jail I don't want.
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To go, yeah, take me back to jail.
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So I, I said I got a 45, let's just go through and do this.
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So we go through the alley and I have his hand.
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He's got his handcuffs, and I got his hand on the handcuffs at
15:27
all times. And as we're walking down the
15:30
alley, you could actually see people stumbling down the alley
15:35
and everything else. And I was scared.
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I was petrified. I thought, what I get myself
15:40
into, right? So we get halfway down the alley
15:45
and I hear the sound of harmonica, and it's the most
15:51
beautiful sound that you could imagine.
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And we got closer and closer. I looked down and there was a
15:59
black man laying in Phil, missing an eye, was all
16:04
infected. And he was playing the most
16:08
beautiful harmonica that you could imagine, the most
16:13
beautiful harmonica that you could imagine.
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And so I looked at him and he was just making it cry.
16:24
He was crying and he was making the Vermonica cry the most
16:29
beautiful sound you can imagine. And I looked down at him and it
16:35
just inspired me. So I walk, we walk down, down
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the alley. We made it through and guess was
16:45
that that at the end of the alley was a music store.
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At the end of the alley before the bus stop was a music store.
16:55
And I walked in, we walked in the music store and I said, do
16:58
you have harmonicas here? And they said yeah, we got a key
17:01
of C harmonica. And I said, OK, I'll take it.
17:07
So I bought the harmonica and I started.
17:12
We got on the bus, a Greyhound bus, and I started playing it.
17:17
I drove those people crazy that they wanted to jump out the
17:21
windows. The prisoner wanted to go back
17:23
to jail. It was horrible.
17:26
To like put him out at the next stop.
17:28
We don't want to listen anymore. It was really, really horrible.
17:32
So I practiced in practice, got him back to where he's supposed
17:39
to go, went home, took the harmonica and I practiced every
17:44
single day in the bathroom because I was married at the
17:49
time. My wife said that is so
17:51
horrible. That is so horrible.
17:53
So I go in the bathroom and practice in the bathroom and the
17:57
acoustics are really cool because you know the echo in the
18:01
bathroom. So I practice and practice and
18:04
practice and started getting good at it.
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So one day I went to watch a band play and I had my harmonica
18:17
with me. And as the band was playing, I
18:19
picked up my harmonica and I just started playing at the bar.
18:24
And then their manager heard me and he said to the band, hey,
18:30
there's a harmonica player here, have them come up and play with
18:32
you. So he said, hey, do you want to
18:35
come up and jam with a band? And I said, well, no, he goes,
18:39
no, go ahead, do it. So I went up there and I played
18:44
and I rocked the house, literally rocked, rocked the
18:49
house and people went crazy. So then I knew I had a talent.
18:55
And from then on, if we have gone so, so far in the music
19:02
industry, if you look up Blue Mountain Tribe, we started out a
19:06
small bar band. And then me being Native
19:11
American, I said, well, what about starting the band with all
19:17
Native Americans and play Blues rock?
19:22
And so I went around, I got a bunch of musicians.
19:25
I found a bunch of musicians that were Native American.
19:29
We started playing and people started going crazy.
19:35
An all Native American, all Native American Blues rock band.
19:39
They thought we would come up and play, you know, the flute
19:42
and the drum. Yeah, hey, yeah, hey, hey, yeah,
19:45
yeah, yeah. Hey, hey.
19:47
And we walk up there and say, how you people doing out there?
19:51
Are you ready to rock'n'roll? I said, you ready to
19:53
rock'n'roll? And they're like, what?
19:55
And then we just go and just start rocking it.
20:00
Spread like wildfire. So we are three time winners
20:06
after Native American Music Awards.
20:09
Our music has been played all over the country.
20:13
We're numerous interviews, including you.
20:20
Thank you so much. This is my favorite one by the
20:22
way. Thank you because you and I are
20:24
so close. That's right.
20:26
And so we just won second place at the Intercontinental Music
20:34
Awards. And that's the best bands,
20:38
musicians from all over the world, not just United States,
20:42
all over the world, 500 entries. And we got second place.
20:48
I, I sent you the trophy. Yes.
20:51
A picture of the trophy. You do.
