Tara Nevins Announces Shows in Atlanta 12/5 and Asheville 12/7

Tara Nevins Performs in the Southeast this Winter
Performing Songs from Her Latest Solo Release ‘Wood & Stone’

NEW DATES: Tara Nevins and Friends on Tour:
Wed 12/5  Atlanta, GA  Smith’s Olde Bar
Thur 12/6  Charlotte, NC  The Double Door Inn
Fri 12/7  Asheville, NC  The Grey Eagle
Sat 12/8  Huntsville, AL Kaffeeklatsch

Click here for updated information and a cast of performers!

American roots traditionalist Tara Nevins will be touring this winter in the southeast for select shows, in between her other gigs with Donna the Buffalo. She will be performing songs from her latest solo release on Sugar Hills Records which hit in the Top 20 on the Americana Music Chart in 2011. Wood and Stone is an exploration of her own heritage, musical and otherwise and was produced by Larry Campbell at the Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY. It showcases Nevins’ ever-evolving repertoire as she journeys both back to her own “roots” and head-long into new territory. Featured guests on the album include Levon Helm, Jim Lauderdale, Allison Moorer, Teresa Williams, The Heartbeats, along with the core band of Larry Campbell, Justin Guip, and Byron Isaacs.

Fans of Nevins from her 22-year tenure with Donna the Buffalo are familiar with her versatile talents; she shares the vocal and songwriting responsibilities for the band and is a stellar musician on fiddle, guitar, and accordion. (She plays a mean scrubboard too.) Prior to DTB, Nevins was a founding member of the all-female, old time/Cajun band The Heartbeats. (They join her on two tracks here as well.) Wood and Stone delivers the musical expertise fans have come to expect and surprises with new perspectives.

WATCH- Stars Fell on Alabama Official Music Video
WATCH – Tennessee River performance and interview

Performers for the shows

Tara Nevins– vocals, fiddle, guitar
Mike Compton – Mandolin
Mark Raudabaugh – Drums
Riley Baugus– Banjo
Todd Phillips – bass
Tommy Hannum – pedal steel & electric guitar
Amber Dawn Rische– harmony vocals and 2nd fiddle
Tba – Acoustic Guitar

What the Press says about Tara Nevins’ “Wood & Stone”

“A tour de force from start to finish” – Kay Cordtz, Elmore

“With the wonderful fiddle groove and vividly written lyrics, Nevins gives a glimpse into her roots. Stepping out for a rare solo record (beyond her beloved band, Donna the Buffalo), she meshes her Cajun influences, unique voice, drums and steel guitars for an intriguing look at her heritage.” —CMT

“If heroes and heroines of rock ‘n’ roll are defined by their uniqueness, they definitely broke the mold when they made Tara Nevins.” —Wildman Steve, The Corner News

“The centerpiece of the album, in my opinion, is the sweeping “The Wrong Side,” which features Allison Moorer and Teresa Williams. It’s a track sounds like it was from the O’Brother Where Art Thou? sessions, but the same could be said of the haunting “Stars Fell On Alabama,” where once again Nevins shows her prowess on the fiddle. This is an exceptional piece of music, one that I think needs to be heard—to prove that people are still cutting “Country Music” these days!” —Chuck Dauphin, Music News Nashville

“a wide-ranging affair encompassing all manner of rootsy Americana, spiced with Nevins’s voice and multi-instrumentalist skills, served up in a package that is polished but never slick. Nevins, in other words, is the real deal.” —David Maine, Pop Matters

“The sound is both loose and tight at the same time; the band knows how to walk that line and let Nevins be herself. To put it simply, it just plain works.”  —Brian Robbins, Jambands.com

“…….and a version of “Stars Fell on Alabama” that is now among my favorites. She has rearranged the tune magnificently and rekindled the spirit of the song.” —Cat Johnson, No Depression

“Wood And Stone adds another powerful and engaging chapter to Nevins’ musical achievements”. —Steven Stone, Vintage Guitar

Visit Tara Nevins website www.TaraNevins.com for more information about the album, a gallery of images, videos, music, and lyrics.

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Donna the Buffalo’s 2012 Fall, Winter and NYE Tour Announced!

Photo by John D Kurc.

Have you Herd? Donna the Buffalo will be traveling the country this fall and winter! Sounding better than ever, they have been in the studio this spring and summer working on a 10th album and will be performing new songs, along with the old favorites, up and down the East coast before heading out West for the first time in a few years. Donna the Buffalo is Jeb Puryear on guitar and vocals; Tara Nevins on fiddle, guitar, accordion, scrubboard and vocals; keyboardist Dave McCracken; bassist Kyle Spark; and drummer Mark Raudabaugh.

