Like their namesake heirloom apple variety, Red June has strong roots in the Appalachian tradition while constantly forging new ground in Americana music.
Red June is an acoustic trio based in Asheville, NC who creates and performs beautifully distilled Americana music. They are making waves with their dynamic, yet refined sound that features striking 3-part harmonies, tasteful instrumental work and honest, soulful songwriting that seamlessly blends old-time, bluegrass, roots rock and traditional country music. Poised to release their second full-length album, Beauty Will Come, on June 5th, 2012, listeners can expect an album to fall in love with. “The record is a brilliant integration of old-time, bluegrass, and beyond, and feels like a holding of hands… the blend is beautiful,” says singer/songwriter Kari Sickenberger of Polecat Creek.
Red June is made up of Will Straughan on resonator guitar, vocals and guitar, John Cloyd Miller on mandolin, vocals and guitar, and Natalya Weinstein on fiddle and vocals. The three have been longtime friends and first jammed together at a pickin’ party in Asheville in 2005. In late 2008 they formed Red June and went on to release their debut album Remember Me Well in 2010. Remember Me Well was voted the #1 regional release of 2010 by the listeners of the southeast’s premier independent radio station WNCW. “For those who seek well-crafted songwriting and impeccable musicianship, you just can’t go wrong with the acoustic instrumentation and powerful harmonies of Red June’s Remember Me Well. It’s an exciting debut from a collective of outstanding performers,” writes Chris Mateer in No Depression.
Beauty Will Come was recorded and mixed in late 2011 at Hollow Reed Arts Studio in Asheville by musician/engineer extraordinaire Chris Rosser, who co-produced the record along with Red June. The innovative young graphic artist, Peter Gaillard, designed the album art using an old lithograph of a Mourning Cloak butterfly. The image resonates with the album’s themes of transition, hope, loss and renewal.
More personal than their debut album, Beauty Will Come begins with an uplifting song by Straughan titled “These Old Chains.” “Every Hard Mile”, by Miller, is an expansive song featuring the band’s signature 3-part harmonies. Track three is an exciting old-time inspired fiddle tune written by Weinstein & Miller titled “Piney Branch Breakdown.” Straughan then brings us “All that the Fall Leaves,” a playful waltz about the search for true love.
“Bittersweet” is a pensive song from Weinstein, and is the song from which the album title was drawn. Next is the only cover song on the record, a gospel a capella originally recorded by Ralph Stanley called “I’m Willing to Try.” Following, is John’s nod to his bluegrass heritage with “Cloud of Dust.” Straughan’s beautiful and powerful “Soul’s Repair” follows and Miller then brings us the light-hearted “Foolish Me.” Next is a set of Irish reels, “Scott’s/Connors” penned by Straughan and named after his young guitar student and student’s brother. The final track on the album “Red Sky of Morn” is a collaborative song written by all three band members along with Laurelyn Dossett.
Red June is already well underway to becoming a longtime southern favorite, akin to the Appalachian heirloom apple variety from which they gleaned their name. Ripening early with a full balance of flavors, Red June is touring across the country and has performed at the renowned Music City Roots live radio show in Nashville as well as the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival and Suwannee Springfest. They will also be performing three days at the 25th anniversary MerleFest in April of 2012. As acclaimed songwriter & musician Joe Newberry says, “Red June is one of our truly great bands. They never fail to talk the talk and walk the walk.” Red June is sure to capture eyes and ears with their new release, Beauty Will Come.
Asheville’s Moses Atwood will be teaming up with Johnson’s Crossroad for a Co-Bill at the Lexington Ave. Brewery on Friday, March 30th.
Moses will be celebrating the release of his NEW album One Bright Boat. Joining Moses for his set will be Dave Mack on bass, Jacob Baumann on Drums, Evan Martin on Guitar, and other special guests! Moses will also be sitting in with Johnson’s Crossroad (JXR) for a song or two.
Johnson’s Crossroad has a lot in store this year and are going to be heading back in the studio to record a 3rd album. Their 2011 release Mockingbird was voted #7 on WNCW’s Top 20 Regional Albums! Having played around 140 shows in 2011, they continue on their travels and are performing Merlefest for the 3rd year in a row and were added to the John Hartford Memorial Fest in IN and Band Lands Bluegrass in WV in 2012!