20:52
So that was a great honor. Since then, Terry, we my my
20:56
phone's been ringing off the hook.
20:59
And there it is. Oh, you.
21:01
Oh good, you got it. I do, yes.
21:04
Oh God, you're so cool. Yeah, that's it.
21:09
Yeah, Top Finalist of the Year, International Intercontinental
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Music Awards, 2026. Good.
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So good. Yeah.
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So I'm so proud of it, Ben. After we won that, now we'll be
21:23
playing at the the Hard Rock Casino in Bakersfield.
21:27
We're going to be headlining it for their grand opening and
21:31
Native American Heritage Month. That is awesome.
21:36
It's been a a a great Rd. from a military person to a
21:41
professional musician known all over the world is a a great
21:46
great accomplishment. It definitely is.
21:50
And so it all started, though, with hearing that harmonica in
21:53
New Orleans all those years ago. Or did it start before that?
21:56
No, no. No.
21:59
And so did you learn to play any other instruments, or was it
22:02
always the harmonica? And then you decided you were
22:06
going to sing too, because at first you didn't want to sing,
22:08
right. You were looking for singers
22:10
and. Then you just.
22:11
Didn't quite sound the way you wanted them to, and so then you
22:15
decided, well, maybe it's me that needs to be doing this.
22:18
Right. I never ever liked my voice.
22:22
I always hired on other singers. I got 1 to play harmonica.
22:29
But what happened with that was lead vocalist, front man have
22:34
such big egos. They were so hard to work with.
22:39
And I kept, I fired at least 10, Oh my goodness, 10 vocalist.
22:45
Oh, we had this one guy. He wouldn't practice unless he
22:49
had a mirror that he can stand in front of what we were
22:52
practicing. And then they would always
22:54
argue. There's always a problem with
22:56
them. Really, really big egos.
22:59
Oh my. Goodness.
23:00
So I was one day I was just humming around, singing and a
23:08
great musician named Tom B from Exit.
23:12
They were a big, big Native American band.
23:14
Heard me. And he said, Robin, I want you
23:17
to do something. Well, not like that.
23:21
Indians talk like Indians talk like this.
23:24
Robin, I want you to do something.
23:28
Our chief, Robin, I want you to. They talk real slow.
23:33
And they always tell me you talk too fast.
23:37
You talk like a white man. I saw I was brought up by the
23:41
white man. I was brought up in white
23:42
schools. You talk too fast.
23:46
So anyways, he heard me sing and he said you, you take over, I
23:52
want you to take over as the lead vocalist.
23:56
And I was literally petrified. I didn't like my voice, but
24:01
people built I sing from the heart and they're like that.
24:05
I was real low and dirty and everything else.
24:10
So I just started singing and people started digging it.
24:14
And so now I'm the harmonica player and the lead vocalist for
24:20
the band. And your son Caleb plays guitar.
24:25
Caleb is the lead guitar player and he's phenomenal.
24:30
He's phenomenal. When when Caleb was 8 years old,
24:34
he was diagnosed with extreme autism by the doctors.
24:38
They called me in and they said, Robin, your son has autism, will
24:43
never amount to anything. You have to take care of him.
24:47
He'll be happy to take all these medications and everything else.
24:53
And it really broke my heart because I've always been this
24:55
big, tough marine and musician and everything else.
25:00
So it was hard when he's 8 years old to be diagnosed with autism.
25:06
So one day I had an old guitar with two strings on it in the
25:11
front room and Caleb came over and he grabbed the guitar and he
25:18
picked it up and there's only two strings on it.
25:22
And he starts playing the song Ozzy Osbourne on this two
25:28
strings. Don, Don, Don, Don, Don, Don.
25:34
And I said, Caleb, where did you learn to play guitar?
25:40
And he said, Dad, I didn't, I just heard that on the radio.
25:44
We had heard that song on the radio on the way home.
25:49
And he picked up the guitar and played it on 2 strings.
25:55
And I said, I went back to the psychologist and he said he's
25:58
more than likely a savant. And I said, what's the savant?
26:02
And they said somebody that has a mental disability that excels
26:07
in music or MAP is a certain part of their brain.