LISTEN to an interview on Eternal Jamnation with Tara Nevins about the upcoming album, their fall tour, the Grassroots Festivals & more!

Donna the Buffalo’s feel-good, groove-oriented, danceable and often socially conscious music all began over twenty years ago with roots in old time fiddle music that evolved into a soulful electric Americana mix infused with elements of cajun/ zydeco, rock, folk, reggae, and country. The band is known for touring the country and remaining fiercely independent as one of the industry’s most diverse roots-music bands and has “earned a reputation as one of the most respected, eclectic and hardest-working acts today,” praises Encore.

They embark on an almost non-stop tour through the end of 2012 starting at Rhythm and Roots in Rhode Island followed by shows in Pennsylvania, The Dark Star Jubilee in Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont this September before heading back down to North Carolina for their fall Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in early October. Then they trek back up to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland before returning to Live Oak, Florida for Magnolia Fest in late October.

They’ll be bringing The Herd out West starting with shows in Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before a host of shows throughout California the first week of November. They complete the West Coast tour in Eugene, Portland, and Seattle and and then make their way back East.

Donna The Buffalo cap off the year celebrating in Florida with shows in Ft. Lauderdale and a three night New Year’s Eve run at Skipper’s in Tampa!  Stay tuned to facebook.com/donnathebuffalo and twitter.com/donnathebuffalo for updates, photos, and videos throughout the tour!

MoBoogie’s Video of the band performing
Tara’s new song “I Love My Tribe” at The Bluebird in Denver

Donna The Buffalo on Tour Fall & early Winter 2012:

Fri 9/21   Stanhope, NJ   Stanhope House
Sat 9/22  Syracuse, NY  Westcott Theatre *w/ Keller Williams
Sun 9/23   Williamsville, NY   Club Infinity
Thu 9/27   Collinsville, CT  Live @ Bridge Street Live
Fri 9/28   Saratoga Springs, NY  The Putnam Den
Sat 9/29  Burlington, VT  Higher Ground Showcase Lounge
Thu-Sun 10/4-7   Pittsboro, NC   Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival
Thu 10/11   Towsen, MD   Recher Theater
Fri 10/12   Jim Thorpe, PA   Mauch Chunk Opera House
Sat 10/13   Morgantown, WV  123 Pleasant Street
Sat-Sun  10/20-21   Live Oak, FL   Magnolia Fest
Tue 10/23   Mobile, AL   Alabama Music Box
Wed 10/24  New Orleans, LA  One Eyed Jacks
Sat 10/27   Austin, TX   Lambert’s
Mon 10/29   Albuquerque, NM   The Dirty Bourbon Dance Hall
Tue 10/30   Flagstaff, AZ   Orpheum Theatre
Wed 10/31  Los Angeles, CA  The Mint
Thu 11/1   San Diego, CA   Winston’s
Fri 11/2   Pioneertown, CA   Pappy and Harriet’s
Sat 11/3   San Francisco, CA   Slim’s
Sun 11/4   Santa Cruz, CA   Moe’s Alley
Mon 11/5   Mill Valley, CA   Sweetwater Music Hall
Wed 11/7   Sebastopol, CA   Hopmonk Tavern
Thu 11/8   Eugene, OR   WOW Hall
Fri 11/9   Portland, OR   Doug Fir Lounge
Sat 11/10   Seattle, WA   Tractor Tavern
Fri 11/23   Jamestown, NY  Crystal Ballroom *w/ Big Leg Emma
Sat 11/24   Pittsburgh, PA   The Rex Theater
Sat 12/1   Winston-Salem, NC   Ziggy’s
Wed 12/21   Rochester, NY   Water Street Music Hall *w/ Sim Redmond
Fri 12/28   Ft. Lauderdale   Revolution
Sat- Mon 12/29-31   Tampa, FL  Skipper’s Smokehouse
Wed-Fri, Jan 2-4, 2012  Key West, FL  The Green Parrot

More shows tbd…
Stay tuned to www.donnathebuffalo.com

WATCH a documentary made by The Herd: “Have Buffalo, Will Travel”

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Donna the Buffalo continues to stampede with the Herd this winter!

