Natives play the blues

The sounds of soul and struggleContemporary Native American musicians will take the stage Saturday at Hollywood's Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

The event is billed as the Native American Blues Festival, and organizers stress that the blues is "America's music" full of "soul" and "struggle," notions that apply to both the American Indian experience and the African-American one, where the blues were born.

But possibly "blues" is the only category that could encompass headliner Micki Free's Santana-inflected guitar riffs, as well as Martha Redbone's urbane and sly funk or local wonder Spencer Battiest's yearning R&B vocals.