Agalisiga "Chuj" Mackey in the Good Way Listening Room

The Good Way Listening Room is a new concert experience curated for Emporia, Kansas. Immersive and intimate, this series invites listeners to lose themselves in the moment through music.

Sometimes, it's not the meaning of a song's lyrics that get to you. It's the emotion in the singer's voice. That holds true even if the song is in a language you don't understand. - NPR, Agalisiga Mackey reflects on writing songs in his native Cherokee language

Agalisiga “The Chuj” Mackey is a Cherokee singer/songwriter who grew up in the small traditional Cherokee community of Kenwood, OK. Mackey melds a classic country and blues sound drawn from Jimmy Rodgers and R.L. Burnside with his deep baritone voice honed from his upbringing in singing Cherokee ceremonial songs. In a short time, the 21-year-old father of two has grown from covering vintage tunes down at the creek to performing on big stages around the Midwest while cultivating a growing audience among country western fans and Native Americans alike. Audiences are universally intrigued to hear the Cherokee language sung in this mode and captivated by Mackey’s authentic folksy presence on stage. Outside of his music, he is a language and culture educator at the Cherokee Immersion Charter School, where he teaches children from Pre-K to 8th grade both ceremonial songs and contemporary Cherokee music.

Agalisiga's video was selected for the NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2024 “Desk of the Day” and featured on NPR Tiny Desk Top Shelf, picked by Julien Baker.

"Mackey is part of the Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program, which teaches participants how to converse and carry on the language to future generations. “I hope to inspire other people to learn the language,” he says. “If you want to make movies and shows in Cherokee, you can do it. It’s something that we need and it’s doable. It’s absolutely doable.” - Tulsa People, 2022