ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ? Like the songs on her new album, Arigon Starr bubbles over with enthusiasm as she talks about her life and music with a passionate humor and the twist of an upbeat message.

Sixteen new songs debut on “Backflip,” Starr’s third release.

“Mountain Windsong,” her personal favorite, is a tribute and a love story. The song, inspired by a book with the same name, tells a universal tale of loss and Native peoples’ strong will to survive.

“I read the book first,” said Starr, Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, setting her characteristic black cowboy hat on the table and relaxing, following a recent rousing performance at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

“He is an amazing story teller,” Starr continued, referring to Robert J. Conley, an historical fiction writer and three-time Western Writers of America Spur Award winner.

“In addition to being a Cherokee historian, he knows the people, he knows the stories, he knows the language.”

“Mountain Windsong” tells the story of Oconeechee and Waguli, two Cherokee lovers who are separated by the Trail of Tears and their reunion after overcoming impossible obstacles.

According to the singer, the book gives a heartbreaking, historically accurate account of the Trail and how it devastated the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole and Chickasaw people.

“As my ancestors walked this trail,” said Starr, “I can’t even imagine the pain they went through. However, I know they did survive, as did thousands of others.”

Starr said she cried a lot while reading the book, while writing the lyrics and while composing the music.

“It was quite a release.”

She believes great love stories do happen. “I thought about my parents who have been married for over 40 years,” the Diva then mugs, “while a lot of us NDN girls today are like … well you know, I’ll never find the right guy (laughter)!”

Musically, the artist explains the song is loosely similar to “Mull of Kintyre” by Paul McCartney and Gram Parsons’ “Hickory Wind,” which is a wish for home.

Starr invited BR549, a country band with what one writer called “a youthful, hyper-kinetic brand of retro-rockabilly/honky-tonk” sound, to back her up on “Mountain Windsong.”

The corn-pone flavored sound woven into “Mountain Windsong” and several other pieces on “Backflip” signals a new direction for Starr, whose rainbow of styles range from rock to pop and funk, with a mostly ’60s beat.

“Share the Road,” a guitar-fueled folk anthem about removing the shackles of suppression through self-empowerment, is also a step away from her usual bouncy style. Yet, it still has an upbeat wisdom.

“I’d been playing that song on the road for years but it never made it to a record,” she said, “I sat down and wrote it one day, thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if there weren’t any CDIB cards.’”

This piece echoes Starr’s personal experiences in life.

“Something I kind of learned,” she explained, “is that you can always change your mind ? you can choose.”

According to the artist, it’s personal responsibility as to how a person lives his or her life. She feels education and putting oneself in a place to become experienced is the best way to live a dream.

“It takes practice.”

How does she keep going? “I just remember there was a time in my life when I wasn’t doing what I love to do.”

“My corporate job sucked,” she said, recalling her move to Los Angeles to follow her dream of singing and writing music professionally.

“It was awful and I had no energy for my creativity and my music. I came to a crossroads and thought, you know if you don’t focus on the music and getting the message and whatever you want to say to people out, it’s not ever going to happen.”

She’d been in L.A. for five years and nothing was happening. What changed was her mind. She quit her publicist job and devoted all of her time to bringing her dream to fruition.

“If you don’t like what’s happening, then just think differently,” Starr said directly.

Three albums later, she is the winner of a 2001 Native American Music Award (Nammy) for Song/Single of the Year and a 1999 Nammy for Best Independent Recording. She is busy touring with her new album and is scheduled to present a Living Legend award to Floyd Red Crow Westerman during this year’s Nammys. She is also looking forward to more adventures as the NDN Diva.