Elexa Dawson creates community focused music where sultry soul meets rural roots. Born from Oklahoma Potawatomi and Cherokee country, Elexa now calls the Kansas Flint Hills her home.

Elexa’s first solo album “Music is Medicine” (Lost Cowgirl Records) brings her storytelling to life through loveable lamentations, and her stirring performances connect land-based programming to folk stages.

Two albums from Elexa’s primary ensemble, Weda Skirts, (“Many Moons”, “Mother”) offer immaculate harmonies, articulating themes of nature, kinship, passion, and place.

Elexa also co-fronts Heyleon, a 7-piece, bluegrass-adjacent joyride, and released Heyleon’s “Friends & Family” and “Fiddle Road” on her label, Turns Out Records.

Elexa’s Music is Medicine Show (30 minutes – 2 hours, All Ages)

Sultry soul meets rural roots. Elexa Dawson (Potawatomi) invites you into the lodge to hear songs that your heart already knows how to sing. Accessible yet transcendent, Elexa’s captivating red-dirt-honey vocals lay on the listener like a blanket of good feelings, giving the gift of healing through sound.

Music is Medicine names Elexa’s original debut album, and describes the motivation behind sharing story and song. At home in natural environments, and brilliant in theaters, attentive rooms, educational spaces, and cultural venues.

Presentation on Anishinabe Culture (30 minutes, Adaptable to All Ages)

Elexa Dawson comes from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation based near Shawnee, OK. The Potawatomi people originated from the Great Lakes area, and participated in the Anishinabe Three Fires Confederacy, recognizing the Odawa and Ojibwe as brother nations. The Trail of Death brought the Potawatomi to Kansas and later, Oklahoma. The Anishinabe culture is still thriving, with language, food and clothing unique to the Anishinabe people. Learn about this culture and the history of the Potawatomi, with recognition that the Potawatomi are a vibrant and living people with sovereign nations and current relevance in today’s society.

Programs can be combined and adapted to suit specific audiences.

• $150 for the Presentation on Anishinabe Culture:
• $350 for Storytelling:
  • $100 if sound equipment is provided by the artist
  • $100 for overnight travel and lodging
• $5 per person for Seedsongs. This covers the cost of containers and soil or venue may provide materials. There is no charge for seeds.
• $100 for Songwriters – Open Forum

Indigenous organizations and presentations for Indigenous peoples may be eligible for no-cost presentation.

Songwriters – Open Forum (1 hour, High School and Adult)
Elexa Dawson facilitates an open forum between fellow songwriters and those interested in writing music. Encouraging and inspirational.

Seedsongs (10 minutes, All Ages)
Our seeds are our past, and our future. The Anishinabe people have had agreements with plants that have sustained us, even as we have cared for them. Participants will receive a seed and a vessel to plant it in, and a song to sing to their seeds as they grow. As we plant these seeds, we’ll learn about our responsibility to our foods to nurture them as they nourish us.

The Power of the Voice (10 minutes, All Ages)
Anishinabe cosmology teaches us that the world began with sound. Sensing sounds is an exercise in presence, reflection and relaxation. Participants practice using our ears and our voice to interact with the world.

Land-Based Songwriting (1-3 hours, All Ages)
Place is central to our understanding of ourselves as individuals and communities. Discover how the places that made us inform our creativity and worldview.