Canadian blues singer and JUNO Award winner Crystal Shawanda has released her latest album, Homesick Indian Blues, a 10-track collection exploring identity, belonging and self-reclamation while paying tribute to the late Raul Malo of The Mavericks.
Released through New Sun Records and produced by Shawanda’s husband, Dewayne Strobel, the album is led by “Come Unto Me,” Shawanda’s interpretation of The Mavericks song. The recording carries particular significance for the artist because Malo’s support during her early years in Nashville helped encourage her career.
‘Homesick Indian Blues’ Explores Identity and Finding a Way Home
Shawanda describes the new record as a reflection on the experiences that shaped her and the process of reclaiming one’s identity.
“Homesick Indian Blues is about finding your way home,” she says. “Not necessarily to a physical place, but home to who you really are. No matter where anyone is from, we all change parts of ourselves just trying to fit in, and we lose ourselves along the way. These songs represent pivotal moments in my life, and the trajectory of my journey that led me here. I hope the listeners can feel that. The title of the album is about identity, and opening up that dialogue about controlling our own narrative. It’s about unbecoming who the world told us to be, and sometimes that means going back to where we started.”
The album also reconnects Shawanda with her early Nashville years, when she and her band performed for tips in an upstairs room at Tootsies on Broadway. Their sets combined pre-1975 country, blues and rock and roll and attracted songwriters, musicians and producers, including Malo.
“We never bothered Raul when he came in,” Shawanda recalls. “We could see he was trying to lay low.”
Raul Malo’s Early Support Inspires ‘Come Unto Me’ Tribute
Malo later attended Shawanda’s RCA Records showcase, an appearance she remembers as particularly meaningful because she admired his willingness to operate outside conventional country music boundaries.
“That support, that interest, it inspired me and encouraged me,” she says.
Shawanda and Strobel subsequently hoped to collaborate with The Mavericks. That connection became more personal as the couple began developing their version of “Come Unto Me” shortly before Malo’s death in December 2025.
Strobel encouraged Shawanda to continue with the recording as a tribute and invited The Mavericks guitarist Eddie Perez to participate. Perez contributed electric and acoustic guitars and backing vocals.
“I was like a little kid, so nervous and excited,” Shawanda says of the recording session.
The track combines Shawanda’s blues-oriented vocal style with Tex-Mex influences and guitar work connected directly to The Mavericks. Strobel played a Flamingo Pink Stratocaster acquired from Perez.
“My husband and I have lived these words,” Shawanda says, “and I think that really shines through in this track.”
Shawanda Builds on Canadian Country and Blues Career
Born and raised in Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Shawanda is Ojibwe Potawatomi. She signed with RCA Nashville in her early twenties and released Dawn of a New Day in 2008. The album topped the Canadian Country Album chart, and she became the first Indigenous woman to win the Canadian Country Music Award for Female Artist of the Year the following year.
Shawanda moved fully into blues with The Whole World’s Got the Blues in 2014. Her 2020 album Church House Blues earned the JUNO Award for Best Blues Album, while 2022’s Midnight Blues made her the first Indigenous woman to debut in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Blues chart.
Her 2025 release, Sing Pretty Blues, topped the Indigenous Music Countdown and received JUNO and Canadian Blues Music Award nominations. Shawanda has accumulated two JUNO Awards from nine nominations and more than six million streams during her career.
She also founded New Sun Records in 2012, described in the release as Canada’s first female- and Indigenous-owned record label, while continuing to mentor emerging Indigenous artists.
Album Features Established Canadian and U.S. Musicians
Strobel produced, engineered and mastered Homesick Indian Blues, with additional engineering from Brandon Henegar and Nioshi Jackson. Musicians appearing across the record include Peter Keys, Stephen Hanner, Chris West, Stan Miczek and Al “Baby” Webster, alongside Perez.
The 10-song track list includes “Homesick Indian Blues,” “Cut Through The Wind,” “I’ll Play The Blues For You,” “Come Unto Me,” “Breaking Us In Pieces,” “I Think I Love You Too Much,” “You Win Again,” “I’m On Your Way Home,” “Never Ever” and “The Whole World’s Got The Blues.”
Shawanda is also scheduled for Ontario performances in January 2027, including shows in Thunder Bay on Jan. 16, Dryden on Jan. 18 and Fort Frances on Jan. 21.