‘Come and get your love.’ Native American band Redbone in Valley Music Hall of Fame

When Patrick and Candido Vasquez-Vegas left the Valley for Los Angeles in 1959, the Coalinga-born brothers were already known for their musical talents, having attended Fresno’s Roosevelt High School and gigging around town for years.

The brothers (known as Pat and Lolly Vegas) spent a decade in Los Angeles playing Sunset Strip clubs under a variety of names before settling on Redbone. The name hinted at the their Native American heritage and came at the urging of no less than one Jimi Hendrix (if the stories are believed).

Redbone carried native themes and aesthetic into their music and performances and became wildly recognized as the first Native American rock act to gain massive popularity. They had a massive hit with “Come And Get Your Love” in 1973, which some will remember from Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundtrack).

For its successes, the band is being honored as one of five inductees to the 2023 class of the Valley Music Hall of Fame, which will host an official installation ceremony Sept. 20 at Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater.

Last year’s ceremony sold out.

The other 2023 inductees include educator/jazz saxophonist Benjamin Boone; mandolin legend Kenny Hall; Flamenco guitar master Juan Serrano and singer/recording artist Ann Thaxter.

Boone is a long-time jazz player, composer and educator who has traveled the world as a Fulbright Scholar (he’s been to Ireland, Ghana, and the Republic of Moldova). Most recently, he’s worked on a series of jazz-poetry collaborations, including two volumes with the late Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Levine.

Hall began his musical career at the School for the Blind in Berkeley, where he first started to learn and play old-time fiddle and mandolin tunes. It is said he picked up more than 1,000 tunes, which he could (and often did) perform by heart for crowds at the Sweets Mill Music Festival or as part of a old-time music collective that had a long-standing Wednesday night gig at the Santa Fe Basque restaurant in Fresno.

Serrano (Dr. Juan Serrano Rodríguez) created the guitar program at Fresno State in the 1980s, served as department chair until he retired and even then returned as a master class instructor. But he came to Fresno with an establish career as a flamenco player and teacher, having performed on Ed Sullivan show and at the White House (for President Kennedy, no less). He was featured on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine (in 1968) and has his own series of guitar tutorials under Mel Bay Publications.

Thaxter has an association with two members of Valley Music Hall of Fame. She is from the same Fresno family that produced Dick Contino and performed in the local hillbilly group with Dave Stogner (both were inducted into the inaugural class in 2021).

Thaxter appeared on a series of TV shows in the 1950s, including the Ed Sullivan Show and Captain Kangeroo. She also had a series of singles on Capital Records under Ann Leonardo, her name at the time. She would later appear as a performer an interviewer on Armed Forces Radio.

This is the third class of inductees for the Valley Music Hall of Fame.

Past inductees include Contino and Stogner, Audra McDonald, Dr. James H. Winer and Russel S. Howland (class of 2021) and Richard Hagopian, Allen and Faye Harkins, Ray Camacho, Gene Bluestein and the Fresno Musical Club (class of 2022).

Inductees are chosen by the Hall of Fame Board from public nominations and valuated on the nominee’s Valley connection and community service, recording status, professional points of interest and public visibility.

Nominations for the 2024 class are open now through Dec. 31.

The full form can be downloaded from the organization’s web page.