Buffy Sainte-Marie is really important, interesting and trail-blazing artist but for some reason until now nobody thought about writing about her life, until Andrea Warner came along - now, Warner wrote about Canadian women musicians before so she seems a perfect person to approach this + Buffy herself kind of welcomed someone showing genuine interest in her life and career. Two women bonded and formed a friendship that grew around this book - since this will probably be the last word on Buffy (with lots of her own involvement, her personal memories, photos from private collection, etc) it will have to do until someone else comes along and takes a different perspective.
As the world's most famous Native Indian princess (I am saying this because there was always something regal about her) Buffy Sainte-Marie have built quite a fascinating career in music, TV and education - all the while being mostly out of mainstream. While everybody loves to talk about her indigenous background, what strikes me much more is that she is true child of 1960s with wide interests, creativity and understanding that go way outside of music - although she works in a field of pop music, she managed to exist in her own sphere and support herself, her family and her charity/political causes without having any major commercial hits. You might say that the secret to her longevity perhaps lies in being outsider and doing her own things without a pressure from the industry. According to the book, Buffy is the first one to admit that she is happiest in her secluded Hawaii home and have always disliked social gatherings that other stars find necessary for their careers.
It might be a bit unfair to Warner, but she is a bit too star struck for my taste - while Buffy definitely is an fascinating subject (and a very generous interviewee, willing to tell her story) the book would gain from a more objective tone - while Buffy herself comes across as a warm and funny, Warner is a bit too scholarly, preoccupied with tour dates and such - it is a very interesting story but for some reason it does not flow easily.
Basically Werner serves Sainte-Marie as a official biographer (while great lady herself is busy with tours and travels) and writes everything Buffy tells her, without analysing or questioning it - no other testimonies, memories or interviews with anyone who was around to confirm. This is important because it unbalances the perspective and at the end we have only the artist telling her version which (if you read between the lines) is often repetitive.
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