Andrew Gaylord is a listener. If you ask him a question he’s more than likely to want to hear your answer than to give you his own. As one-half of PlaceBase productions he’s traveled across Minnesota collecting the stories of communities and spinning them into site-specific productions. When the company was approached to create a show around the Minnesota River Valley he felt there was contentious piece of Minnesota history he couldn’t avoid.

In this podcast Andrew talks about the song “Traverse des Sioux” from After the Birds Taught me to Fly, a new production premiering June 5-7th at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The songwriter discusses his company’s process, and why he was drawn to write about the Dakota War of 1862. The podcast ends with a recording of the song ‘Traverse des Sioux’ performed by Andrew.