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Moses Atwood sets sail with sophomore effort, One Bright Boat It’s been four years since singer/songwriter Moses Atwood (also known for his work with Johnson’s Crossroad and The Overflow Jug Band) released his self-titled debut. That was in 2008; suddenly last fall Atwood decided it was time to put together his new collection of songs, One Bright Boat. So he rounded up a group of musicians and headed to Waking Studio, the new digs of Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog) in Philadelphia. There, Atwood and company knocked out the nine tracks in a mere week. The songs, he says, were culled from the years since his first album. While some date back to when he lived in Maine, most were written in North Carolina over the last few years.
Atwood choose Waking Studio because he wanted to take his musicians (including Michael Libramento of Floating Action) out of their routines. And it was time: “I’d found so many ways of circumventing the actual making of the record that I was like, ‘book the dates, get the people and do it.’” A week is a push, but, Atwood says, “Limitations are a really valuable thing in any artistic process — how many limitations and how you impose them is the trick.”
One Bright Boat doesn’t sound pressured or hurried. It opens with rollicking piano, the easy jingle of tambourine and tasteful flourishes of guitar. Atwood’s voice is what colors in the picture, relaxed and rich, rising effortlessly in a warm baritone.
“I’m tired of being the sad man, tired of all the sad songs. I’m tired of living my life like I’ve done something wrong,” he imparts on the spirit-lifting, cloud- parting title track.
If Atwood’s first record paid homage to his troubadour heroes (Woody Guthrie, Utah Phillips), One Bright Boat is less road-weary and more refined as Atwood leaves the minstrel role for that of bandleader in the style of Van Morrison and Randy Newman.
Running like a current through the record is Atwood’s talent for telling a story in fleeting images and washes of sound. These aren’t ballads but modern song-sketches of places longed for and passed through, people met and parted with, time passing. There’s space on each track — an easy flow of tides and waltzes (“California”), of pedal steel accents and Atwood’s comfortable flannel- and-bourbon vocal polished with (on “At Last”) gospel and brass.
“In recording, I feel like you’re recreating or capturing a moment in time,” says Atwood. “With modern recording you’re at constant great risk of losing the value of the moment, losing the essence of what you’ve got going on. But if you go all for capturing the moment, you don’t have a record, you just have a live performance. There’s a balance that the best records achieve.”
For a young artist, Atwood comes admirably close to that balance. It’s an album that rings both fresh and familiar, of-a-time and timeless. With One Bright Boat, Atwood’s ship comes in.
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Johnson’s Crossroad has been described by friends and fans as everything from “Appalachian Soul” to “Hillbilly Metal.”
The band blends blues, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, and Appalachian Old Time for a sound that The Daily Times’ Steve Wildsmith calls “both mournful and jubilant, breezy and graveyard serious.” He goes on to comment that frontman Paul Johnson’s voice “barely rises above a growl, but he stretches that sound to encompass the experience of a train-hopping hobo and the wisdom of an old man recalling loves lost and wars fought from the porch of a backwoods cabin.”
Their 2011 album Mockingbird puts songwriter Paul Johnson in line with names like Guy Clark or Zac Brown and his powerful voice evokes memories of folk stars like Taj Mahal or Burl Ives. The Wilmington Star News describes, “It’s gruff and easygoing, like a mix of Tom Waits and Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem.“ AmericanaUKexclaims, “With ‘Mockingbird’ Johnson’s Crossroad seem to have just proved themselves to be one of the finest Roots rockers around right now.” The album was voted the #7 Regional albums of 2012 by WNCW!
The sincerity of Johnson’s songs and simplicity of his lyrics make you want to pour a brew, put your feet up or head to the hills. Asheville’s Bold Life call the band a “treat to see live” and says that, “Paul Johnson has a knack for creating powerful visuals with straightforward lyrics.” Dobro, mandolin and fiddle back up Johnson’s clean lyrics on some, other times its simple finger picking to a folksong.
“I like to keep the words simple,” said Paul Johnson. “I try and follow Hank Williams as much as possible, let the words tell the story and the music back it up,” Johnson said. His inspiration is simple yet intently focused. “I was born in the mountains of West Virginia, I’ve always been in the mountains all my life,” said Johnson who now calls Asheville, NC home.
“This is what I’ve always wanted to do, travel around and pick guitar,” said Johnson, who writes the majority of the songs for Johnson’s Crossroad. Watching his back is mandolin player Keith Minguez, a strong friendship at the core of the group.
