Annie's primary writing partner, Carson Gardner, wrote many of the album's lyrics. Gardner, a unique story himself, gave up a lucrative medical practice in order to better serve those in need on the reservation. The CD's title track details Carson's personal conversion, a remarkable story of a great blue heron that visited Gardner and literally changed his life. Several songs on The Heron Smiled reflect Annie's Anishinaabe Ojibwe heritage and vision. Based on her mother's story about a boy who learns a dream song and uses it to call spirit horses, it tells of the tribe's hope for a child of this generation to learn their song.
Awareness is so important in fighting prejudice.
At the end of the song I sing about the red oak, the one tree that holds its leaves all winter. Like the red oak leaves, we will always be here. But not all of Humphrey's music is political or historical. Annie's father taught her how to play the guitar when she was in the first grade. Humphrey's mother is the noted author and grandmother storyteller Anne Dunn.