Singer-songwriter Mariee Siou brings her new music to Healdsburg

Her name used to be Mariee Sioux. Now it’s Mariee Siou.

“Sioux was my given middle name and I used it as my stage name,” the singer-songwriter explained. “But I’m not Sioux, and I don’t want to misrepresent myself, so it seemed appropriate to drop a letter.”

Nonetheless, Siou is very interested in the beliefs and viewpoints of Indigenous people. Her own family roots are Indigenous Mexican and Eastern European, she said. Much of her work has come from her exploration of the culture of the Nisenan Tribe, from the Sacramento River region in Northern California.

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot through my own reading and trying to educate myself,” Siou said.

Her latest tour brings her to Northern California for shows May 17 at the Smiley Saloon in Bolinas, May 18 at Little Saint in Healdsburg and May 19 at Ashkenaz in Berkeley.

Siou was born in Arcata, grew up in Nevada City and now lives in Portland, Oregon. At 17, she traveled to Patagonia to volunteer at a school for Indigenous children where she taught herself to play the guitar.

In 2006, she debuted her first self-released album, “A Bundled Bundle of Bundles.” A year later, in 2007, she released her first studio album, “Faces in the Rocks,” which featured her on acoustic guitar alongside the Native American flute played by Gentle Thunder and mandolin played by her father, Gary Sobonya. The album had a Native American theme, filled with references to nature and the Native American people.

“Gift for the End,” Mariee Siou’s second studio album, was recorded between April 2010 and August 2011 in Placerville’s Monsoon Studios and in the Nevada City’s Sun Dial studios. It was released in 2012.

That was followed in 2019 by her third studio album, “Grief in Exile.” Siou also has a string of singles to her credit.

Her newest recording, the four-song extended-play album titled “Circle of Signs,” was released April 28.

The singer-songwriter’s current tour takes up her up the West Coast. “I have 10 dates, from Los Angeles to Seattle,” she said.

Her songs deal with real-world crises, from frequent wildfires to global climate change.

“I’ve gone from a personal perspective to the collective grief in the world,” she said. “I would say a few of the old ways are ending, and a certain world we’ve known is dying.”

But her view is not pessimistic, she explained.

“I believe there is the potential for life to be more peaceful and beneficial than ever,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.