Redbone – A Legendary American Classic Rock Band

Redbone is a legendary American classic rock band which was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1969 by brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas. The band’s is well known for their hit song Come and Get Your Love which was released in January 1974 as a single. During their heyday, all members of the band were of Mexican American and Native American descent. This important cultural heritage contributed to their stage appearance as well as the quality and sound of their songs. Their staple hit, Come and Get Your Love, was a commercial success, selling over one million copies after it was released in 1974 (and making it into Billboard Hot 100 as well, reaching number 5 there), being certified gold by RIAA (i.e. the Recording Industry Association of America) and platinum by BPI (i.e. the British Phonographic Industry). Come and Get Your Love is also part of the soundtrack of the film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Redbone thus became the first Native American rock band to achieve such commercial success in the history of rock music. Aside from Come and Get Your Love (which has a very touching and beautiful Native American sound), the band was also known in the United States for a series of other minor hits, more specifically We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee, The Witch Queen of New Orleans, Wovoka, or Maggie. Nonetheless, these songs got more attention outside of the United States.

Throughout their entire career, Redbone released 8 studio albums, namely: Redbone (1970), Potlatch (1970), Message from a Drum (1971), Already Here (1972), Wovoka (1973), Beaded Dreams Through Turquoise Eyes (1974), Cycles (1977), and Peace Pipe (2005). They also released one live album (entitled Redbone Live which was recorded in 1977 and released in 1994, nine compilations, and twenty one singles.

The band’s sound was a mixture of swamp rock and pop rock, naturally influenced by a beautiful and powerful Native American sound, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. Furthermore, the group’s music was also significantly influenced by other genres of music, particularly funk, folk, blues, soul, jazz, or Latin (among others), being therefore a complex and very creative musical melting pot. They were initially active between 1969 and 1977 and then once more since 1997 onwards. The band’s lead vocalist and frontman was Lolly Vegas who had sadly passed away in 2010 at the age of 70. He was of Yaqui and Shoshone Native American heritage. His commending and beautiful musical legacy still lives on. Below you can listen to the legendary song Come and Get Your Love by Redbone embedded via YouTube. Thank you very much for your time, attention, and readership! All the best and rock on!

Last but not least, here’s a live version of the legendary hit single via The Midnight Special (gotta love that dance and fantastic bassline and of course the entire performance of the band; pretty cool costumes as well, I must also add):

Below you can listen to two other most favourite songs of mine from Redbone’s discography:

P.S. After Lolly Vegas passed away, his brother, Pat, has been the sole constant member throughout the years.

Documentation sources and external links:

• The page of the band on www.wikipedia.org
• Lolly Vegas on www.wikipedia.org
• Come and Get Your Love on www.wikipedia.org
• The discography of the band on www.wikipedia.org
• Guardians of the Galaxy (soundtrack) on www.wikipedia.org