Running for the Drum

On her first album in 13 years, folk icon and Native American activist Buffy Sainte-Marie comes out swinging. She takes on corporate greed over the furious tribal beat of "No No Keshagesh" and makes effective use of audio samples of pow-wows on both the blistering "Working for the Government" and the dance-floor-ready "Cho Cho Fire." With those three cuts followed by a gorgeous, lilting reworking of her own "Little Wheel Spin and Spin," Running for the Drum boasts a simply phenomenal opening sequence. Those songs speak to the depth of Sainte-Marie's focused folk-singer outrage and her still-razor-sharp ear for a memorable pop hook. The lead track "Keshagesh" means Greedy Guts. It's what you call a little puppy who eats his own and then wants everybody else's.