American Indian dancers are famous for their elaborately feathered costumes, graceful dance moves and rhythmic music.

But tonight at Riverbend, an Oklahoma group will perform the familiar American Indian dances, then pick up guitars, saxophones and harmonicas for a little American blues.

“We want people to know that Indian people still have their cultural way: languages, song and dance,” said Terry Tsotigh, leader of Blues Nation, which will perform on the Unum Stage. “But our group also shows that we live in modern times, and that we like the music of today.”

Blues Nation’s visit is being funded in part by a Tennessee Arts Commission grant, which was underwritten by Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park. Friends of Riverbend are paying the other half of the band’s fee and expenses, said Shelley Andrews, executive director of Friends of Moccasin Bend.

“We have helped sponsor a Native American presence at Riverbend for three years,” Ms. Andrews said.

Most of those performers had been traditional dancers, Ms. Andrews said, and it was time for something different.

“This year, it seemed to me, that what the friends of Moccasin Bend needed to do was to try to bring Native American artists that see their Native American identity as important, but it’s not their sole identity,” she said.

Ms. Andrews, while on a trip to Oklahoma, found Mr. Tsotigh’s group and invited him to the eight-day riverfront festival.

As it turns out, the Unum Stage, erected in front of the Hunter Museum of American Art, is just a few hundred yards from the John Ross Landing, regarded as the start of the Trail of Tears, the march from Chattanooga to Oklahoma that killed more than 4,000 Cherokees between 1838 and 1839.

“Rather than being some monument to the tragic story, the riverfront is a celebration of the survival of the culture,” Ms. Andrews said.

Mr. Tsotigh said he is eager to share that message with a Chattanooga audience tonight.

“We want people to know there are still Native Americans, that we are still going,” he said. “A lot of people think most Indians are dead now. We want everyone to see that we still have pride in where we came from.”