Black Belt Eagle Scout’s latest record inspired by return home to Swinomish tribe’s ancestral lands

By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — The beginning of the pandemic was devasting for the leader of the indie rock band Black Belt Eagle Scout, Katherine Paul. All her tours were canceled and she feared her music career might be over. She returned to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s homelands in western Washington. But as she walked along the Skagit River, she turned to her guitar to deal with the isolation and stress. She also recorded those snippets on her phone, the beginnings of what would become songs on her latest record “The Land, The Water, The Sky.” The new record helped launch what has probably been the most successful year so far for the band.