26:11
And they said work with him. So I went and got him a regular
26:15
guitar. And I said, Caleb, I want you to
26:20
here's a chart. And I got a chart of all the
26:23
keys of the guitar. And I said, and it had about 30
26:28
different keys, ABCDA flat blah blah.
26:32
And I said, if you learn three of these keys, I'll give you
26:37
$100. Well, we've been.
26:43
There's a rock star himself there.
26:46
There's Caleb. Caleb, Wait, kid, come here.
26:49
Just come stop real quick. I'm not.
26:52
You don't have to say enough that Caleb's real shy.
26:58
Say hi. To you.
26:59
Hello. Can you see her?
27:01
Who's this? Yeah, that's faced around here.
27:04
Oh. Hi.
27:04
Hi. Yeah.
27:07
Yeah. OK.
27:08
You're good, Caleb. It's nice to see him.
27:13
Yeah, welcome home, son. I can't make dinner because I'm
27:18
on the when I'm get done. OK, I'm sorry for the so we got
27:27
the chart and then Kate within four days, he said Dad, I'm
27:34
ready. I'm ready.
27:36
I learned all the all the keys. I said, you didn't learn all of
27:40
them, did you? He goes, yeah, all of them on
27:41
the chart within three days. Oh my God.
27:44
So I walked in there in the bedroom.
27:47
He grabbed the guitar and said he had his back to the chart.
27:50
And I said play key A. And he played the key of A, play
27:53
key of B, played the key of B and played the whole, every
27:57
single note chart song on that chart for that $100.00.
28:05
So from then on, Dad, yeah, yeah, I was broke at the time
28:11
too. Yeah.
28:15
So I owe you Caleb $100. So after after that, I seen that
28:21
Caleb had a great talent. So we started a band and till
28:27
this day he's considered one of the the greatest league guitar
28:31
players. People come from all over to
28:34
hear Caleb play Wow. Just phenomenal.
28:37
You guys got to listen to every go go to Blue Mountain Tribe.
28:40
We have stuff on YouTube. Go to Blue Mountain Tribe and
28:45
all the leads that you hear are Caleb.
28:49
There's the web address if anybody needs it.
28:52
Yeah. That's amazing.
28:56
That's an amazing story. Isn't it really?
28:58
Yeah. Yeah, some people, you know,
29:01
they, they, they say, well, you have this condition or that
29:04
condition and you'll never go anywhere.
29:06
You'll never do anything. But little do they know, you
29:09
know, they can't say that about everybody because what, what's
29:13
true for one person isn't true for another person.
29:16
And so having him be such a talent and learn how to pick
29:19
something up so quickly, that's utterly amazing.
29:22
And you know, he proved everybody wrong.
29:25
Yeah. And the, the interesting thing
29:28
about that is I'm, I'm getting old now.
29:32
I'm going to be 70 years old. And yeah, next month I'll be 70
29:38
years old. So I moved, I was the front man
29:41
when we when we set up on stage, I was always in the front and
29:46
Caleb will be in the back. And then Cooper Hawk or bass
29:49
player would be in the back. And so I moved Caleb up to the
29:55
front man. So Caleb is now the front man.
29:59
I'm moving to the back and I'm getting Caleb singing now a lot
30:03
of the songs. Oh, wow.
30:05
Yeah, he's singing a lot of the songs.
30:08
So I'm moving him up in front and I'm Dad's going to move in
30:12
the back. I put on some weight and I'm old
30:18
and he's eye candy and he's got the looks and everything else.
30:22
So yeah, so he, he's going to be the front man.
30:28
I love that. That's a great story.
30:30
I mean, I, I don't even know what to say.
30:33
I'm pretty speechless. But him to be able to do all
30:36
that in just a very short time, learn the guitar that quickly, I
30:40
mean, that speaks to his intelligence and his ability to
30:45
retain information and to process it and then to, you
30:49
know, do it, you know, do whatever he learns, he can do
30:52
it. That's amazing.
30:53
Yeah, yeah. I'm so proud of him.
30:55
So he lives with me. My wife and I got a doors.
31:01
Thank God she was a monster. I shouldn't say that.
31:05
No, I didn't say that. She was a blessing.
31:08
Yeah, she was a bad girl, but it was his stepmom.
