Writings from the road.

Five notes, no half-steps, no wrong combinations. The minor pentatonic scale is why the Native American flute is one of the most forgiving instruments in the world.

Three of my recordings across three different moods, plus what makes the instrument sound the way it does.

A single instrument with two chambers — a fundamental drone underneath, a pentatonic melody on top. Like a bagpipe carved from cedar.

The honest answer to 'what is the best Native American flute' — there is no single best, but there is a best-for-you. A flutist's breakdown by intended use: beginner, recording, ceremony, performance, travel.

A new track named for the Tassili n'Ajjer plateau in the Algerian Sahara, where 15,000 rock paintings record 12,000 years of human life — and where the flute, one of humanity's oldest instruments, fits into the long thread connecting the Sahara to the Native American tradition.