Joe Rainey

JOE RAINEY SR. is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians in Northern Minnesota. However, Joe was born and raised in South Minneapolis, MN, and has been a resident of Wisconsin for the last 11 years. Joe is a father of five. He is a well-traveled pow-wow singer and pow-wow music archivist. He has traveled with Midnite Express and Iron Boy singers, also from Minnesota. Recently he has worked and performed with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Marijuana Deathsquads, Trever Hagen, Spank Rock (Naeem), LOW, and Andrew Broder. He attributes his love and knowledge of music and Native music to his grandmother Ruth, his past music teachers in school, and to older drum brothers / drum teachers. His focus now is to ensure the transmission of the teaching cycle of pow-wow singing and protocol to the next generation.