Best of the Best Vol 2

Tribute to the Native American Church

by Various

This collection of 32 previously unreleased peyote songs is a special tribute to the Native American Church. It was recorded during an unprecedented session of the following renowned peyote singers at the Cool Runnings Recording Studio: Sammie Largo, David Johnson, Richard Blackhorse, Leroy Nelson, Irvin Bahe, Delbert Blackhorse, Verdell Primeaux, and Johnny Mike.

It is said that a long time ago a woman got separated from her tribe. She was lost, cold and hungry. She ate a plant now commonly known as Peyote. That night she had a vision. In her dream she attended a ceremony and was told to take the plant she had found to her tribe. The people, who are believed to be a Southern Apache tribe, later took the herb to Oklahoma Indian Territory and introduced it to the tries known as Comanches, Kiowas, and others. One of the Comanche leaders, Qanah Parker, attended this ceremony and became later known as the Father of the Native American Church. From Oklahoma Indian Territory the ceremony spread north to the Dakota and was eventru8ally introduced to Navajoland in the early 1920's. Believed to be a dangerous drug, the use of peyote was outlawed. In 1967, after struggling for over 40 years, the Navajo Tribal Council passed a resolution legalizing the use of the medicine. And in 1994, the United States Senate passed the Religious Freedom Act, legalizing the use of peyote of all American Indians. Today the Native American Church is the biggest religious Native American organization and its membership is estimated at around 250,000 and continues to grow.

— ©2003