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Special

Stankface Standing Soldier: The Rise of Mato Wayuhi

Premiere: 6/5/2026 | 16:11 |

Watch as Oglala Lakota artist, musician, and composer Mato Wayuhi, known for his work on Reservation Dogs, draws on ancestral knowledge to inform his present artistic processes and visions for the future.

About the Series

Stankface Standing Soldier: The Rise of Mato Wayuhi is part of In The Making, a documentary shorts series from American Masters and Firelight Media follows emerging cultural icons on their journeys to becoming masters of their artistic disciplines.

Director Statement from Josiah Jones

The first time I met Mato Wayuhi, we were working on the set of the HULU/FX series Reservation Dogs. If you’ve watched the show, you should be familiar with his work, as Mato is the visionary behind the score of the Emmy-nominated series. We hit it off and quickly became friends. We bonded because we both knew what it was like to grow up within Native communities and incorporate our experiences into our crafts. As I got to know him better, I began to see how his creative process worked.  I saw this firsthand as he starred in and created the score for my short film. After seeing his brilliant mind at work I wondered how not everyone knew who Mato was.

Mato recently released his most personal and polarizing album titled “Stankface Standing Soldier.” A huge driving force for the album was his connection with where he is from—Sioux Falls, South Dakota—as well as his relationship with his father. These same themes are the primary components to this documentary. Through this medium, we give a glimpse into his music making process while also showing how his father and ancestors continue to influence both his personal work and film scoring career.

We had Mato dissect his songs to show how he found a particular chord or a sound to develop his unique style of music, giving the audience a peek into what a Mato Wayuhi concert is like and the feelings it creates. Mato’s music takes the viewer to another place that seems familiar. Stankface Standing Soldier makes one feel as though they grew up with Mato in South Dakota; dreaming of bigger things in life.

With this documentary, I wanted to get insight from a creative artist like Mato who is on the rise but continues to stay grounded and motivated. For Indian country, Mato is a great role model as an artist. Mato always incorporates his experiences, identity, and his community into his works. He also knows to have fun and live in the moment. Performing on stage and making music brings joy to Mato while his art evokes feelings that are contagious. This documentary showcases that phenomenon. When one is around someone special, they want to listen and hear what that person has to say. Mato felt that way with his father and his ancestors.

During the editing process, Mato received news that a film he scored would be premiering in the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. With the help of a friend, I was able to get footage of Mato at Sundance being in his element and around other creative Native filmmakers and artists.

I wanted people to see the hard work and effort it takes to reach opportunities outside of their hometown while also continuing to bring their identity along with them.

This is only a glimpse into Mato’s career as an artist.

This is Mato Wayuhi.

Yakoke (Thank you).

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PRODUCTION CREDITS

Directed by Josiah Jones. Produced by Blake Brown, Jeremy Charles, and Josiah Jones. Edited by Nick Buttram and Josiah Jones. Cinematography by Nick Buttram, Josiah Jones, and Jeremy Charles.

This program was produced by Little Feather Productions, LLC, which is solely responsible for its content. A production of Firelight Media in association with The WNET Group.

For IN THE MAKING, Executive Producers include Michael Kantor, Stanley Nelson, Marcia Smith, Loira Limbal, Monika Navarro and Joe Skinner. Supervising Producer is Robinder Uppal. Associate Producer is Weenta Girmay. Production Coordinator is Myrakel Baker.

About American Masters
Now in its 39th season on PBS, American Masters illuminates the lives and creative journeys of those who have left an indelible impression on our cultural landscape—through compelling, unvarnished stories. Setting the standard for documentary film profiles, the series has earned widespread critical acclaim: 28 Emmy Awards—including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special—two News & Documentary Emmys, 14 Peabodys, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, an Oscar, and many other honors. To further explore the lives and works of more than 250 masters past and present, the American Masters website offers full episodes, film outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the podcast American Masters: Creative Spark, educational resources, digital original series and more. The series is a production of The WNET Group.

American Masters is available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. PBS station members can view many series, documentaries and specials via PBS Passport. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website.

