Trent Agecoutay and Thicker Than Blood Music (Module 8 Mini-Assignment)

Trent Agecoutay 

I stumbled upon Trent Agecoutay's socials through a work email last week, which was a coincidence, given how relevant his work is to this week's module! Trent embodies Indigenous storytelling as a means of community (Hausknecht), reconciliation (Tekobbe), and identity (Mines). On top of that, Trent's songs prove to be an ideal continuation of oral storytelling; his content contains digital stories (through platforms like Instagram and podcasts) to bridge intergenerational relationships (Hausknecht), while his published tour dates will help people connect live and bypass the tech access issues that may come with online representations (Wilcox).

Thicker Than Blood Music

Trent's digital storytelling continues with Thicker Than Blood Music, which houses his professional work, along with another Indigenous artist, Cory Young. Both Trent and Cory work to incorporate their Indigenous roots into their music through joint values of community and heritage, helping to Indigenize the Western music space with the "intimate and participatory nature of oral storytelling [that] opposes colonial efforts to erase and rewrite Indigenous history" (Mines).
Thicker Than Blood Music preserves Cory and Trent's narratives through its simplicity (making it accessible to all) and integrating Indigenous symbols throughout the site. By showcasing Trent and Cory's work, the site highlights their sovereignty over their music, and participates in decolonization by allowing them to take ownership of their stories and assert themselves in the Western landscape: "telling [their] stories challenges white supremacy because it makes visible who [they] are" (Tekobbe). Trent and Cory's The Deadly Uncle Podcast furthers this by creating "a safe space to connect Indigenous men and boys to their culture and communities." Through each interview, the podcast “promotes belonging and social inclusion to support the physical and mental well-being of Indigenous men and boys." The site's one downside is the lack of female Indigenous representation, which further perpetuates the Digital Gender Divide (Gupta and Trehan). However, the site's overall presence is positive. It boasts creative Indigenous talent, promotes digital and oral storytelling, fosters a sense of community, practices decolonization through Indigenization, and creates an inclusive, nurturing, and safe space for Indigenous digital stories to flourish. 

"Thomas King writes that “the truth about stories is that’s all we are” (Tekkobe, 37).

Works Cited

Gupta, Sneha, and Trehan, Kulveen. “Twitter reacts to absence of women on Wikipedia: a mixed-methods analysis of #VisibleWikiWomen campaign.” Media Asia, vol 49, no. 2, 14 Mar. 2021, pp. 130–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/01296612.2021.2003100

Hausknecht, Simone, et al. “Sharing Indigenous Knowledge through Intergenerational Digital Storytelling: Design of a Workshop Engaging Elders and Youth.” Educational Gerontology, vol. 47, no. 7, Jan. 2021, pp. 285–96. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2021.1927484.

Mines, Sara. “Storytelling as a Method of Indigenization." Abenaki Language and Cultural Preservation, Middlebury College, 2019, https://sites.middlebury.edu/abenaki/storytelling-as-a-method-of-indigenization.

Tekobbe, Cindy. “Indigenous Storytelling and Ways of Thinking and Being.” Indigenous Voices in Digital Spaces, University Press of Colorado, 2024, pp. 32–51. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.19307138.7. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.

Thicker Than Blood Music, 7 Dec. 2024, thickerthanbloodmusic.com/home.

Willox, Ashlee Cunsolo, et al. “Storytelling in a Digital Age: Digital Storytelling as an Emerging Narrative Method for Preserving and Promoting Indigenous Oral Wisdom.” QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, vol. 13, no. 2, Apr. 2013, pp. 127–47. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794112446105.