I PAY THE COVER and slip into the back of a packed crowd inside Launchpad, a rock club in downtown Albuquerque. It’s Gathering of the Nations weekend, when the city plays host to the largest powwow in North America, but tonight’s music showcase of Native American singer-songwriters and bands feels like a celebration all its own.

Second to last on the lineup is Midnight Stew, a genre-bending Duke City outfit that mixes country, psychedelic rock, and Americana into a warm, easy sound that fills the room. I watch the crowd grow thick, moving closer to the front as the young four-piece band checks their instruments and faces the audience. At the mic in a black cowboy hat, frontman and guitarist Greg Yazzie thanks everyone for coming. Yazzie’s record label, Chapter House, organized the evening.

As a tireless promoter of local shows, producer of albums from his label’s roster of artists, and player in multiple bands, Yazzie has emerged as a central figure in a tight-knit scene built around regional Indigenous musicians. “The idea was to promote Native bands coming from the Four Corners area, particularly from and around the Navajo Reservation,” Yazzie says. 

The roots of Chapter House go back more than a decade, when Yazzie was promoting shows in Albuquerque and throughout the Navajo Nation. “I would always look around Window Rock, Arizona, which is the heart of the Navajo Nation and happens to be the Navajo capital,” he says. “Out there, there’s no venue whatsoever, so I would take a generator, build the stage, and DIY the whole thing from the ground up.”

Midnight Stew keeps the beat. Photograph courtesy of Charles Montoya.

In those early years, Yazzie drove throughout the Southwest promoting punk rock and indie bands, many of which featured his friends. “I just tried to take different types of music out to the reservation, just to expose the kids that weren’t seeing that on the regular basis,” he says. “I remember growing up on the reservation and not having much to do out there, so I was wanting to take it back home.”

A core group of musicians formed, including Dirt Rhodes, the Flossies, and the punk group Weedrat, which features Yazzie and other members of Midnight Stew. He created the record label to release their music. “support your local rez band,” reads a promotional Chapter House sticker, proclaiming their DIY ethos. “We’re not on streaming services. We’re Bandcamp bands,” Yazzie says, referencing the online music community that caters to independent artists and labels. 

The label’s name refers to an important aspect of Diné society. “It’s a community space where people can come together and voice their concerns about their local community to representatives of the Navajo Nation,” Yazzie says. “This is my version of what the chapter house is, off the reservation.” 

Keep an ear out at nmmag.us/chapterhouse.