Social media fame came to Tia Wood in 2020, through TikTok. The Plains Cree and Coast Salish singer from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, went viral in videos of her singing Indigenous and traditional songs and enlightening her followers by calling out cultural appropriation and bringing attention to social biases while also clearly having fun. In one early video, her mother brushes her hair and helps her dress in traditional clothing while reciting the poem “Brown Eyes,” by Nadia McGhee, about the yearning of a brown-eyed girl for blue eyes, and all that this implies.
That same year, at 21, Wood left Canada for Los Angeles for a short trip and ended up staying to pursue her singer-songwriter dreams, the culmination of a musical childhood — Wood was raised by a performing family, singing traditional music at powwows and community gatherings. Her father is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated group Northern Cree, her mother was a member of the all-female drum group Fraser Valley, and sister Fawn Wood is an award-winning musician. “Dirt Roads,” from Wood’s 2024 debut EP, Pretty Red Bird, continued her exploration of her place in society as an Indigenous artist, now from the perspective of life for an aspiring star in L.A.:
Sunny days and happy faces
In the land where dreams are made
Lambos and private planes
Should I take out my braids or leave ’em in?
They look at me like I’m a Martian
But when I’m about to bring out the comb
I think about the dirt roads
Dirt roads lead me back home
Wood, who claims a range of influences from Etta James and Amy Winehouse to contemporaries such as Remi Wolf, Leon Bridges, and SZA, received a Juno Award nomination for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year in 2025, for Pretty Red Bird. Now 26 and labeled by online fans as the “first native American R&B princess,” her soulful, radio-ready songs combine pop, R&B, and traditional Cree and Salish sounds into compelling, politically acute, yet seriously catchy tunes. On Thursday, July 23, she will perform a one-night-only show for “Native Sounds Downtown,” at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Admission is free, but registration is suggested to reserve a spot, so you can spend a summer evening vibing to the music and maybe even broadening your horizons. ❖
Native Sounds Downtown: Tia Wood
Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian
One Bowling Green, Level 1: Diker Pavilion
Thursday, July 23, 7:30 p.m./doors open 7 p.m.