About The WNET Group

The WNET Group creates inspiring media content and meaningful experiences for diverse audiences nationwide. It is the community-supported home of New York’s THIRTEEN – America’s flagship PBS station – WLIW, THIRTEEN PBS KIDS, WLIW World and Create; NJ PBS, New Jersey’s statewide public television network; Long Island’s only NPR station WLIW-FM; ALL ARTS, the arts and culture media provider; newsroom NJ Spotlight News; and FAST channel PBS Nature. Through these channels and streaming platforms, The WNET Group brings arts, culture, education, news, documentary, entertainment, and DIY programming to more than five million viewers each month. The WNET Group’s award-winning productions include signature PBS series Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, and Amanpour and Company and trusted local news programs like NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi. Inspiring curiosity and nurturing dreams, The WNET Group’s award-winning Kids’ Media and Education team produces the PBS KIDS series Cyberchase, interactive Mission US history games, and resources for families, teachers and caregivers. A leading nonprofit public media producer for more than 60 years, The WNET Group presents and distributes content that fosters lifelong learning, including initiatives addressing poverty, jobs, economic opportunity, social justice, understanding, and the environment. Through Passport, station members can stream new and archival programming anytime, anywhere. The WNET Group represents the best in public media. Join us. 

UNDERWRITING

Original production funding for In the Making is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The National Endowment for the Arts, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Anderson Family Charitable Fund, The Marc Haas Foundation, The Charina Endowment Fund, Ambrose Monell Foundation, Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and Philip & Janice Levin Foundation.

Support for American Masters is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick Foundation, Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, Koo and Patricia Yuen, Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, Seton J. Melvin, Thea Petschek Iervolino Foundation, Candace King Weir, Anita and Jay Kaufman, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, The Ambrose Monell Foundation, Ellen and James S. Marcus, The Charina Endowment Fund, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, The Marc Haas Foundation and public television viewers.

TRANSCRIPT

(slow beat) - [Mato's Father] I'm just recording this for my family here so that they can remember this song, that hopefully my children learn it and keep it.

Ho, hey, my voice ain't very good, but I'll try my best.

(upbeat music) ♪ Woo-hoo ♪ ♪ Hoo ♪ ♪ Acting fancy, Lord please ♪ ♪ Like you ain't come in sweat lodge, begging for b.. ♪ Fireworks ♪ - Music is just kind of my compass and how I find a lot of navigation through life and it's what leads me to where I need to go, honestly.

It's how I process things.

It's how I celebrate things.

It's h.. Music to me is a vessel to communicate what was before and what is now and what's coming next.

My name is Mato Wayuhi.

I'm from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

I'm Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge, South Dakota and I do art, I do music, and I compose for film and television sometimes.

♪ My father said son, why the long stankface ♪ ♪ Life is short, go embrace ♪ (audience cheering) (upbeat music) So I make solo music under that name, Mato Wayuhi.

And that kind of entails me doing a little bit of everything for my own music.

So I produce it, write it, record it, arrange it, all those types of things.

And then I also do scoring for film and TV.

So that just means making all the original music for what you see on the big screen.

(spray paint spraying) (rap music plays) ♪ Yeah, oh so bona fide ♪ I didn't know I'd have a crew until Reservation Dogs.

I had no idea that that was like possible at all.

(laid back music) Life as a composer is pretty dynamic I would say.

I have the privilege of working on a lot of different stories and a lot of different projects with a lot of different people and that's one of my favorite parts about composing is the collaborative process.

And I get to also pull from my emotional experiences that I might not do otherwise in my solo work.

♪ Way on, way on ♪ ♪ Yah yah ♪ I got a call from one of the producers of the film about Leonard Peltier, his imp.. You know, I'm from there and those are my ancestors.

Those are my relatives on screen.

So I felt very comfortable and secure in like telling their story and making that music for it.

And so yeah, it brought me much closer to my roots, which was really cool.

I definitely think my own music is still what I champion and it's like what I lead with.

(vocalizing) Alright, quit messing around, just a sec.

Come on.

Try to make music, try to make history.

(bass playing) (laid back music) I grew up in kind of Central Sioux Falls, but I spent summers out in Pine Ridge and stuff like that and I still love going home.

