Donna The Buffalo

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the wonderfully named Donna the Buffalo. Not a great lumbering beast, and not a denizen of the prairie, this particular buffalo is more likely to be found in American cities playing the kind of American music you thought had vanished with the Band, as rootsy as you like, and very firmly grounded in American traditional music, as you can hear on their new CD, Rockin' In The Weary Land (Sugar Hill).

"The four members who are the core of the band have been together about ten years now," explains fiddler, accordionist, and vocalist Tara Nevins, who, along with Jim Miller (electric guitar, vocals), Jeb Puryear (electric guitar, vocals), and Joe Thrift (keyboards, vocals) comprises that core. "We were all friends before that, and we played old-time mountain, Appalachian music. We were, and were still are, really involved in that music, going to festivals. So by the time the band started, we were already very close. It's a very family kind of scene, and very tribal, extended family. We've had other members at different times. Our bass player and drummer have been with us for a year, and have really solidified our sound. Old-time has been a very important part of our sound. One day we picked up electric instruments and began playing root-rockish music, but with this old-time sensibility we carry with us."

"One day we picked up electric instruments and began playing root-rockish music, but with this old-time sensibility we carry with us."

On the East Coast the old-time scene has remained quite strong, with any number of festivals, including Galax and Mt. Airy, and the Northeast has been a hotbed of players. "We're based in Ithaca, New York," Nevins continues, "but we're spread out on a day-to-day basis. Our keyboard player lives in North Carolina, Jim and spend a lot of time around New york City. But our office is in Ithaca, our bus is parked there, and that's where it all began." With members living a few hundred miles apart - hardly next door - it does put a crimp in their rehearsal schedule, however. "We rehearse in spurts, maybe a five-day stint, and we do a lot of rehearsing at soundchecks."

From March to September the band does spend time on the road, and "a couple of times a year we'll go out for a month, and the rest of the time it's five days here, five days there. We play up and down the East Coast, and we've gone as far West as Indiana. We've never been to the West Coast, or to Europe, although we're hoping to change that soon."

During the colder months they have the chance to record, and to get back to what remians their real love - old-time music. "Even when we're playing electric music, we never feel that we're too far away from fiddle and banjo music, or zydeco, or whatever," Nevins says. "And when we're not doing the band, we're playing old-time, and we're involved with the old-time music community. There have been a couple of times, at the end of the night when we've brought out acoustic instruments and gone into a breakdown. When we've been able to pick our openings bands, we've picked bluegrass or acoustic bands. It ties it all together for us that way."

Over the course of a decade, Donna the Buffalo has picked up a Deadhead-type fan base (Donnaheads? Buffaloheads?), as well as independently releasing two tapes and two CDs (Purple Tape, and The Ones You Love). "They financed our first two releases. We put the word out, and suddenly there were thousands of dollars from our fans."

But the move to a 'real' label was one they needed, with better distribution, and the chance to be heard more widely. "Sugar Hill heard us at MerleFest, and we heard that they'd heard us there," Nevins recounts. "We were talking to a few different record companies at the time, and we just decided to pursue them, almost casually, but the outcome was very good." And as the word spreads, it's proven to be very good indeed. Not only is there growing interest around the U.S., but Europe has perked up its head, too. The future's looking very rosy, indeed.

Oh, in case you were wondering about that name.... "We were sitting around one night trying to come up with a band name. We knew we wanted Buffalo in there, because we feel very connected to America's past. Someone suggested Dawn of the Buffalo, which somebody else misheard as Donna the Buffalo. It hit us all at the same time, and that was it.'

Some things are meant to be. You can't forget the name, and once you've heard the music, you won't forget the band. Since this article was written, Tara Nevins has released a solo record, the excellent Mule To Ride (Sugar Hill), which features guests as varied as Mike Seeger , Ralph Stanley, Jim Miller, and Moontee Sinqua.

First printed in Folk Roots