“In 1998 I met Paul and I saw John Hartford on my first visit to MerleFest, it was life changing” said Minguez. Then in 2004 he had enough, “I was 30, living in Florida, drinking with my dad’s buddies and they all said the same thing, ‘drink scotch and water and never stop chasing your dream.’” He called Paul and in 13 hours was at his door with mandolin in hand. ”If Keith wasn’t around nothing would get done,” laughed Johnson. Friends Corey Lee McQuade (Dobro, banjo, harmonies) and Moses Atwood (keyboard, Dobro, harmonies) sit in on variety of gigs, and often other friends join in support Johnson’s constant search for great sound.
The band is returning to Blue Ridge Big Sky Music Studio (appropriately topping a peak above Moravian Falls, NC) to record their 3rd album in 2012. Who could resist after the experience they had last time around? It’s where they’re comfortable, it’s where everything is comfortable. Making music with friends, fans and family. At the studio, it’s a drive to the county line to get a little cell reception and distraction is not so digital, just were they need to be. They are looking for an early 2013 release and will be spending time over the summer and fall getting the next one just right, working again with John Adair as Engineer and Producer.
Since their first album Blood in Black and White they’ve won spots at national events like Merlefest, Floyd Fest, Music City Roots and Bristol Rhythm and Roots, with tours to the Northeast and Midwest that continue throughout 2012. Years playing the road to empty rooms have passed. Johnson’s Crossroad travels on with over 150 shows and a world of mountains ahead to climb.
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Check out this video of Moses with JXR performing the song “Louisiana” that is on One Bright Boat.
World-Renown GrassRoots Music Festival Poised to Take Centerstage at the Historic Miami Virginia Key Beach
Scheduled to perform: Chaka Khan, Del McCoury, Arrested Development, Immortal Technique, Beausoleil, Keith Secola & His Wild Band of Indians, Locos Por Juana, The Lee Boys, Donna The Buffalo, Jahfe, & more…
In the spirit of family, cultural celebration and fun, The Historic Virginia Key Beach Park will serve as home to the world-renown Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance, February 9 – 12, 2012.
The Festival organizers are planning to fill a bio diesel bus in North Carolina to travel down to the festival. Here’s what they say about it:
Hey folks! We’re planning on renting out a 55 passenger bio diesel bus for an epic road trip from the Shakori Hills Festival location in triangle area NC down to the Florida Keys for the first annual Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival. http://virginiakeygrassroots.org/
The bus leaves Wednesday, Feb 8th and returns Sunday, Feb 12th after the music.
The Tour Bus is super comfortable with DVD and bathroom, and runs on locally made bio fuels. We’ll drive 1600 miles round trip (14 hours each way), starting out in the night so we’ll wake up at the beach! $120 per person covers fuel and drivers, and saves you festival overnight parking costs of $50.00. Plus, you can bring your camping gear with you!
NOTE: We need 55 people to sign up in order to fill the bio bus. Email grassrootsbiobus@gmail.com or Call Iris @ (919) 542 0244 for more info or to sign up. For more info click here.
The four-day event will showcase some of the world’s most amazing and respected talents from over 50 performing groups whose genres include: roots rock, reggae, hip-hop, Latin, funk, Cajun, bluegrass, African, Kompa, world beat and zydeco. Grammy® Award winning performers Chaka Khan, The Del McCoury Band and Arrested Development will headline the inaugural festival along with the legendary ska/reggae band Fishbone, Donna the Buffalo, BeauSoleil avec Micheal Doucet and several South Florida local favorites Locos Por Juana, Suenalo and ArtOfficial.
To learn more about The Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival, performers, or to purchase tickets please contact Emma Hewitt at (786) 332-4630 or visit us at http://www.virginiakeygrassroots.org.
“With more than 20 years of experience, impeccable musicianship, and uplifting, heady music, Donna the Buffalo has become one of the premier Americana and roots-rock outfits on the eastern seaboard, if not the whole country.” ~ Ryan Whirty, Rochester City Paper
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Donna the Buffalo continues to stampede with the Herd this winter! They will be traveling through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama before heading back up north to West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York before making the trek back down to Florida for the Inagural Virginia Key Grassroots Festival the 2nd weekend of February!
Travis Newbill wrote an awesome live review from Donna The Buffalo’s recent show at Revolution Live in Ft Lauderdale on Jan 9th! Some excerpts are below.