You know, I love it because it's where I create the most freely and openly, 'cause I'm able to really let my hair down when I'm home and I get to hang out with my family.

- What I remember of him was like, he was always smiling and he was always laughing.

- Boom!

- [Theresa] Just doing things and just creative.

- Great mother of Scott, on my back, there's not, she gets up and starts running around, children screaming this terrible stuff.

- There's a big part of him that's still the same kid.

- I had no entry point for music making.

I didn't have anybody in my immediate family who did music from like a western standpoint, at least.

Like ceremonially, there was a lot of music like going to sweat lodge and sun dances and whatnot.

So from a cultural standpoint, there was a lot of like external expression within music.

But in terms of my own music, I didn't know what it was growing up.

I just knew that when I would close my eyes and listen to music, I just went somewhere else and I couldn't, it couldn't be stopped.

And it was a weird, beautiful, immersive, kind of visceral experience.

(audience cheering) (crowd noises) (audience cheering) I think we're here now.

I think we're here now.

I think we're here now!

So this year I just released a new album, so I'm gonna play a few Jimmy Jams from that one, okay?

Oh, it's also time to dance.

I don't know if you got the email but it's time .. (laid back music playing) I really want to get on this speaker.

(feedback squeaking) (audience laughing) I think I always was outgoing growing up.

This like proclivity to perform was intrinsic in me.

♪ Your neighbors know my name ♪ I love getting up on stage and taking people somewhere.

I just want them to come to this space and they can just let it go and just have fun.

♪ South Dakota raised ♪ ♪ Yeah, I was really working three ass jobs ♪ ♪ Earning minimum wage ♪ ♪ While getting my degree to honor those who ha.. ♪ Your boy tried to behave, Lord how did I make it ♪ ♪ Out of Southern California with a piece of me saved ♪ ♪ We was really in the cut, bleeding money to stay ♪ ♪ Up in Pasadena praying that the puddles ♪ ♪ Would all huddle to make us some waves ♪ ♪ Without taking the bait ♪ ♪ Tribulations & trial-stricken, this was w.. ♪ Your neighbors know my name ♪ That's I think why I take it so serious, 'cause it's such like a spiritual relinquish.. ♪ Your neighbors ♪ When I'm on stage you can feel people letting themselves go and having fun and just going somewhere that they don't always get to go to.

Alright, I'm coming in, come on, come on.

That's kind of my philosophy with performances Like I'm gonna show you my cards first so I'll be up there and be silly and then folks will start to feel like they can be like that.

(audience cheering) (music plays) ♪ Yeah, when and got a raise ♪ This is a song called Stankface, and how I started with this song was I found this sample, so this is what it sounds like originally.

(bass riff) But I was like, huh, maybe I should pitch it up in octave.

(riff played higher) And I like that because its texture remains, but it has a different feel to it, you know what I mean?

And it made me just feel like family and think about family.

So I started with that, (riff plays again) and then I found this most disgusting little bass thing.

Like I was like, I want something to just cut through and kind of give voice to that stankface mentality.

So that's how I found.

(bass thumping) So I just did that little walk down and then together you get that first part.

(beat playing) ♪ Went and got a raise ♪ ♪ Made my own parade, yo ♪ ♪ I guess you can say ♪ ♪ Ain't no rain, no ♪ This year I released an album called Stankface Standing Soldier.

I thought of it because my last name is Standing Soldier, so my government name is Mato Standing Soldier.

There was kind of a reclaiming of that name 'cause I was bullied for it growing up.

So I felt it felt cool, it felt kind of, what does it mean to embrace that name?

♪ Go roam with your buddies from back home ♪ All of my favorite music has two parts to it.

There's always the song that kind of transitions into something else.

I think that's also just kind of indicative of the album Stankface Standing Soldier.

There's these two parts to it, you know what I mean?

So this song kind of being its namesake, I want it to like, I think it inherently and like unknowingly do that.

You know what I mean?

♪ Miss 'em every day, hoo ♪ And it's my most personal work definitely.

And it goes through a lot of life experiences I've had in terms of falling in love, falling outta love, moving through the grief of losing my dad.

