Jamie hails from Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Montana – home of the Aaniih and Nakoda tribes. Under the wing of local fiddler Marvin Morin, Jamie learned the Métis tunes and tradition by joining house sessions and sitting next to Marvin at the local square dances.
Métis fiddle music is a mixture of Celtic, French, and Native American cultures. Jamie and her family have been fortunate to play with master traditional Métis fiddlers Jimmie LaRocque and Mike Page of the Turtle Mountain reservation, John Arcand of Saskatoon, and Marvin Morin in Montana. Those old-style, traditional-lineage players firmly root Jamie in the Métis tradition deep into the 19th century. Coming from within the tradition herself, she represents the continuance of this generation, maintaining a style and repertoire that date back to the fur trade era of the 17th century and the first generation of European and Aboriginal mixing in the upper reaches of the North American continent.