Donna’s groove is infectious, hypnotic and wholesome, subtly incorporating trance, reggae, and pop qualities into a sound which is Americana first and foremost. It is rootsy music offered by deep, sensitive players. At times they could be described as Mazzy Star, sped up and minus the echo, with an emphasis on allowing grooves to develop, peak, and come to rest.
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Tara Nevins has the presence of an Americana shaman. Whether she is zoning with the tambourine, violin, washboard, accordion, guitar, or singing, she is visibly tapping into mystical energy, and inviting all those willing into that vast space. Ditto guitarist Jeb Puryear, whose eyes roll involuntarily into the back of his head while the rest of his body surrenders as well–possessed by the groove with jaw agape.
The band was locked in from start to finish Friday night while delivering their sweetly melodic songs and jamming extensively. The crowd was locked in as well. The audience was equal parts bluegrass, Grateful Dead, and reggae people — all friendly spirits. It is no wonder why this band has such a dedicated following. There is no other band that this writer has come across that does quite what they do. And they do it with a humble confidence and great joy. Click here for the full review in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Photo credits: Full band shot by John D Kurc. Jeb Puryear by Gene Martin. Tara Nevins and Kyle Spark by Rich Orris.
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DtB on the radio this winter:
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Sun, Jan 15th; between 6-8pm EST — WQFS in Greensboro, NC — Interview with Tara on “Hangin’ with Higgs”. (also doing a ticket giveaway!)
Tue, Jan 17th; 6-8pm EST — WMNF in Tampa, FL – Jeb Puryear Co-Hosts & plays Virginia Key GrassRoots Fest DJ with DJ Ed Greene on “Freak Show” Listen to the Poscast!
Thu, Jan 19th; 4pm EST –WQFS in Greensboro, NC — Duo session with Jeb & Tara on David Wright’s program “The Caravan” (also doing a ticket giveaway!)
Fri, Jan 20th; 5pm EST — WDVX in Knoxville — Jeb & Tara duo session with Tony Lawson in the “Features at 5″
Sat, Jan 21st; between 4 and 6pm — 98.1 The River in Asheville — Jeb & Tara duo session with Aaron LaFalce in “Studio AVL”
Sat, Jan 21st; in the 5pm EST hour — WCOM in Carborro, NC — Tara Nevins interviews on Tom Arnell’s “Placeholder Show”
Sun, Jan 22nd; starts around 7pm EST – Kix Country in Port Charles, FL – Studio session and interview with Jeb who will also play DJ with Virginia Key GrassRoots Fest Music on Larry’s Timko’s show “Down Home Cookin’”
Sat, Jan 28th; — time tba WWVU (U92 fm) in Morgantown, WV – Jeb and Tara duo session with Carly Parana’s “Alternate Routes”
Sun, Feb 5th; 2pm WLRN in Miami, FL – Interview with Jeb Puryear and Emma Hewitt about the Virginia Key Grassroots Festival with Michael Stock on “Folk & Acoustic Music”
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DtB on tour this winter:
Thu, Jan 19, 2012 – Greensboro, NC – The Blind Tiger – w/ Woody Pines
Fri, Jan 20, 2012- Knoxville, TN – The Bijou Theatre – w/ Woody Pines
Sat, Jan 21, 2012 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel – w/ Woody Pines
Sun, Jan 22, 2012 – Huntsville, AL – Crossroads Café – w/ Woody Pines
Tue, Jan 24, 2012 – Birmingham, AL - WorkPlay Theatre – w/ Woody Pines
Wed, Jan 25, 2012 – Nashville, TN - 3rd & Lindsley – w/ Wooten Brothers Thu, Jan 26, 2012 – Carrboro, NC – The Cat’s Cradle – w/ Woody Pines
Fri, Jan 27, 2012 – Falls Church, VA - The State Theatre
Sat, Jan 28, 2012 – Morgantown, WV – 123 Pleasant Street
Thu, Feb 2, 2012 – West Chester, PA - The Note – w/ Mason Porter Fri, Feb 3, 2012 – Buffalo, NY - The Tralf
Sat, Feb 4, 2012 – Utica, NY – Uptown Theatre
Sat-Sun, Feb 10-12, 2012 – Miami, FL - Virginia Key Grassroots Festival
Fri, March 23, 2012 – Charleston, SC – The Pour House
Sat-Sun, March 24-25,2012 – Live Oak, FL – Suwanee Springfest
Sun, March 22, 2012 – Atlanta, GA – Sweetwater 420 Festival
Thu-Sat, April 26-28, 2012 – Wilkesboro, NC – Merlefest
White Horse Black Mountain
Saturday, July 2, 2011
8pm show, $12
828 669-0816
105C Montreat Rd.
