{{Short description|American musician, writer and activist}} {{Infobox writer | name = Roxy Gordon | birth_date = March 7, 1945 | death_date = {{death date and age|2000|2|7|1945|3|7}} | genre = | nationality = American | occupation = Poet, Novelist, Musician, Activist | birth_place = Ballinger, Texas }}
'''Roxy Lee Gordon''' (March 7, 1945 – February 7, 2000) was an American poet, novelist, musician, multimedia artist, and activist.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newsouthernfugitives.com/southern-lit-presents-roxy-gordon/|title=Southern Lit Presents: Roxy Gordon {{!}} The New Southern Fugitives|last=TNSF|date=2018-08-22|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-02}}</ref> Described as a "progressive country witness and outlaw poet,"<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Jasinski|first=Laurie E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CE8xiT3pV6QC&dq=%22roxy+lee+gordon%22&pg=PT652|title=Handbook of Texas Music|date=2012-02-22|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=978-0-87611-297-7|language=en}}</ref> Gordon often used spoken vocals accompanied by music that mixed Native American rhythms with country and Western themes and musicians working in Texas.
== Background and education == Gordon was raised in Talpa, Texas, and lived there later in his life.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Seventh Generation: An anthology of Native American plays|others=D'Aponte, Mimi, Theatre Communications Group|isbn=1-55936-147-6|edition=First|location=New York|oclc=38886676|year = 1999}}</ref> He identified as being of white, Choctaw, and Assiniboine ancestry. A report from Texas Monthly alleged that he was a "pretendian", concluding that he had no Native American heritage. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has stated that Gordon was not enrolled with the tribe. Gordon's son John Calvin has stated that he has found no evidence that his father had Choctaw heritage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/roxy-gordon-texas-history-music-writer-pretendian/ |title=His Art Was Real. His Native American Heritage Wasn’t. |publisher=Texas Monthly |accessdate=2024-04-03}}</ref>
== Publishing == In the late 1960s, his wife Judy and he lived in Lodge Pole, Montana, where he published the ''Fort Belknap Notes'', a newsletter of the Fort Belknap reservation.<ref name=":0" /> In the 1970s, they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and ran a country-music magazine, ''Picking up the Tempo''. Gordon was also involved in the American Indian Movement and helped find a local chapter in Dallas.<ref name=":0" /> His writing was featured in ''Rolling Stone'' and the ''Village Voice''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/some-things-he-did-6395603|title=Some things he did|last=Liles|first=Jeff|date=2000-05-11|website=Dallas Observer|access-date=2020-03-02}}</ref> and he ran a small publishing company called Wowapi.<ref> {{Cite web | title = Roxy Gordon on Native American Authors | accessdate = 2012-08-14 | url = http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A390 }}</ref>
== Writing == In addition to music and spoken word, Gordon published six books and more than 200 poems, articles, and short fiction; he also coauthored two plays with Choctaw poet and author LeAnne Howe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fgo78|title=GORDON, ROXY LEE [FIRST COYOTE BOY] {{!}} The Handbook of Texas Online{{!}} Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)|date=2014-08-07|website=tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=2020-03-02}}</ref> From July 1992 to February 2000, Gordon published over 100 articles for the ''Coleman Chronicle & Democrat-Voice.'' Gordon had a following in England<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Greaves|first=Brendan|date=2018|title=What I Learned from Gay Country, Communist Disco, and a Choctaw Poet's Sermon on Immigration|journal=Southern Cultures|language=en|volume=24|issue=3|pages=6–29|doi=10.1353/scu.2018.0029|s2cid=149594173|issn=1534-1488}}</ref> as well as the U.S., and his circle included singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt and others who respected poetic narratives.<ref>''[https://www.amazon.com/Polish-Gypsy-Ghost-Poets-Projects/dp/B000N45T5O Polish Gypsy with Ghost]''. Chapbook and vinyl single, 1993.</ref>
== Works == His works include:<ref>{{Cite book|last1=McClinton-Temple|first1=Jennifer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5pbAgAAQBAJ&dq=roxy+gordon+&pg=PT1073|title=Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature|last2=Velie|first2=Alan|date=2015-04-22|publisher=Infobase Learning|isbn=978-1-4381-4057-5|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1"> {{Cite web|url=http://www.lonestarwebstation.com/roxygordon.html|title=Roxy Gordon Memorial Page|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040404090536/http://www.lonestarwebstation.com/roxygordon.html|archivedate=2004-04-04|accessdate=2012-08-14}}</ref>
*''Some Things I Did'' (1979), {{ISBN|978-0884260127}} *''Breeds''<ref>Davis, R. M. (1986). Roxy Gordon: "breeds" (book review). ''Studies in Short Fiction, 23''(3), 333.</ref> (1984) Austin, Tex.: Place of Herons, {{ISBN|0916908283}} *''Unfinished Business'' (1985) *''At Play in the Lord's Fields'' (1986) *''West-Texas Mid Century'' (1988) *''Crazy Horse Never Died'' (1989) *''Kerrville Live (1993)'' *''Revolution in the Air'' (1995) *''Smaller Circles'' (1997) *''Townes Asked Did Hank Williams Ever Write Anything as Good as Nothing'' (2001)
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Roxy}} Category:1945 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century American musicians Category:Activists for Native American rights Category:American Indigenous rights activists Category:American male musicians Category:American male writers Category:American people who self-identify as being of Choctaw descent Category:American people who self-identify as being of Sioux descent