Walela

Rita Coolidge, a pop singer and songwriter whose professional path opened in the early 1970s, turned toward her Native American heritage during the 1990s by forming the vocal trio Walela. The eclectic ensemble also included her sister and longtime collaborator Priscilla Coolidge together with Priscilla’s daughter Laura Satterfield. Walela’s sound blended the trio’s Cherokee ancestry with gospel traditions of the Deep South—where the Coolidges’ father had served as a Baptist minister—while folding in pop, country, folk, and soul alongside a reflective new-age dimension. The group’s first appearance on record came when they supplied backing vocals for ex-Band frontman Robbie Robertson on his 1994 album Music for the Native Americans, after which they performed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Walela released its self-titled debut album in 1997 and received favorable notices; the follow-up, Unbearable Love, arrived in early 2000.