...is Buffy Sainte-Marie. IMHO. I put together this video of her song Qu'appelle Valley Saskatchewan with pictures of her (and other fitting pics that I came across). I just love the spirit of that song.
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Buffy wrote the classic Universal Soldier in 1964 for her first album It's My Way! and that song became really famous when Donovan covered it. Joan Baez did too. And she won an Oscar for Up Where We Belong. I just remember hearing her records since I was a kid -- I would look at the back cover of Sweet America in awe... So soulful and pretty :)
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She was on the US government's black list in the 60s for opposing the Vietnam war and in the 70s for being a Native rights activist. When she was invited to TV shows those times they told her not to talk about issues because it's "unfashionable" but her attitude was cool: "I'm not interested in being hip so much as being effective. I wanted to change things, not just be a loudmouth complaining about things."
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Lately Kaisu and I have been singing Native music, especially this one song about old shoes. I'm thinking of recording it soon and putting the notes and words for it up here, in case you would like to learn it too. Some time ago I looked online for resources to learn Native American songs but couldn't find any -- I had to go all vintage and rummage around in actual libraries with shelves and ceilings to find any notes. So I got this bright idea that I'll start posting those songs here as I figure them out, notes, melody, words and all. Stay tuned :)