BIOGRAPHY
Elexa Dawson is a mother, musician and activist living in Chase County, Kansas, the heart of the Flint Hills. She is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a descendent of the Cherokee Nation. The tallgrass prairie on ancestral Kaw and Osage territory inspires her music and advocacy. She is a founding member of Flint Hills Stewards, a direct activism group involved in challenging induced seismicity caused by dangerous oil and gas practices in Kansas. She has one adult daughter at university and her younger daughter is in elementary school. She is a founding member of an all-female acoustic roots band, Weda Skirts, (wee-da, formerly The Skirts), who have released and self-distributed two full-length albums of original music primarily written by Elexa.
Born on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in 1979, Elexa's early life was filled with music. She received 10 years of vocal training before adulthood. Her professional career began after the birth of her first daughter, as she began to play guitar and write songs, and sign up for open mic nights around Oklahoma City where she lived and worked. It was not long before she was booking professional gigs. She organized her first band, whose membership spanned Oklahoma and Kansas, and her new relationships and the beautiful landscape drew her closer to Chase County and the Flint Hills. She moved to Kansas in 2006, and has been active in the local music community ever since.
In 2009, her current project, The Skirts, was formed among friends, primarily for their own enjoyment. In 2016, they released their first full-length album, "Many Moons", named for the song Elexa wrote after her experience at Potawatomi Gathering hosted by Match-e-be-nash-e-wish near Hopkins, MI. That album also includes "Chilocco", a song written as a historical account of her Grandma Edith Martin Roberts' experiences in residence schools. The Skirts performed at the Topeka Women's March in January of 2017, and that moment solidified for them and their community what an important role The Skirts are playing, not only in the development of Kansas folk music but in the spiritual and emotional lives of their close-knit community of followers. In 2018, they released "Mother", named for a song that Elexa was told she would write by her Cherokee auntie about the Mother of us all, the earth. The same day, she wrote "Blacksnake" as a tribute to the water protectors who were arrested at Standing Rock.
In addition to being a single parent, part-time work in the service industry, activism, and her musical career, Elexa has organized Chase County Earth Day for over a decade with the help of the event's hosts at the Millstream Resort Motel in Cottonwood Falls, KS. She has been blessed with the honor of attending childbirths as a doula for women in her community. As a water carrier, she conducts private ceremony, focusing her political action around prayer. She fills in her time playing mandolin and singing in the musical group, Heyleon! that focuses on the songwriting of that group’s leader Mike Helvey, an influential Kansas folk artist.
Born on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in 1979, Elexa's early life was filled with music. She received 10 years of vocal training before adulthood. Her professional career began after the birth of her first daughter, as she began to play guitar and write songs, and sign up for open mic nights around Oklahoma City where she lived and worked. It was not long before she was booking professional gigs. She organized her first band, whose membership spanned Oklahoma and Kansas, and her new relationships and the beautiful landscape drew her closer to Chase County and the Flint Hills. She moved to Kansas in 2006, and has been active in the local music community ever since.
In 2009, her current project, The Skirts, was formed among friends, primarily for their own enjoyment. In 2016, they released their first full-length album, "Many Moons", named for the song Elexa wrote after her experience at Potawatomi Gathering hosted by Match-e-be-nash-e-wish near Hopkins, MI. That album also includes "Chilocco", a song written as a historical account of her Grandma Edith Martin Roberts' experiences in residence schools. The Skirts performed at the Topeka Women's March in January of 2017, and that moment solidified for them and their community what an important role The Skirts are playing, not only in the development of Kansas folk music but in the spiritual and emotional lives of their close-knit community of followers. In 2018, they released "Mother", named for a song that Elexa was told she would write by her Cherokee auntie about the Mother of us all, the earth. The same day, she wrote "Blacksnake" as a tribute to the water protectors who were arrested at Standing Rock.
In addition to being a single parent, part-time work in the service industry, activism, and her musical career, Elexa has organized Chase County Earth Day for over a decade with the help of the event's hosts at the Millstream Resort Motel in Cottonwood Falls, KS. She has been blessed with the honor of attending childbirths as a doula for women in her community. As a water carrier, she conducts private ceremony, focusing her political action around prayer. She fills in her time playing mandolin and singing in the musical group, Heyleon! that focuses on the songwriting of that group’s leader Mike Helvey, an influential Kansas folk artist.
