BY MELISSA RUGGIERI TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: August 27, 2009

Those involved with the Gathering of the Four Winds liken it to Riverdance or Celtic Woman -- except with American Indian music, dancing and storytelling subbing for the Irish origin of those shows.

"No one has ever done this before. It's kind of like a native revue -- we're highlighting natives from different walks of life, put together in one high-impact show," said Red Hawk, one of the stars of tomorrow's event at The National.

Red Hawk, a member of the Cherokee tribe in North Carolina, lives in Chester. But his influence runs deep in his community.

Last year, he won a Native American Music Award. This year, he is submitting his latest projects, "History Remembers the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers," "At the Cross Roads" and "Those Were Their Words," for the Grammys' Best Spoken Word category.

The Gathering of the Four Winds will present tribe members from all four corners of the nation -- from New Jersey to Alaska, Red Hawk said, including Jim Boyd, from Spokane, Wash. -- marking the first time they will perform together.

The idea for the show is a collaboration among Red Hawk, Doc Holiday, the legendary musician who owns the Power Plant studio in Hampton and Mega International Records the label behind Red Hawk's releases -- and Bill Reid, one of the owners of The National.

The show is expected to run just under two hours and will include four sets each from Red Hawk and Boyd, along with 18 other dancers and musicians presenting American Indian storytelling, women's jingle dances, drumming and other music.

"There's nothing out there like this," Reid said. "It's traditional for a powwow, but it's never been done in the context of a performing-arts show. The [performers] all think that culturally, it's something that needs to be seen outside the traditional reservations. It's an important cultural part of America. Most of us have never seen the real deal."

The show is the fourth event this year being filmed for a possible PBS series based at The National (The Machine with the Richmond Symphony, Ryan Farish and The British Invasion show with members of Herman's Hermits and Badfinger have already been documented).

John Felton, vice president and general manager of Richmond's PBS affiliate WCVE and Charlottesville's WHTJ, said that American Public Television, the nation's largest distributor of "ancillary local PBS station content," has agreed to offer a series called "An Evening With The National" to local public TV stations nationwide.

"If the series garners a certain threshold of interest from public television stations nationwide a minimum of 25 -- then the series will go to a national contract," Felton said in an e-mail. "I don't foresee any issue with not making the minimum threshold of PBS stations, as there is a great demand for music performance in the PBS system."

Indeed, Reid has specifically targeted unique shows to be filmed -- "Not just a guy who has six hit songs," he said with a laugh -- to appeal to PBS viewers' eclectic interests.

Red Hawk anticipates the Richmond date -- and subsequent PBS airing -- as the launching pad for a 12-state tour.

"The cultural aspect is always a big one," Red Hawk said. "It's definitely original."