Pianist and keyboardist Brule, born Paul La Roche, merges longstanding Native American musical practices with modern rock elements. Adopted in infancy and raised by a non-Native family, the member of the Lower Brule Lakota nation employs his compositions to unite the divergent worlds of his upbringing. In a telephone interview, Brule described his 1997 debut release, We the People, as “a means to bridge the gap between small town Americana and the Native American experience.” His follow-up effort, Lakota Piano, appeared in 1998 and offered solo piano renditions of material by the 1970s Native American rock group XIT. That same year he issued One Holy Night, recorded in collaboration with Robby Bee, son of Tom Bee, the onetime XIT member who founded the Native American-focused SOAR label and its Natural Visions imprint. Brule’s September 1999 album One Nation adopted a broader international perspective; he characterized the project as “a further step in the evolving story of my life, a way to bring all the people of the world together.”
Only in his thirties did Brule learn of his Native American lineage. Although he entered the world on the Lower Brule Sioux reservation in South Dakota, his adoptive parents in the rural Minnesota community of Worthington never disclosed his origins. Following their deaths in 1987 he first became aware of his ancestry, and in 1996 he reconnected with his Lakota birth parents.
Brule’s sound reflects both cultural strands. After early accordion lessons he showed scant musical curiosity until, at age eight, he encountered the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The experience prompted him to take up piano and pursue more rigorous study. By fourteen he was performing with a rock ensemble that toured Minnesota and Iowa; within another two years, music provided his sole livelihood. His formative influences ranged from Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and Uriah Heep to singer-songwriters Billy Joel and James Taylor. Upon uncovering his Lakota roots, Brule integrated Native American elements into his work and chose his stage name in tribute to the tribe of his birth.