“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

More shows tbd…
Stay tuned to www.donnatehbuffalo.com

 

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Intimate interview with Tara Nevins on the making of the song “Tennessee River” off the new album “Wood and Stone”

Intimate interview with Tara Nevins on the making of the song “Tennessee River” off the new album “Wood and Stone” (Sugar Hill 2011)

Filmed and produced by JAMerica‘s Peter Conners and Denver Miller

“‘Stars Fell On Alabama’ is Tara’s version of an old standard, while ‘Tennessee River’ sounds like she’s written a new standard.” – Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association

“The highlight of the record, though, might be “Tennessee River”, a song that again sees Nevins turning introspective as crunchy, distorted guitars creak in the background a la 1970s Neil Young. In fact, this song could easily be an outtake from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, with a different vocalist. Again, the disparate elements come together powerfully to provide a neat bookend for the hard-charging opening track. At five minutes, it’s the longest song on the album and one of its most satisfying. “ – David Maine, Pop Matters

“Two surprises on the album are “Stars Fell on Alabama,” in which Nevins turns the ‘30s jazz standard into a bleak, gothic soundscape, and “Tennessee River,” an even more desolate turn recalling the best of Lucinda Williams.” – Aaron Keith Harris, Lonesome Road Review

“‘Tennessee River,’ a dark and gripping song about love’s place in ones’ life, features Campbell’s harrowing, electric guitar wails.” – Bill Clifford – Relix

“If heroes and heroines of rock ‘n’ roll are defined by their uniqueness, they definitely broke the mold when they made Tara Nevins.” – Wildman Steve, The Corner News

“‘Wood and Stone’ is strangely hypnotic at times, with its mesmerizing rhythms and Nevins’ relaxed but commanding delivery. The beautifully dark “Tennessee River” and her cover of the jazz standard, ‘Stars Fell On Alabama,’ are entrancing and highlight Nevins’ beautiful voice” – Boone Mountain Times

“Tara channels swampy accordion and mountain fiddles through a set of songs about heartaches and a longing for the sanctity of family values and a simple home life. The chemistry between Nevins and Campbell cooks up a powerfully convincing sound through tracks like Down South Blues, The Wrong Side and You’re Still Driving That Truck as the duo’s varied strings entwine. But the star turn is the brooding Tennessee River with its big, fat, shimmering guitars and broken heart laid bare. Terrific.” – Properganda

“With the wonderful fiddle groove and vividly written lyrics, Nevins gives a glimpse into her roots. Stepping out for a rare solo record (beyond her beloved band, Donna the Buffalo), she meshes her Cajun influences, unique voice, drums and steel guitars for an intriguing look at her heritage.” – CMT

“A tour de force from start to finish” – Kay Cordtz, Elmore

Visit Tara Nevins website www.TaraNevins.com for more information about the album, a gallery of images, videos, music, and lyrics.

JAMerica is is dial book/ documentary film project that will tell the story of the roots and evolution of the Jam and Festival Scene. Visit www.jamerica.net

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Tara Nevins, of Donna the Buffalo, Performs Live “From the Living Room to the Loft” on Wednesday, July 6th Promoting New Release “Wood and Stone”

Tara Nevins with The Heartbeats

“Wood and Stone”

From the Living Room to the Loft
SiriusXM Recording
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
$15 , 21+
10pm set-time

The Living Room
212-533-7237

154 Ludlow Street
New York, NY 10002
www.livingroomny.com

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American roots traditionalist Tara Nevins’ new release, ‘Wood and Stone’ is an exploration of her own heritage, musical and otherwise. Released on May 3rd, 2011 on Sugar Hill Records ‘Wood and Stone’ was produced by Larry Campbell at the Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY.

Nevins will be performing a set of music from the new album live “From The Living Room to the Loft” on Wednesday, July 6th at 10pm. The Heartbeats,  the all-female, old time/Cajun band that Tara has played with for years, will be joining Tara on stage at the Living Room in NYC and the evening’s show is recorded to air on Sirius XM. Also joining Tara and the Heartbeats will be Lora Pendelton- Guitar and Vocals, Thomas Bryan Eaton- pedal steel, Barry Mitterhoff (from Hot Tuna)- Mandolin.

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Wood and Stone has been well received with sentiments of the music being an eloquent, honest blend of Donna the Buffalo, Americana, old time country, pop and straight up rock and roll:

“If heroes and heroines of rock ‘n’ roll are defined by their uniqueness, they definitely broke the mold when they made Tara Nevins.” – Wildman Steve, The Corner News“Larry has taken Tara’s music to an entirely higher level, if this doesn’t turn into an award winner they’ll have been cheated!” – Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association

“This is an exceptional piece of music, one that I think needs to be heard—to prove that people are still cutting ‘Country Music’ these days!” – Chuck Dauphin, Music News Nashville

“‘Tennessee River,’ a dark and gripping song about love’s place in ones’ life, features Campbell’s harrowing, electric guitar wails. The record closes with a cathartic, beautiful cover of Van Morrison’s ‘The Beauty of Days Gone By’—bringing Wood and Stone full circle.” Bill Clifford – Relix

