Pete DePoe, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, was the original drummer of the seminal Native American band Redbone (1969-1972) and appears on five of its albums. The city of DePoe Bay, Oregon, bears his family name. His Indian name is Last Walking Bear.
Pete was also the drummer in several configurations of Jim Pepper’s bands over the years, performing at concerts and festivals, celebrations and social justice rallies from coast to coast, including “The Night of the First Americans” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Jim Pepper was the Music Director for the event.
In 2017, after living in Europe for many years, Pete returned to Oregon to live on the Siletz Reservation. He stayed in the Jim Pepper House in Portland for a week on his way to Siletz, where he had many fond memories of his old friend and bandmate. “We also played together at the 100th anniversary of the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon in 1980. This is interesting when I think about that because I did not like that school when I attended there back in the 1950s…his legacy is amazing…I’m proud to say that I played with Jim Pepper, but more importantly, he was my friend and I loved him.” – Pete DePoe, 2017.
Performances
Honor Song for Pete Depoe
The Nephews (NAYA-PDX) – Duration: 3:40
While he was in Portland, Pete appeared as a guest on David Liberty’s Native Nations cable TV show, after which a group of students from the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) sang a song in his honor.
The Witch Queen of New Orleans
Redbone – Duration: 4:51
Unfortunately, film or video of Redbone shot when Pete DePoe was in the band are rare. In this exciting clip, Redbone performed at the Olympia Theater in Paris on their 1971 European tour. The clip begins with Pete’s powerful drumming driving the band through Tony Bellamy’s passionate guitar solo in the middle section of their hit song “Witch Queen of New Orleans.” The video was shot for French television.
The Most Important Beat I Ever Learned
Duration: 11:01
Pete is credited with inventing a fundamental rock beat while he was with Redbone, called the King Kong. Several generations of rock drummers play that beat although not everyone knows where it came from. David Garibaldi, longtime drummer for Tower of Power, tells the story in his video lesson titled “The Most Important Beat I Ever Learned.”
Prehistoric Rhythm
Redbone featuring Pete DePoe on drums – Duration: 4:00
Pete DePoe’s highly influential beat appeared on Redbone’s self-titled debut album in 1970.
Pete appears on six Redbone albums: Redbone (1970); Potlatch (1970); Message From A Drum (1971); Already Here (1972); Wovoka (1973); Come And Get Your Redbone/ The Best of Redbone (1975).
Tribal Information
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
“…the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians are the most diverse confederation of Tribes and Bands on a single reservation in the United States. Our ancestors spoke 10 completely different languages, each of which had multiple dialects. Our ancestors brought with them deep connections to more than 20 million acres of ancestral territory combined, including all of Western Oregon from the summit of the Cascade mountains to the Pacific and extending into what’s now SW Washington State and northern California. Our ancestors signed many treaties with the United States. We were promised the 1.1 million acres Siletz Reservation as our permanent home, but following massive reservation reductions Congress passed the Western Oregon Termination Act in 1954 (took effect in 1956), and our federally recognized status as a tribe was also taken. In 1977 our lobbying of Congress to repeal our Termination was successful, and we became the second formerly Terminated Tribe to regain federal recognition as a Tribe.” (Source: Tribal website)
Skookum Tillicum – “This video recounts the history of the Siletz Tribe from our (the Siletz) point of view”
Ancestral lands, reservation and language group maps
For further research check Pete Depoe’s page
