RRP 109 — Brian R. Sober Enough to Say Yes: Recovery, Native Roots, and Finding Purpose Through Music

When You Finally Say Yes to Your Own Life

Brian R. told us something in this episode that we haven't stopped thinking about. He was talking about the Native elders in his community — men and women who drank hard when they were young and eventually had to stop or die — and he said his whole life was preparing him to do the same thing. To stop. To become an elder. To do good. Hear it in his voice and you'll understand why we've been wanting to get him on the show for over a year.

Brian is a Klamath tribal member, an artist, and now a community radio DJ in Portland. His road to sobriety runs through two DUIs, a COVID isolation spiral, and a urine test result that stopped his intake counselor mid-sentence. He walked into that IOP intake room planning to lie his way through the program. Something shifted. You need to hear what he says happened next — and what he did with it — because listen to Episode 109 is the only way to get the full story.

What we can tell you is that sobriety gave Brian something he didn't expect: the ability to say yes. Yes to an open mic where his duet partner canceled at the last minute and he showed up anyway. Yes to a piano piece he'd written at 16 and never played for a crowd. Yes to a radio show on Shady Pines Radio where every Wednesday he puts Native American artists on the air — voices that mainstream culture keeps walking past. That show exists because Brian got sober. We think that's worth an hour and a half of your time.

If you're in recovery, know someone who is, or just need to hear what it looks like when a life reassembles itself into something real — this one's for you. Read more on our blog or sign up for our newsletter to get stories like this delivered to your inbox.

#RealRecoveryPodcast #Recovery #SoberLife #NativeAmericanRecovery #AddictionRecovery #AA #TwelveSteps #ShadyPinesRadio #NativeMusic #IndigenousVoices #PodcastsAboutRecovery @RealRecoveryPodcast