Martha Redbone

This article is about the American musician. For other uses, see Redbone.

Martha Redbone (born 1966) is an American singer known for blending rhythm and blues and soul with elements of Native American music^[2]

Martha Redbone
Background information
Born	New York City
Origin	New York City, New York, and Kentucky, United States
Genres	Rhythm and Blues, Folk and Soul
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, composer
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Dome Records[1]
Website	martharedbone.com

Martha Redbone,  Arts for Art - Vision Festival 2024. Photo by Marek Lazarski

Early life and education

Redbone spent time with her maternal grandparents in Harlan County.^[3] According to Redbone, her late mother, whose family has been rooted for generations in the mountains of Kentucky and Virginia, was a mix of Cherokee, Shawnee and Choctaw; her late father was an African-American from North Carolina.^{[citation needed]} She has never conducted a DNA test, but says she looks like people from the Igbo tribe in Nigeria.^[3]

Career

Redbone composed the new music score for the late Ntozake Shange's choreopoem "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuff" with her husband and collaborator Aaron Whitby, which premiered on Broadway in 2022. In 2019, they were the composers of the Public Theatre's iteration of the choreo-poem.^[4] Redbone and Whitby won a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Music in a Play for the Original score for "For Colored Girls"^[5] Redbone became a musician and singer, combining music styles with Black American and Native American roots music.^[6] Her stage name, "Redbone", comes from Southern slang for people of black and Native ancestry.^[7] She was mentored in songwriting and music production by Junie Morrison of the Ohio Players and Parliament Funkadelic.^[8] In early 2007, Redbone's Skintalk won The 6th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best R&B Album.^[9]

Her 2012 work, The Garden of Love – Songs of William Blake, sets Blake's poem of the same name to music that draws from rural influences of Appalachia: English folk, African American, and Native American traditions. She tours nationally with the Martha Redbone Roots Project.^[10]

Personal life

Redbone is married to Aaron Whitby, and the couple has a son.^[3]

Discography

• Home of the Brave (2001)
• Skintalk (2004)
• Future Street (2006)
• The Garden of Love – Songs of William Blake (2012)