MEBB becoming top Navajo Nation band

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The Mother Earth Blues Band, with guitarist Richard Anderson, has been playing raw, uncut blues since 1998 to become one of the Navajo Nation's top bands.

"This is our calling in life, to play the blues around the world," Anderson said in Tuesday's Navajo Times.

The MEBB has toured around the United States for the past six years, recently returning from New York where they participated in The Shinnecock Nation's blues festival of mainstream and native acts from across the country.

Anderson said he and band members Merlin "Wizard" Yazzie Jr. on bass and Fred Vigil on drums like to keep it simple.

"It's very stripped down, what you see is what you hear, a very meat-and-potatoes approach," he said.

The Arizona band is scheduled to return to New York early next year to open for blues legend Buddy Guy, one of Anderson's guitar heroes.