Crystal Shawanda

Home Sick Indian Blues

New Sun Music

Crystal Shawanda is an Indigenous Canadian artist born in the Wiikwemkoong First Nation, an unceded territory on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. She moved to Nashville and signed with RCA Records in 2007. Her debut album, Dawn of a New Day, reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, and she toured with Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley. After leaving RCA, Shawanda released the independently produced Just Like You, which earned her Canada’s prestigious Juno Award. Her career reached another milestone when she performed at President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration.

Shawanda admits, “The whole time I was singing Patsy Cline on stage, I was singing Etta James at home. I veered to the blues because that’s the music I love to sing.” Shawanda’s major influences include Koko Taylor, Mavis Staples, and the aforementioned Etta James. Follow-up albums included 2014’s The Whole World’s Got the Blues; 2020’s Church House Blues, another Juno Award winner; and 2025’s Sing Pretty Blues.

Shawanda, on all lead vocals, is accompanied on guitar and bass by Dewayne Strobel, except for track 4, electric and acoustic guitar by Eddie Perez, and track 6, bass by Stan Miczek. The drums are played by Nioshi Jackson, except on track 6 by Al “Baby” Webster. Piano and organ are played by Peter Keys, harmonica by Stephen Hanner, and horns by Chris West.

Shawanda opens with “Homesick Indian Blues,” as she sings, “It’s a road I have to travel…but I get the homesick Indian blues,” with harmonica by Hanner. On “Cut Through the Wind,” Shawanda chimes, “I come back again, and again, and again, it’s such a foolish game, it makes no sense at all, it won’t stop me or slow me down, cut through the wind, come back again, and again, and again.”

“I’ll Play the Blues for You,” the 1972 Albert King classic, features Shawanda as she chants, “When you’re down and out, and you got loneliness, come on over to the place I’m at, an’ all your loneliness, I’ll try to soothe, I’ll play the blues for you,” as Shawanda begins a narrative.

On “Come Unto Me,” with its cha-cha beat and guitar from Perez, Shawanda moans, “when there is something that you want to say to me…yeah, yeah, come unto me.” “Breaking Us in Pieces” features Shawanda as she cries, “a multiple bunch of sins, breaking us in pieces, just a little at a time, put us back together, it’s breaking every piece of my heart.”

On “I Think I Love You Too Much,” Shawanda howls, “oh, baby, baby, I think I love you too much. If I’m gonna give you what you want…,” with more harp from Hanner. On the 1952 Hank Williams classic “You Win Again,” made famous by Patsy Cline, Shawanda wails, “The news is out all over town that you’ve been seen running ’round, I know that I should leave, but then, how can I go? You win again. This heart of mine could never see, what everybody knew but me. Just trustin’ you was my great sin, I just can’t go, you win again.”

“I’m On Your Way Home” features Shawanda as she belts out, “Stop on over baby, I’m on your way home…come by me, I don’t want to be alone…stop on over I’m on your way home…lock the door, turn out the lights, were gonna have a good time tonight, stop on over, I’m on your way home.”

On “Never Ever,” Shawanda bursts, “I see you sometimes in my life…one thing is true. I’ll never ever, never stop loving you.” On the closer, “The Whole World’s Got the Blues,” Shawanda croons, “This world’s gone crazy, I know it just…when you look around…I just wanta cry and fall down on my knees…this whole world’s got the blues,” with some great guitar from Dewayne Strobel and Hammond B-3 organ from Peter Keys.

With over six million streams, six Maple Blues Awards, and hundreds of tour dates across North America, Shawanda continues to captivate audiences worldwide. Critics compare her evocative delivery to legends like Tina Turner and Janis Joplin, while celebrating her unique, culturally rich artistry that defies genre boundaries. It’s time to catch up with Crystal Shawanda.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter