Frances Densmore was born in southern Minnesota in 1867. She grew up in a household that favored serious study and musical accomplishment over fun and free time. Densmore studied music and attended the Oberlin College Conservatory in Ohio. She went on to teach music and to play the church organ in Red Wing, Minnesota.

As a child, Densmore was curious about the Dakota encampment across the river from her home. Her mother explained that the Dakota "were people with different customs from our own." Densmore continued to think about Native American culture as an adult and devoted much of her life to studying the music of indigenous nations throughout the United States, including the Anishinabe in her own home state.

In working with the Anishinabe people, Densmore learned about the group's culture and traditions from stories and songs explained to her by tribal elders. Henry Selkirk, who sang "Song of the Crows," explained that song. "A young man was fasting where his father had taken him. It was in the fall, and the flocks of crows were getting ready to go south. The young man heard the crows in the trees and imagined that he learned this song from them. Afterward the crow was his manidó because it had given him the power to understand the language of the crows. The words of the song mean that the crows are the first birds to come in the spring, and so the old-time Indians thought that the crows brought the spring rains. This was first a dream song and afterward it was used as a war dance."