What happens when a U.S. Army Ranger turned storyteller digs deep into his ancestral roots — uncovering forgotten French-Canadian and Algonquin legends that spark an extraordinary creative rebirth?
In this powerful episode of The Artist Recovery Podcast, host Rich Wright sits down with Joseph Bolton — a West Point graduate, Afghanistan combat veteran, and author of “Old Grandmother’s Tree” — to explore how trauma, identity, and imagination can transform into art that heals both the creator and the culture it came from.
Watch this if you love:
Storytelling that blends mythology, family history & indigenous wisdom
Military-to-artist transformation stories• Deep conversations about resilience, empathy, and creativity after service
Ancestry, spirituality, and rediscovering your cultural roots

🪶 What’s Inside This Episode
04:00 – The Roots of Imagination: Growing up in Rhode Island’s French-Canadian Catholic culture, surrounded by ritual and folklore
10:00 – The Discovery: DNA tests reveal long-lost Native American ancestry, including the remarkable story of Mithyogoku, the courageous Algonquin ancestor who survived loss and became the “Old Grandmother” of thousands
20:00 – Turning Pain Into Art: How Joseph transformed historical research and personal grief into magical folk tales that honor resilience
35:00 – The Creative Spark: Writing through grief after losing his brother to ALS — and rediscovering storytelling as a lifeline
50:00 – Life Lessons From the Military: How discipline, detail, and determination learned in Ranger School shaped his artistry
1:10:00 – The Ghost Story That Almost Got Him Shot: The hilarious and shocking near-death moment in Afghanistan that became a viral favorite 1:15:00 – The Power of Ancestral Art: How reconnecting with heritage through writing can heal generations

Connect with Joseph:
https://oldgrandmotherstree.com/

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