31:13
So we are so happy together that we're here.
31:19
I'm taking care of him and he's got his dad and we're going on
31:23
tour all the time and doing music, music, music, so it's a
31:28
lot of good, exciting stuff. Definitely.
31:32
Well, do you want to play a song?
31:34
Which one do you want to play first?
31:35
Do you want to play Blues, boy Blues?
31:38
Or do you want to play Pray for Our Planet?
31:41
Play Blues Boy, Blues, Blues boy Blues.
31:45
We dedicated to B.B. King and Blues Boy Blues has
31:50
been played all over the country and that's what won the 2nd
31:54
place for the Intercontinental Music Awards.
31:59
That was a song that got us all the accolades.
32:03
So it's been playing at all the Blues stations all over the
32:07
country and that's Blues, Boys, Blues.
32:10
And it plays on military broadcast radio, too.
32:13
Yes. Well, let's play it.
32:15
Let's go to Blues, boy, Blues. They used to call me the Beale
32:20
Street Blues Boy. It's.
35:50
The station where our veterans voices are heard.
35:52
MBR talk. Find us on the web at MB Radio
35:57
dot US. And we're back on the Teresa
36:01
Round Show on military Broadcast Radio, and we're with Robin
36:04
Harrison, and he is with the Blue Mountain Tribe.
36:06
And that was his song, Blues Boy Blues.
36:09
That was awesome. That was great.
36:13
It was good. It definitely was good.
36:16
I love the video too, with those vintage shots of B.B.
36:20
King and all that. That really made the song and
36:23
everything you said just fit perfectly.
36:26
Oh, thank you so much. It's kind words.
36:29
Well, well deserved, well deserved.
36:32
And we got to see you in action with the harmonica.
36:35
And you, you do make that thing scream.
36:38
Oh, thank you, I love it. Guitar too.
36:41
Yeah, that was great. So.
36:44
That was done at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood and that's
36:48
the biggest studio in the world. That's where all the biggest
36:53
musicians go to perform there. So it was a a great honor to be
37:01
able to go to Cherokee Studios Native American Band.
37:07
Playing at a studio with a Native American name.
37:09
Isn't that cool? That is very cool.
37:14
So I know that you wanted to create the Native American band
37:20
and why? Why was it that you wanted to
37:22
create the Native American band? Did you feel like you had
37:25
something to say or represent or or what was the reasoning behind
37:31
the development of the band the way it is?
37:35
Joe, you asked some good questions.
37:38
Yeah, we were watching TV one night and a band came on called
37:46
Exit Reservations on PBS. It was all Native American band,
37:54
so we turned it on. And these guys rock.
37:59
They were all Native Americans, and we were still a bar band at
38:02
the time. They're all Native Americans.
38:05
They played all original music and they sing about their
38:08
culture and history and of Native Americans.
38:12
But they were so powerful, the way they rocked and everything
38:16
else. So when we got up, when the song
38:21
was over, the program was over. Taylor when I said this started
38:25
all Native American band like that, we started the band, we
38:32
tried to figure out a name for it, Blue Mountain.
38:34
We came up with Blue Mountain Tribe and we said we want it to
38:38
be an all Native American band and sing about Native American
38:45
experiences, the history, the tradition, but put it in a Blues
38:52
rockin format. So if you listen to our music,
38:56
it's all, it's all got a, a bluesy type of music to it.
39:01
It does. Yeah.
39:04
Well, so I had found you on the Internet, and so I had tried to
39:08
get a hold of you because I really wanted to interview you
39:10
because I found out you were a veteran and I really loved the
39:13
music. And so I tried to get a hold of
39:14
you. And you're like, I couldn't get
39:16
a hold of you. And I finally got a hold of
39:18
Caleb, and Caleb's like, well, call dad, He'll talk to you.
39:21
And so you had to be convinced to talk to me because you're
39:25
like, yeah, I've done interviews.
39:27
They're not so much fun. I don't think I'm interested.
39:29
And I was like, so disappointed. And then when you said you would
39:33
be on, I was like, oh, I'm so happy because I really enjoy the
39:37
messages that you bring with your songs.
