Medicine songs

"Over the course of 50-odd years, her songs have sustained relevancy so that if you place songs she wrote in the '60s alongside songs from the '90s, early 2000s and ones from today, they will resonate and sound powerfully of this moment. That's what Buffy does in concert, and also what she does here on her 19th album, Medicine Songs, which brings together songs that uplift as much as educate about the plight of Indigenous people and push back against the greedy, warmongering, environmentally destructive powers that be. And sometimes, as Buffy says, you can dance to it".

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"Sainte-Marie [has] been making records since 1964, and she's been singing boldly and bravely against racism, greed, and war - and on behalf of justice, decency, and positive change - ever since. But (...) Sainte-Marie is too committed to both her muse and the betterment of the world to give up now, and (...) she's created a powerful collection that speaks to her past, present, and future as a musical activist ... Medicine Songs features two new songs alongside 11 reworked and re-recorded versions of songs from her back catalog (18 on the digital edition) ... With new arrangements and updated lyrics, she has brought the songs into the present day and given them new life while also reinforcing their continuing relevance ... Her vocals are miraculously clear and forceful on these recordings, and she sounds not so much like an elder statesman of conscious folk music than a fearless contemporary artist who fills these tunes with righteous anger ... At 76, she's as fierce, aware,andcommitted as any artist a third her age, and these tunes speak to the madness of 2017 with a stunning clarity".

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"This was a very welcome surprise. A couple of the songs on this album I first heard on Buffy Sainte-Marie's very first one, "It's My Way", from 1964 ... The over-arching theme is of politically charged protest and she delivers the songs like a force of nature. She does a stripped-down guitar-plus-vocal version of "My Country 'Tis Of Thy People You're Dying", just as she did it on the "Little Wheel Spin And Spin" album in 1966 (...), but with even more passion and rage in her voice. Then there's "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" about the "theft of uranium lands from the Pine Ridge reservation", with an immensely powerful arrangement ... The new songs are very impressive too ... I think her singing has improved - there's more light and shade in it, but the power is completely undiminished ... Carry It On, Buffy!".