The Ponca in Oklahoma began to pray with peyote medicine about 1900 or a little earlier. The first Ponca to use this medicine was Robert Buffalohead. According to Joe Rush, his nephew:

I don't know where he got it, but he ran it his own way. Later I guess he went to Cheyenne country, or they came here, and gave him a fireplace. * It was Ruben Taylor who gave it to him.
After that, Quanah Parker came up here and gave Ed Packhorse a Comanche fireplace. This old man, this Comanche man, told old man Ed, "I'm going to give you these four songs. The rest are Comanche songs. But some day the young generation are going to sing their own songs. But these four songs, they are going to use them." So we do that - we use them Comanche songs - the starting song, the midnight song, the morning song or water song, and the quitting song. But the rest, we use our own songs.

Today, seventy years later, the Ponca are still good friends with the Comanche, and often attend meetings in Comanche country. Likewise, Comanches often visit Ponca country to pray with their Ponca friends. Many Poncas like to sing Comanche songs as well as their own Ponca songs. For this recording, however, we particularly wanted to present the songs of the Ponca. We are indeed grateful to the men who have agreed to appear in these three volumes, and we are very happy to present these Ponca songs.
* To give a "fireplace" to someone gives him the right to lead a peyote meeting in a particular way.