39:39
And I really enjoy the songs. And then I really do love that
39:42
it is a Native American band and that you represent your culture
39:46
while still representing Americana, because Blues is
39:49
Americana as as it can get, as far as I'm concerned.
39:52
Yeah, very much so. And we sing Terry about all our
39:58
music is based on peace, love. And understanding, there is a
40:05
lot of music out there that sings about negative stuff,
40:09
really, really bad stuff. And so our message, Blue
40:13
Mountain Tribes message is we, we want to bring peace, love and
40:18
understanding through our, our music.
40:22
And that's what we do. If you're listening to our our
40:25
music, you'll see that we sing about peaceful things.
40:30
Love, love your neighbor. Pray for our planet.
40:33
That was our biggest hit. Pray for our planet is our, our
40:37
biggest hit. And the chief Arville
40:41
Lookinghorse, who's the biggest chief in the, in the United
40:46
States, called me during the pandemic and all the riots and
40:51
everything else and said, Robin, my brother, that's what he took.
41:00
I want you to write a song about pray for our planet.
41:04
I'm not going to talk like him. I can't talk that slow.
41:08
But still, he said he wanted me to write a song about everything
41:13
bad going on in this world, what we're experiencing through the
41:18
the, the, the pandemic and, and the wars and the riots.
41:24
There was big riots going on back then.
41:28
And so I said, OK, I'll write a song.
41:34
What usually takes a songwriter weeks to write a song?
41:40
You have a paper basket next to you and you're constantly
41:44
throwing writing stuff down. I went out in the backyard after
41:48
he called me and told me we want you to write a song about to
41:53
pray for our planet. That's what I named the song.
41:57
I went out in the backyard and I got my drum and I got my sage
42:05
and I wrote the song. Within 30 minutes, the whole
42:10
song ran back in the house, wrote it down, send it to our
42:15
producer and our manager and our leadership already had the
42:21
Caleb. I got together with Caleb and I,
42:25
I told him how the song goes, it goes.
42:29
And he played on guitar and said, yeah, like that.
42:34
And Caleb wrote all the music for it.
42:36
And I wrote the lyrics. And it turned out to be a
42:40
humongous hit all over the world.
42:43
It was played. It's.
42:46
Definitely a good one. Yeah, yeah.
42:50
So pray for our planet. That was our our number one hit
42:54
and it's a very positive song and it talks about this world is
42:58
messed up and we got to pray for our planet.
43:02
So I think we should play it now that you've talked it up and
43:04
I've talked it up. I think we should play right
43:08
into it. That's right.
43:10
We did. So let's go ahead and play it
43:11
right now here we. Go right on.
43:26
The land is sacred. These words are at the core.
43:30
Of your being. The land is our mother, The
43:33
rivers are blood. Take our land away and we die.
43:39
That is the Indian in. US dies Mary.
43:44
Brave bird. Lakota
48:32
The station where our veterans voices are heard.
48:36
MBR talk. Hey, thanks for supporting our
48:39
channel by watching and listening.
48:41
Find us on the web at MB Radio. Dot and we're back on the Tracer
48:46
Rounds show and we have Robin Harrison and that was his song
48:50
Pray for Our Planet, him and his band Blue Mountain Tribe.
48:54
It had to been quite an honor to have the chief call you and ask
48:57
you to write a song. Oh yes, it was very much so.
49:03
I was so excited. And for him, Chief Arnold
49:07
Lookinghorse to ask me to do something like that.
49:11
So that song won the Native American Music Awards.
49:15
So we're really, really till this day, people are still
49:18
playing it. And now we want to we want to
49:22
bring it back. That was I think five years ago
49:26
that that was recorded and out in the music industry.
49:29
But I'm being told to bring it back because now if you look at
49:35
the world, what's going on, it's gotten 10 times worse.
49:40
And so they're saying we should probably bring it back and use
49:45
it again and get it back on the Airstreams and and play it more.
49:50
I agree. I agree because it's timeless.
49:52
I mean, what that song says from five years ago is still very
49:56
relevant today, if not more so. Right.
50:02
It's definitely one of those that you need to listen to the
50:06
words and really pay attention because it's got such a good
50:09
message. And all of us could learn
50:11
something from it. And all of us can really take
50:14
that in and take it to heart and be a little kinder and be a
50:16
little nicer to one another. And, you know, maybe this world
50:19
would be back where we need it to be.