He was a huge person in my life and so that was the immediate component to it.

He knew I was becoming my own Native person, a Native community member.

And he never was suffocating, you .. he let me find myself an Indian country.

♪ Woke up this morning, thank the Creator for today ♪ When I was considering what the cover should be, we were going through different photos of my dad and there's one in particular that I found and it's this image of him in this white long sleeve tee and this red beret.

So this album, I said, well that's me.

That photo of my father is me in so many different ways.

And so I felt such an urgency to like put him on the cover.

'cause in a lot of ways the album is dedicated to him.

- [Mato's Father] It's bad when we lose these songs.

But this song here was sung by my até, you can think about them and the generations to come.

- Sometime before he passed, he recorded these voice memos and they were just Lakota songs.

He was pretty fluent in Lakota, and he was teaching us up until he died.

And so there's this one song, the pipe filling song, and the album ends with him talking about that song.

But there's a moment and you know when like Lakota men speak from that generation that, I'm gonna tell you these things and oh - [Mato's Father] Hey, my voice ain't very good, but I'll try my best.

- So he like breaks character right there, And I was like, I loved all parts of my dad, but I specifically really geeked out about that little moment of breaking character.

And yeah, it's relatable.

Like I feel like that every time befor.. I'm just like, okay, my voice isn't very good, but I'll try my best.

And so yeah, I just love that littl.. you know what I mean?

And so yeah, that's the through line, that's the fabric of the entire al.. That's how it starts and that's how it ends.

That was a really such a treat about this album because I felt like I was in conversation with like all of my ancestors, literally.

I mean they're on the album, like you can hear their voices throughout.

So yeah, super sick.

♪ But I stayed with you until your grave ♪ ♪ Thank you for all that you gave ♪ - [Mato's Father] Standing Soldier, what's your Lakota name?

(laid back music) - His dad was so proud of him and was so supportive of him and he knew that Mato was gonna go places.

And that's what we talked about.

We knew that one day he would be successful.

One thing that we really liked was that it was him, you know, it was his words, his feelings, and how he talked about society and the things that as Indigenous people we experience.

And it was right on.

Whatever he sings and talks about in his son.. I get it, you know, as an elder, I get it.

And his dad got it.

And I believe that whatever he does in his lifetime, if he puts his mind to it, and everything into it, he's going to make it.

And the relatives, the ancestors will help him there.

- So much of the album was such a victory lap for me because you never get over grief, you never get over losing a parent and you're never the same.

What you do though is you learn a relationship with that grief and you learn to grow with it and it kind of goes with you wherever you go.

Once it came out and people were talking to me and fans were coming up and telling me what it was like and to give that relief to people of like what it is to lose someone, what it is to celebrate someone, you just see life differently.

And it was really nice to make this album for him.

(inspiring music) - [Mato's Father] I'm just recording this for my family here so that they can remember this song and hopefully my children learn it and keep it someday for their children and their great grandchildren.

It's bad when we lose these songs, but this song here was sung by my até.

My voice ain't very good, but I'll try my best.

- The places that art has been able to take me has been, I've been very grateful for.

I think I embrace life with what it gives me.

And then I'm embraced in return.

That's the greatest legacy that I can have and also the greatest way I can honor my dad and my ancestors.

So that's also why I take what I do so serious.

'Cause I'm like, well, I'm living my dream.

I'm living my grandma's dream, I'm living my great grandpa's dream.

You know, they always wanted to do stuff like this.

They always wanted to have the freedom to create.

And so he, I think I was doing that for him.

I just love creating, getting ideas out and working with people and I'll continue to do that 'cause that's what I'm here to do.

♪ Yeah, went and got a raise ♪ ♪ And made my own parade, yeah ♪ ♪ I guess you could say ♪ ♪ Ain't no rain, no ♪ ♪ Yeah, went and got a raise ♪ ♪ Got to get the cash out ♪ ♪ And made my own parade ♪ ♪ I can be the man now ♪ ♪ I guess you could say ♪ ♪ Ain't no rain, no ♪ (audience cheering) (upbeat music plays) (upbeat music continues) (clapper snaps)