Two icons of Native art and music, who also happen to be longtime friends, are playing shows across Northern Minnesota starting Thursday, March 12.
The Ancestral Fires tour with Gary Farmer and Keith Secola kicks off 6 p.m. Thursday at CHAIR in Virginia. The following night will find them at Rail River Folk School in Bemidji at 7 p.m., and on Saturday, they play a 2 p.m. show at the Reif Performing Arts Center in Grand Rapids.
Secola and Farmer spoke by phone Monday about their connection, new music and Native representation in the arts.
While Farmer is best known as an actor with iconic roles in the Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man and as Brownie in the hit television series Reservation Dogs, he is also a musician and founder of the now inactive Aboriginal Voices Radio Network.
He first learned of Secola while researching Native artists to feature on the station. For Secola, Farmer was a visible figure as one of the most prominent Native actors and was an early inspiration for his music.
The two met sometime in the '90s and have been friends ever since, often playing music together.
Both are busy with new music and will be releasing new albums. Farmer dropped a new single "Beautiful Morning" with his band The Troublemakers in December 2025, and said it's part of a new batch of songs.
"It's been a few years of writing now," Farmer said. "And I'm just really happy with the results of my music and what's coming."
Secola is also sitting on a big batch of unreleased music and hopes to get some of it released this summer. Last year, he joined Ishkōdé Records, a Toronto label with a stated commitment of uplifting Indigenous voices.
Both musicians were quick to mention they will play a lot of new material in the upcoming shows. The Ancestral Fires tour is sponsored by tribal stations KBFT in Bois Forte and KOJB in Leech Lake.
After the three stops in Northern Minnesota, they will finish the tour Sunday at the Icehouse in Minneapolis.
Listen above to the full conversation with Gary Farmer and Keith Secola, featured on Headwaters.
