Diné singer/songwriter Hataałii (pronounced: hah – toth – lee) visited Tucson in October 2024 as the opener for the Katie Pruit show at Club Congress. Born Hataałiinez Wheeler, he grew up on the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, Arizona and began experimenting with music during his teenage years. Now Hataalii is an artist signed to Dangerbird records and just released his second album titled, “Waiting for a Sign.” Since 2019 Hataałii has self-released projects, so technically this would be his sixth album released. During the live in-studio session on The Home Stretch show, we invited Hataałii and band mate Jacob ,who plays the steel guitar, to perform a short set and interview live over the airwaves. The following day he and Jacob arrived to our Armory Park studio for an interview on Cultivating Indigenous Voices. Hataałii shared what his musical journey has been like, and that some of his current work includes lyrics, songs, stories, that he wrote when he was a teenager. As I reflect on our conversation one thing that stood out to me was his enigmatic personality and subtle hints of laughter which you can hear in the interview.
Hataalii and band mate Jacob performing a live in-studio session at KXCI’s Congress Studio in down town Tucson, AZ. Photo by T. Andrew. Hataalii standing in the CD vault at KXCI Armory Park Studios in Tucson, AZ. Photo by T. Andrew. Episode graphic created by T. Andrew
I’m excited to announce that after two years of being on hiatus I am finally ready to get back on track with bringing back...
In this episode I invited Kateri Harris (Tohono O’odham) to the studio to talk about the work she does in the community as the...
In this episode, I sat down with a Wynnette Bell (Eastern Shoshone/Northern Arapaho), who is a Crew Lead for the Arizona Conservation Corps and...