50:22
Be a better place. Right, Yeah.
50:26
So we're we're working on our our third album and it's an
50:31
honor to be able to do. It's a big deal to play one
50:35
album, but to do get your third album out.
50:40
The album is called love yourself.
50:44
And there's a song that is called love yourself.
50:50
And Terry, when I say love yourself, I don't say this.
50:54
We don't, I'm not seeing this or we're not singing this in a, a
51:00
narcissist egotistical, prideful way.
51:04
You've got, everybody's got to have a certain amount of love
51:07
for yourself. Not in those parameters,
51:10
narcissist egotistical, but you, you really got to wake up and
51:15
say, Hey, I'm special. I, I, I love myself.
51:21
And I, I was for years, I was a cocaine addict and I lost my job
51:29
working at Lockheed because I was addicted to cocaine and the
51:33
reason why. And then and alcoholism and I
51:39
lost my my wife, my job, everything else.
51:44
And I thought about it and, and I said, Robin, why?
51:48
Why have you going through that? Well, I didn't love myself.
51:51
I didn't like myself. I didn't like who I was.
51:54
Yeah, so a lot of people may be military police, and they're
51:59
working in conjunction with the DC Police Department.
52:04
We worked on the streets a lot in Washington.
52:07
DCI got to go and ride along this.
52:09
And do you know that 75% of all homeless people either have are
52:19
mentally ill or on drugs and it's because they really don't
52:25
love themselves. The other 25% are people that
52:29
just lost their jobs. I would love to find them.
52:33
I would love our government to find the people that lost their
52:37
jobs or whatever that weren't addicted to drugs and weren't
52:44
mentally ill. But that's a, that's a
52:47
substantial amount of people, 75% of homeless people are
52:53
mentally ill or drug addicts. But that poor 25%, well, those
52:58
people that the murderers and the, the, the pedophiles and
53:02
the, the, the, all these bad people on earth that they really
53:07
don't love themselves. So it's not a sin or it's not
53:12
bad to, to love yourself in a certain perspective.
53:16
So that's what we're trying to say.
53:19
Love your neighbor like you love yourself.
53:23
So we're working on that. That's going to be after that.
53:26
Our next album, the album going to be called Love Yourself.
53:29
And one of the songs is called Love Yourself.
53:32
You, it's very, very important that you've got to you got to
53:37
love yourself. And like I said, not an eagle
53:40
way, not a narcissist way, a prideful way.
53:43
You just got to feel good. Hey, I'm special and quit
53:46
beating yourself up right and saying I'm worthless on this or
53:51
on that. And that's what I struggled
53:54
with. And that song was I was talking
53:58
about me and the other people that you see that are still
54:02
hateful and so mean. So that's what that derived
54:07
from. So that's going to be our third
54:08
album. It should be coming out next
54:11
year sometime. Well.
54:14
We'll be looking for it. Yeah, we're looking for it too.
54:18
That's awesome. I love that message.
54:20
Because that's true. You know, a lot of us, you know,
54:22
are really down on ourselves and we don't really give ourselves
54:25
the credit for being good human beings because some of those
54:29
people that are, you know, feeling poor about themselves
54:33
and then doing things that are destructive, you know, they're
54:36
really smart individuals and they could really be doing some
54:38
good if they would really do a lot of self talk, good self
54:42
talk, because what you put in is what you're going to get out.
54:45
So if you're saying I'm awful, I'm horrible, then that's that's
54:49
what's going to come out of it. But.
54:51
If you have. Some value.
54:52
I can help people, I can do things.
54:55
Then that good messaging is going to come out and you're
54:57
going to be able to help others as long as well as helping
55:01
yourself. Yeah, and that's exactly how I
55:04
was feeling when I was addicted to cocaine and alcohol.
55:10
I didn't love myself. I didn't like myself.
55:12
I wanted to escape myself. And so it's going to be a
55:16
powerful song. We're hoping that to get it out.
55:20
And somebody that felt that they didn't love themselves or didn't
55:25
think anything of themselves would hear that song and it
55:29
would inspire them. Yeah, I hope so.
