About Me — ElizaBeth Hill

Mohawk/Storyteller/Singer

If you look on the satellite image of Google Maps and check out Six Nations Reserve №40, you’ll see a green space marked off by a grid. That’s where I was born. The green space was much larger then. We were surrounded by farmland up and down the Grand River back when when Toronto was still in Toronto and if anyone heard of a developer he owned a drive up photo shop or at least an Irish pub. When you travel through the area today the Reserve is surrounded by ugly cracker box developments or overpriced and overbuilt houses in a tangled string of cul de sacs that a deer would never enter for fear of getting lost. However, no matter where I rest my feet, it is still home.

So it was here I was immersed in music, art, hard work and hard play and became strong in body and convictions. I prefer the word tenacious to stubborn. Growing up I was guided by a very musical and artistic mother who shaped my inter-disciplinary arts life today.

I attended Belmont University in Nashville, TN studying Music Business while songwriting for a music publisher. Like everyone else I took part-time jobs as a waitress, house-cleaner, receptionist, and my favourite, an emergency room admissions clerk.

I once spent the day at Johnny Cash’s house.

I actually skipped classes that day to work as a photographer’s assistant. I wasn’t passing that up.

Music became the magic and Nashville was the muse.

For years I lived and worked in Nashville learning from the best of many brilliant and successful songwriters. Writers nights at Douglas Corner and the Bluebird Cafes were my favourite whether I was playing or not. I learned to say ya’ll and I learned my craft. Eventually the time came for me to return to Canada and I did spouting an southern accent crossed with my Rez dialect that hung around for years.

Waiting for me there was a world of Indigenous music.

I am extremely proud to have shared stages with Buffy Sainte Marie, Willlie Dunn, Floyd Westerman, Shingoose and comedian Charlie Hill all of whom were instrumental in breaking through the barriers to Native North Americans in the entertainment industry long before I even thought of picking up a guitar.

After moving back to Six Nations I decided to return to school acquiring a diploma in Social Work and took music into the area of Indigenous community development working with victims of trauma and in suicide prevention. I continued to write stories, songs, score for film and video, work at visual and multi-media arts, and created a discipline for addressing vocal inhibitions I call Breath Body and Voice. Other fun storytelling methods I use are soundscapes and photography. I love photographic art whether digitally produced or by hand.

Just when I start getting comfortable with life it takes a turn or a nice flip and I find myself either in an internal or external move to keep up. Although I no longer work in trauma recovery, I will always be working to further Indigenous communities, lives and languages.

I am writing, writing, writing and ended up on Medium through the advice of a great friend.

Interests & Hobbies

Reading, canoeing, hiking, interesting cook books and international cuisine, rare books, researching history and travel. I like to encourage self-development and peace through the arts.

You can find more information at www.elizabethhillmusic.ca https://www.facebook.com/ElizaBethHillMusic https://www.instagram.com/elizabethhillmusic