Chuck Davis spends his days working as an Administrative Assistant at the Ho-Chunk Housing Authority in Tomah, WI. Most evenings and weekends are spent delivering his message, through music, throughout Indian Country. His experience, including his service as a Youth Director, has him on a mission, one that includes encouraging talented and gifted Native Americans, particularly the youth, to pick up a musical instrument and create a new voice. 

The "new voice can be a weapon of our people", he explained and "the time is right " to let the spirit of our music bring about an awareness of Native culture and at the same time, close down the walls of racism.

A part-time member of Brule' (Bruelay), a Phoenix, AZ band that strives to keep alive the traditional sound in a contemporary way, Chuck believes that because the general public is developing a keener interest in the Native American culture and tradition, "our music can help bridge cultural differences". In Milwaukee recently, Brule' was named "Group of the Year" at the Native American Music Awards and its "Star Purple" was named the best instrumental recording. For Chuck, a member of the Lakota Tribe, the award was another milestone celebrating a nearly 40-year-career making music.

Born on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Chuck is a self-taught percussionist and drummer. He recalled that as a boy he spent hours tapping fingers and beating on the furniture as the music of 50's icons like Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry filled the room. Following a move to San Francisco with his mother in 1966, he received his first set of drums for Christmas. Now a teenager, he turned up the stereo and accompanied groups like the "Grateful Dead" and "Jefferson Airplane" throughout their recordings. While in high school, he formed a band that performed at high school dances, YMCA's and other teen hangouts. He looked back and laughed that "the band played all instrumentals because none of us could sing".

Still playing primarily the recordings of other artists, Chunk enrolled at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA, where he later earned Associate Arts Degrees in Art, Philosophy and Theology. His studies, he said, along with the debate surrounding the Vietnam War and the writings of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi, helped him enhance and create his own music. Later work at the College of San Mateo, where he studied music theory and learned chord structure, prepared him for the next step in his music career.

Over the few years Chuck abandoned the music of his teens and became involved with "jazz fusion" concentrating on playing jazz and classical music with local bands in the area. About this time, he said, "I started understanding what music could be".
Chuck returned to South Dakota in 1976, where he took his talents to another theater. A member of the "Black Hills Singer Drum Group" he spent the next seven years traveling across Indian County playing Lakota ceremonial music at pow-wows and other events. Prior to dissolving in 1982, the group was heralded for its unique sound, winning various awards, including "First Place" at the White Swan, WA Pow-Wow, "the highlight of our time together", recalled Chuck.

The mid-eighties found Chuck going back to his musical roots. Taught to sing harmony and even featured as the lead singer on some songs, Chuck played in an "oldies band" reliving the sounds of the 60's and 70's. Still involved playing at pow-wows singing ceremonial songs, he left the music of the past in 1990 after deciding "I wanted to play more than just cover music". Having made the decision, he started getting more involved with and contributing to songs that focused on Native issues. He heard of Brule' then starting to blend the sounds of jazz, rock and traditional music.

Going to hear Brule' at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 1996, Chuck's reputation proceeded him. Paul LaRoche, the group's founder and leader "asked me to sit in with the band", he recalled. Thinking it was a one-time deal and vowing to that he would form a band offering a similar sound, Chuck was surprised when following the performance, LaRoche asked him to join the band. "It was a dream come true" he recalled and the next few years were spent playing the music so "spiritual in nature". Grateful that "Paul has given me the freedom to improvise while playing the drum", Chunk added the experience allowed him to grow musically, incorporating his musical knowledge as Brule' sought to bridge cultures through music. In 1998 Paul moved to Phoenix and Chuck followed, spending the next two years touring the southwest with the band.

Needing to care of personal matters, Chuck moved to Tomah in 2000, working as an Outreach Worker and serving as Committee Chair on the Indian Education Committee. In addition to being a musician, Chuck also served as a Youth Director in South Dakota, where he was a member of the Rapid City Indian Board for eight years.

Though he still performs with Brule' six to eight times a year, he concedes "that because of location, the reality is I'm going to have be replaced at Brule'". Wanting to keep the tradition and music alive he has performed with Ho-Chunk members John Jesse Thompson and Marc LaMere on a few occasions. Many of the songs, some written by John and Marc combine the sounds of jazz, blues, rock and the Native drum in the Brule' tradition.

Convinced that he can help those anxious to create a new voice through music, Chunk is determined to teach others. "I want to give back what I've been given", he stated.
Chuck lives in Tomah with his sons, Sonny, 19 and Vinnie, 14.