Gary Farmer's musical career

Gary Farmer takes on role of blues musician

Famed Native American actor complements film success of ‘Smoke Signals, Dead Man’ with harmonicaArt takes many forms; so does the career of Gary Farmer. He began in music, took a turn to acting, publishing, production of television and radio, and recently adopted a renewed fervor for music.

A youngster in the 1960s, he idolized blues musicians such as Stevie Wonder and Native guitarist Jesse Ed Davis. He began playing the harmonica in college, but over the course of 30 years, film and stage acting competed with his music. Still he managed to weave his harmonica into his film roles in “Powwow Highway” and “Henry and Verlin.”

He now casts himself regularly as lead of Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers, a four-piece harmonica-based blues band. The Troublemakers rose out of an opportunity to play at the National Museum of the American Indian Film Festival in Santa Fe, N.M. in 2005.Comment:  For more on Farmer, see Gary Farmer in Easy Money and Gary Farmer Against Drunk Driving.