10 best needle drops in Reservation Dogs (so far)

The characters on Reservation Dogs love to sing—and we’re not just talking about the ones played by real musicians. (On the show, Sten Joddi portrays fictional rapper Punkin Lusty, Bear’s dad, and Lil Mike and Funny Bone take on Mose and Mekko, two rappers who bike and take their tunes around the neighborhood.) Nearly all of these guys do it. They sing “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty (first Uncle Brownie, then Willie Jack and the gang). There’s even a sweet scene in which the cop Big takes Cheese, one of the Rez Dogs, on a ride-along and introduces him to “All Indian band” Redbone, while singing along, of course. He says it’s the only tape he ever plays in his cruiser, which he has affectionately named after them: Redbone 1. (His next one will be Redbone 2.)

For a show that seeks to accurately represent Native American culture particular to some kids growing up on a reservation in rural Oklahoma, you would think that most of its music would come from indigenous artists like Redbone. Not so. Those guys are definitely in there: your Buffy St. Maries, your Link Wrays, your Lee Hazelwoods (also an Oklahoman); and they are indeed incredible. Overall, though, the show’s music is a deliberate mix, spanning artists from across generations and genres, that each uniquely reflect the vibes of the characters and the listening habits of folks from OKC area. We get everything from heart-wrenching ballads to clever folk songs to Wu-Tang Clan.

As Reservation Dogs continues its third and final season, we expect its streak of music that conjures community to continue. But for now let’s hit pause to appreciate some of the show’s best sonic selections so far.

10. “Midnight Rider,” The Allman Brothers Band (season 1, episode 5, “Come And Get Your Love”)

This one is significant mainly for the lyrics and vibe. It plays during a flashback to 1984, and we’re looking at a classic car picking up a hitchhiker. And this is a classic sort of song. It’s also a road song, with plenty of references to traveling and the like, and of course we’ve got the “Midnight Rider” herself right there in the chorus. In this case, that would be the character later identified as Deer Lady. (She appears again in the in a flashback to a tragic backstory involving the horrors of forced assimilation at the hands of “Indian Boarding Schools.”) The organ sounds and driving guitar lick make you feel like you’re on the road yourself—or at least watching this whole transaction go down from the woods, like young Big did in the ’80s.