55:33
I I think that's a good plan. I think putting that messaging
55:36
out there and hoping the right person gets to it is what we
55:40
need today, for sure. It's still cool.
55:44
So if you were to give your younger self a piece of advice,
55:48
what advice would you give your younger self knowing what you
55:51
know today? I, I, I would say don't give up
55:57
on your dreams. Never give up the hope of
56:04
there's something better and you can do it.
56:06
You could succeed in life. I was, I never had a father.
56:12
My mother was a drug addict. We were on welfare.
56:17
He was always gone, spending the welfare check in bars.
56:22
We lived in extreme property, hardly ever seen her.
56:26
We ate out of dumpsters, we had to steal for our food, we had
56:30
lice, we were lapped at, we had dirty clothes.
56:35
It was a horrific lifestyle that I experienced.
56:40
Most people that experienced were experienced, should have
56:45
been dead, in prison or mentally ill, whatever.
56:51
But I overcame a lifestyle of a horrible, horrible upbringing.
56:59
Horrible. And so I overcame that and said
57:06
I'm not going to let this bring me down.
57:10
I'm not going to be this or that.
57:13
And I'm going to try to do everything I can to be the best
57:17
I can. So that's my word out there for
57:21
everybody else. Never give up.
57:23
No matter what you've been through and experienced in life,
57:26
never give up. Keep striving to be the best.
57:31
So that's what I did. The Marine Corps helped me.
57:36
And then I've I've had a good life.
57:40
I work for department. I've been in the military 20
57:43
years. I work for Department of Defense
57:46
at Edwards Air Force Base, the top secret Clarion for 20 years,
57:51
and now I'm in one of the most notarized bands in the world,
57:56
Blue Mountain Tribe. So what I experienced, the other
58:03
people shouldn't give up on themselves.
58:08
I love that. That's good advice and from a
58:11
person that knows you've been there, done that.
58:15
And I'm so I'm so impressed with how far you've come and what
58:18
what you've been able to do. And like you said, you did have
58:21
a rough start, but you made something out of it.
58:24
From that rough start you really made a life and that's that's
58:29
something to be very proud of. Thank you so much, Sherry.
58:34
Absolutely. So tell us when you're going to
58:35
be real quick 'cause we only got a couple minutes left.
58:38
Tell us where you're going to be at the Hard Rock Cafe.
58:40
What's the dates in Bakersfield? What's the dates?
58:43
No, I I didn't want to leave you, Terry.
58:45
You we, I got to leave you. Well.
58:48
We do. We got to get off the air, we
58:49
got. 2 minutes, No November, 12th November.
58:53
We're playing at the Hard Rock Cafe.
58:55
We're headlining it. It's going to be in Bakersfield.
58:58
We go on at 9:30 to 11:00. It's open to the public, no
59:05
cover charge. So if you're anywhere near
59:08
Bakersfield, CA, they have hotels, They don't have hotels
59:13
at the casino, but they have hotels surrounding the casino.
59:18
So we would love to see you there.
59:20
And if you're watching the program, please come up to me
59:25
and say, hey, I've seen you on Tracer rounds and I'll give you
59:29
a big hug and say thank you so much for coming.
59:33
I will that maybe I'll have to go.
59:37
Yeah, we'll see. Get my tickets now.
59:40
Yeah, Well, well, they're still cheap.
59:43
Well, it's been so much fun talking to you, Robin.
59:45
I really enjoy our conversations, and I really
59:48
enjoy hearing your music and your stories behind the music.
59:51
And so I just want to say thank you for all you do and for the
59:53
messages you put out because it's a very positive message and
59:56
we need that right now. Thank you so much.
1:00:00
I love you Terry with all my heart and thank you so much for
1:00:04
your audience. Thank you guys for your service
1:00:07
that served and anybody else watching that didn't serve in
1:00:11
the military would love you too. So follow Blue Mountain Tribe on
1:00:16
on Facebook. You could go to our web page,
1:00:19
Blue Mountain tribe.com and we got a whole bunch of stuff on
1:00:24
YouTube. Yep, lock them up.
1:00:28
Well this is tracer rounds signing off.
1:00:30
Thank you. Goodnight.
1:00:31
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