Black Mountain, NC 28711 www.whitehorseblackmountain.com
Red June is a dynamic, acoustic trio from Asheville, NC, performing beautifully distilled Americana music. The Red June sound is as versatile and original as the musicians themselves; they touch on bluegrass, roots rock, and traditional country music with powerful harmonies, innovative songwriting and expert musicianship. Red June is Will Straughan on dobro, guitar and vocals, celebrated fiddler and vocalist Natalya Weinstein, and John Cloyd Miller on mandolin, guitar and vocals.
Red June will be performing on Saturday, July 2nd at the Whitehorse in Black Mountain, NC. The show is a double bill show with Mike Compton & Joe Newberry.
“Red June is a combination of heart and harmonies with instrumental and vocal chops at the highest level. And the songwriting…well, bless my soul; and yours, ” states Joe Newberry, acclaimed North Carolina singer/songwriter.
John Cloyd Miller states, “We are really excited and honored to be sharing the bill with Compton & Newberry. Both of these guys are masters of their craft and their music has been hugely influential on us and countless others. Speaking as a mandolin player myself, Mike Compton is THE foremost Monroe-style mandolinist in the world and has taken that style to a new level and a new generation. I can’t say enough about Joe Newberry’s musicianship. His powerful guitar and banjo work, dynamic vocal style, and evocative songwriting have made a lasting impact on me. This duo is not to be missed!”
Veteran musicians Straughan, Miller and Weinstein formed Red June in 2008 after working in other acclaimed groups, namely the Emma Gibbs Band, Lo-Fi Breakdown and Polecat Creek. Members of Red June have shared the stage with countless bluegrass and Americana greats such as James Taylor, Robert Earl Keen, Sam Bush, Donna the Buffalo, Joe Craven, Jim Lauderdale, Del McCoury, Derek Trucks, Alice Gerrard, Jim Shumate and B.B. King, and have performed at festivals across the country including RockyGrass, Grey Fox, Merlefest, Grand Targhee, MagnoliaFest and Shakori Hills.
Red June is partnering with the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project for their Homegrown Tour 2011 to highlight the importance of local, sustainable food systems. To emphasize their “Buy Local” message, Red June, (named after the heirloom apple variety) is donating $1 of each CD sale at live shows in 2011 to the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP). ASAP does critical work in WNC expanding local food markets, supporting farmers, and building healthy communities through connections to local food.
Red June will take their Homegrown Tour out West this July and then up to the Northeast in August. Also, be on the lookout for them at Music City Roots this August as well as Bristol Rhythm and Roots. They are constantly creating new material and are currently planning a follow-up recording to “Remember Me Well,” Their 2010 release which was voted #1 in WNCW’s Regional Top 20 Contest. Find out more at: www.redjunemusic.com.
Traditional music veterans Mike Compton and Joe Newberry love to play together – and it shows. Although they live far apart, their music makes them seem like they are next-door neighbors. And audiences around the world agree.
Mandolinist extraordinaire Mike Compton grew up in Mississippi, where he was exposed to music at an early age. A prolific composer, he has made a powerful mark in the old-time and bluegrass music worlds, including a fertile association with John Hartford in the Hartford String Band, as a long-time member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band, and with rock legend Elvis Costello. The multiple Grammy Award-winner treasures his memories of a friendship with his mentor, Bill Monroe.
Joe Newberry is a Missouri native and North Carolina transplant who has played music most of his life. Best known for his powerful and innovative banjo playing, he is a prizewinning guitarist, fiddler, and singer as well. In addition to his work with Mike Compton, Joe makes music with the string band Big Medicine, and with old-time music stalwarts Bill Hicks, Mike Craver, and Jim Watson. He writes songs that show up on the Bluegrass charts, does solo and studio work, and teaches and performs at festivals at home and abroad.
Joe and Mike are also members of the Jumpsteady Boys, a band they formed with friends Bruce Molsky and Rafe Stefanini that is taking the traditional music world by storm.
In 2005, I began working for a music promotions organization called Home Grown Music Network, based out of Mebane, N.C. Founded by radio DJ and music fanatic Lee Crumpton in 1995, it’s a multi-platform company that offers a pool of volunteers, nationwide, willing to promote touring bands in exchange for free music and concert tickets.
Bands are chosen as network members through a rigorous selection process that aims to pinpoint the best independent groups in and surrounding America’s festival scene — bands that don’t fit neatly into simplified genres like “roots rock,” “jam,” or rock‘n’roll’s other current labels.
Once chosen, HGMN (www.homegrownmusic.net) provides several career resources for these groups trudging through the mire of a frenetic — if not negligent — music industry without corporate backing. In addition to the cells of volunteers and fans around the country, bands also get to sell their CDs and merchandise through the well-trafficked website, get added to playlists at affiliate radio stations, and be put in the faces of thousands who might not have heard them otherwise.
HGMN even started its own record label, Harmonized, in 2002.
Needless to say, the folks behind the organization — Crumpton and press/volunteer coordinator Chris Robie — are indefatigable. When I signed on as a volunteer and later a journalist, I received at regular intervals boxes upon boxes of music catalogs, posters, stickers and the best part — free CDs.
I devoured these LPs, EPs, live discs and samplers. In addition to starting my music journalism career, HGMN turned my home into the lush flowering pot of musical mayhem that it remains.
And, as many musicians and promoters know, the relationships between fans and bands of true substance often prove unbreakable.
During this time I discovered Sim Redmond Band from Ithaca, N.Y., whose worldbeat track “All is Not Lost” entered the hallowed ground of my Top 10. I discovered The Bridge, a sumptuous and energetic rock sextet from Baltimore, who, in fact, I’m making a three-hour road trip to see tonight, at Higher Ground in Burlington. I brought my love of them with me when I moved from Chicago to Vermont. That’s the sort of dedication these bands inspire.
Donna the Buffalo was one of these groups. When seeing it in the catalogue, I thought the name was rather strange, but intriguing. It struck me as possibly some Native American band full of environmental activists, people whose concerts included ritual and howls and 10-minute drum jams.
photo by Jim Gavenus
The howls are there, I came to find out, but there are many more whines of the accordion and wisps of Cajun/zydeco tomfoolery involved than riffs on global warming or trance-inducing drum circles. Donna the Buffalo, a 21-year-old cult favorite quintet from Trumansburg, N.Y., is energetic, inventive and soulful, and imagine the thrust down memory lane I experienced when seeing they’d be playing Tupelo Music Hall in White River Junction on Saturday. They’ve kept trucking, against the odds for an independent band, and are more popular and prolific than ever.
“We were sitting together in a circle one day, in the earliest days of the band, trying to come up with a name,” recalled co-founder and co-bandleader Tara Nevins, via telephone from the road. “We knew we wanted ‘buffalo’ in there somehow. Someone said ‘Dawn of the Buffalo’ jokingly, mocking a Hallmark sort of theme. But we misheard him and thought he said ‘Donna the Buffalo.’”
“We started laughing, because these things get silly sometimes, and couldn’t stop laughing,” Nevins continued. “We thought it sounded cool and it stuck.”
Nevins — who contributes accordion, scrubboard, fiddle, guitar and vocals — founded Donna the Buffalo with guitarist/vocalist Jeb Puryear in Ithaca, N.Y., in 1990. Nevins had been a longtime fiddle player, and she and Puryear began writing songs together with no definitive plan in place, just exercising creativity in that college town’s rich musical milieu. After returning from a trip to southwest Louisiana for Mardi Gras, she was so deeply inspired by the Cajun and Creole music she’d encountered that she added a zydeco flair to her playing, soon recruiting more members and solidifying the sound of the fledgling band.
Through two decades on the road and seven albums, the band has garnered a dedicated fanbase, coining itself “The Herd.” Puryear’s and Nevins’ poetic lyrics that contemplate life’s longing, losses and exuberance, along with the occasionally kitschy, though upbeat and fun, Louisiana-inspired soundscapes provide quite the singular concert experience. For example, just yesterday, when mentioning my Nevins interview on my Facebook page, a Bellows Falls friend named Dagan Selbach-Broad immediately got excited and responded, “I love Donna the Buffalo! I’ve seen them over 40 times!”
Nevins will release a solo album entitled “Wood and Stone” in April on Sugar Hill Records. Donna the Buffalo’s show on Saturday at Tupelo Music Hall, a BYOB venue, begins at 8 p.m.
Two other concerts occur in southern Vermont this weekend in that road warrior spirit of purity, that essence of which Home Grown Music Network lauds and nurtures.
The first, incidentally, is also a Home Grown band and a zydeco band, Buckwheat Zydeco, from Lafayette, La.
Buckwheat Zydeco
Buckwheat Zydeco is the stage name of accordion player Stanley Dural Jr., born in 1947. He’s one of the only traditional zydeco acts to achieve mainstream, pop culture success; the band is a household name among southern music fans.
He brings his group, formerly billed as “Buckwheat Zydeco and Ils Son Partis Band” to the Bellows Falls Opera House at 8 p.m. tonight.
And tomorrow, San Antonio, Texas, alternative-country songbird Rosie Flores brings her distinctive mixture of Tex-Mex, rockabilly, honky tonk and jazz/swing to Boccelli’s On the Canal in Bellows Falls at 7:30 p.m.
It’s a weekend of from-the-heart, multicultural creative whimsy happening around our stomping grounds. Throw your best “devil may care” glance to the snow and add your yelp.
Clara Rose Thornton is a freelance cultural critic and arts journalist originally hailing from Chicago who now lives in an artists’ colony in Bellows Falls. She can be reached at clara@inkblotcomplex.com, or through her website, clararosethornton.com. Follow her at twitter.com/ClaraRose.
Great review of the GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, NY posted on Jambands.com. I have posted a few excerpts from the article below. Please do follow the link to read the full article.
Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance, as it’s officially known, was established by roots rock band Donna the Buffalo as a fundraiser for AIDS research. The festival has grown over the years, now bringing in an average of 20,000 people per yearly four-day span. USA Today called Grassroots “one of the ten best outdoor festivals in the country.” But, if you don’t live in upstate New York, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of it.
Our group of originally 7-10 buddies has grown with the festival: now thirty enthusiastic die-hards with a formidable camp setup …
We’ve been camping at the same spot for a few years now and we’ve all grown quite fond of our temporary home …
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By mid afternoon the music starts cranking up. Donna the Buffalo is the main act at Grassroots, they play three sets throughout the weekend beginning on Thursday at seven. The band has gone through some line-up changes over the years, but they continue to crank out a high energy set time and time again. We caught a little bit of that and then it was off to pay homage to a true legend of outlaw country music, Merle Haggard. He’s showing his age up there but he’s still belting out his classics.
Arrested Development was next, but most of us skipped out on that to play some music of our own. There’s some real good pickers in our entourage, who have really gotten much better as the years go by, my brother Andy being one of them. A consummate player already, he learned how to play a ferocious fiddle in about a year. It’s gotten to the point where people stop by and watch us play on their way to see the paid performers. There are probably about six or seven musicians in our herd that can and do play professionally and another ten that are good enough to strum along (I’ll put myself in the latter category, and I barely make that).
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Some folks checked out some late morning square dancing with the Dead Sea Squirrels. Let me tell you something, if you haven’t square danced in a while, you should. It can be a great time with the right lady by your side. (A side note here, my brother Andy may be one of five people in America still writing square dance songs … he called a square dance of his own later that night.)
Next up, the Flying Clouds. They’re a regular act at Grassroots, their high energy gospel infused funk gets the crowd going every time. Great performers, great time.
Along the same lines are the Campbell Brothers. These gents have been playing an intoxicating brand of funky soul music featuring pedal steel guitars before anyone even heard of Robert Randolph. If there’s one can’t miss band at Grassroots, this is it.
Saturday morning featured the musical stylings of John Specker and his two lovely daughters in a group known as The Speckers. It was nice sit down show with the band treating us to a thick set of old-timey fiddling.
Saturday evening is reserved for our annual Turkey in a Trashcan. My father showed it to me and my brothers years ago, we’re not sure where he got it from, but we do carry on the tradition in his memory. The recipe is simple really. Drive a stake into the ground->put a turkey on it->put a trash can over it-> line the outside of the turkey with charcoal->light a match->serve in two hours. Comes out perfect every time.
Saturday night is all about the late night dance tent. No Grassroots festival would be complete without shaking your butt to the zydeco dance party with The Franks, members of Donna the Buffalo and whoever else wants to show up and rock out. The rhythm is infectious and you really can’t help but dance and until you’re too tired to do it anymore. The band plays until five or six in the morning, the brave souls who trade sleep for party time rub their eyes as the sun starts to beat down on the festival grounds.
This festival is about so much more than music. As our group has gotten older, we’ve all got a little more mature. Some of us are married, some of us have kids, some of us bring those kids for a day or two. Grassroots is like a family and class reunion all it once. Speaking of which, my 20 year is coming up in 2012 and I may actually go when the time comes, as long as it’s not the third weekend in July.
Donna the Buffalo headlines the Blue Plum Festival in Johnson City, TN this Friday, June 4th. They start at 8:30pm for this free street festival. Check out this great interview:
Donna the Buffalo’s mysterious soup: ‘the rhythm, the message, the sense of community’
The roots rock/jam band Donna the Buffalo touches on a lot of musical styles, incorporating folk, rock, country, reggae, old-time, zydeco, cajun, jazz and even a little bluegrass. But what makes the band so popular and longstanding is something more than just the music.
“I think over the years it’s been kind of a vibe,” said Tara Nevins, one of the group’s co-founders. “Whenever you go to a show, a vibe is created. It’s a community feeling that brings people together. I guess people like our message, it’s sort of a positive experience, and people love to dance.
“So there’s the rhythm, the message, the sense of community — it’s a very mysterious soup with a lot of ingredients in it.”
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Nevins plays acoustic guitar, fiddle, accordion and washboard as well as sings, while band co-founder Jeb Puryear sings and plays electric guitar.
The lineup has changed a few times over the years, always maintaining the band’s organic sound, and now includes Dave McCracken on keyboards, Kyle Spark on bass and Vic Stafford on drums.
Nevins and Puryear have been friends for 30 years and struck some musical sparks early on. Despite the fact they’re two very different personalities with unique sounds and styles, they meshed well. He’s been described as having a Bob Dylanesque quality, while Nevins has drawn comparisons to Stevie Nicks, Emmylou Harris and Natalie Merchant.
“We’re similar and we’re different, and that’s what makes it work,” Nevins said. “The inspiration and begining of it all was playing old-time fiddle music, just sitting in an open field, playing it over and over and getting into a groove. “Then it eventually went electric, but at the time everybody in the band played only old-time music, so to jump into the world of keyboards and drums and electric guitars, it was a new mode of expression. And it evolved from there.”
Their music is rhythmic but has a looseness and rawness to it. As a regular member of the jam band community, they’re always able to improvise, follow the music and follow the vibe.
“We don’t have a set list, we never have,” Nevins said. “We get up there and play what we feel, usually. “We try to decide what the first three songs might be, but even that can change. We used to make set lists all the time 20 years ago, but we’d never stick to it ever, so we just get out there now and play.”
This year they celebrated 20 years of the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, N.Y., an event Nevins and Puryear founded. Another festival spun off from that, the GrassRoots Festival in Shakori Hills, N.C., near Chapel Hill, which DtB regularly plays, as well.
“Festivals are the best gigs there are,” Nevins said. “You’re reaching the most people at one time, they’re feeling that vibe and everybody comes to have a good time. It’s a really fertile ground for community and positive feeling.”
They got a nice surprise last month at Shakori Hills when legendary Led Zeppelin bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones sat in with them.
“It was a very cool thing,” Nevins said. “He was actually going from the West coast back to England, but he couldn’t get back home because of the volcano (in Iceland). We were surprised that he stopped by, but he got up with us and played some keyboards and mandolin and it was great.”
As for the group’s odd name, it has no deep, significant meaning. Originally they were thinking about Dawn of the Buffalo as a moniker, but it was mispronounced, they all laughed about it and, somehow, the name stuck.
Their fans are a driving force in the band’s creativity. Known as The Herd, this extended Donna the Buffalo family “gives us something,” Nevins said, “and we try to give back to them.”
Beauty Will Come was recorded and mixed in late 2011 at Hollow Reed Arts Studio in Asheville by musician/engineer extraordinaire Chris Rosser, who co-produced the record along with Red June. The innovative young graphic artist, Peter Gaillard, designed the album art using an old lithograph of a Mourning Cloak butterfly. The image resonates with the album’s themes of transition, hope, loss and renewal.