“…as invigorating as it is mesmerizing.” – Amos Perrine, No Depression

“… That’s the mark of the good ones, the guarantee is their name on the label, something Nevins shares with Van Morrison (maybe it’s the water in Woodstock) whose ‘Beauty Of Days Gone By’ closes out the album.” Blurt

“The pedigree of the album is staggering. Start with Nevins, who has been an integral member of DTB since its formation in 1987, and add producer Larry Campell along with guest performers Levon Helm, Jim Lauderdale, Allison Moorer, and Teresa Williams, and you get a record that is as solid as the building materials mentioned in the title.” – Fifty Cent Lighter Blog

“a stellar collection….It’s an album that sounds familiar, yet new, not an easy feat.” – Jim Morrison, No Depression

…..the real bridge between past and present is a voice, so singular and beautiful, that it must be heard to be appreciated. – Chip Frasier, Twangville

“… her music takes on the spirit of the [Levon Helm] Barn like a well-worn and cozy Gypsy jacket that was tailored to her shoulders.” – Brian Robbins, Jambands.com

“She’s outdone herself with the superb ‘Wood and Stone.’ – Jeffrey Sisk, The Daily News

“exceptional music and excellent songwriting; ten of the thirteen tunes were written by Ms Nevins, and she does sure brighten the day.” – FAME

Visit www.TaraNevins.com for more information about the album,a gallery of images, videos, music and lyrics.

Wood and Stone showcases Nevins’ ever-evolving repertoire as she journeys both back to her own “roots” and head-long into new territory. Featured guests on the album include Levon Helm, Jim Lauderdale, Allison Moorer, Teresa Williams, The Heartbeats, along with the core band of Larry Campbell, Justin Guip, and Byron Isaacs.

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Archive: SOUTHERLY EXPOSURE: Donna the Buffalo comes to White River Junction

by CLARA ROSE THORNTON – Published: February 10, 2011

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110210/FEATURES17/702109951/1045/FEATURES17

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.

READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE POST HERE: http://rutlandherald.com

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Donna the Buffalo Heads Through Nashville, Greensboro & Asheville

Donna the Buffalo is on for a great weekend heading through Nashville, Greensboro, and Asheville. There are lots of great interviews for the shows which are posted below. Co-band leader, Tara Nevins, kicked of the day yesterday with a solo studio session on the Lightning  100 with Lt Dan. Then the band went over to the Loveless Barn for a Music City Roots performance with other amazing artist including  Catie Curtis, The Cleverlys, The Black Lillies, and Rayland Baxter. Check out some wonderful pics from the night here.

DtB will be playing on Cannery Street tonight in Nashville at the Mercy Lounge with the Roy Jay Band, who is on the road with DtB for several shows this winter. Here’s a nice writeup in the Nashville Scene by Edd Hurt about the show:

Photo by Jim Gavenus

Folkies with a superior sense of rhythm are rare enough, but folkies with a good beat and a healthy disrespect for eclectic clichés are a national treasure. Hailing from the metropolis of Trumansburg, N.Y., Donna the Buffalo began playing their mixture of country, soul, zydeco and folk 20 years ago, and they’ve never sounded better. On their 2008 full-length Silverlined, songwriters Tara Nevins and Jeb Puryear came up with such great songs as “Biggie K,” which may be the finest tune ever written about childbirth: “Though her stomach’s stretched and pulled / She’s never been more beautiful.” The quintet’s easy way with American roots music suggests a fusion of Brinsley Schwarz and The Holy Modal Rounders, and they make music that’s beautiful but never prettified. They say they have a couple of projects in the works, including a full-band effort and a solo record by Nevins.  Read the original post at nashvillescene.com.

On Friday, January 28th, they head on over to Greensboro, NC to play at the new Blind Tiger. David McCracken, DtB’s B3 Hammond player, grew up in Greensboro and did this great interview with Eddie Huffman from GoTriad.com:

photo by Jim Gavenus

From the moment Greensboro native Dave McCracken first saw Donna the Buffalo play live, at MerleFest in 1997, he knew he belonged in the band.

“I watched them for the first time, and I remember I saw them move the organ across the stage,” McCracken says, speaking by phone from his mother’s house in Liberty. “I said out loud, ‘Man, that should be me.’ Ten years later — 10 years later! — it’s me. I swear, I don’t even know how that happened. I just knew it should be me for some reason.”

. . .    . . .    . . .

Donna the Buffalo formed in 1989 in upstate New York but has made many N.C. connections in the years since — McCracken and North Wilkesboro’s MerleFest among them. The group signed with Sugar Hill Records, a fixture in Durham for more than two decades before the label moved its offices to Nashville, and the members of Donna the Buffalo founded the twice-yearly Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in rural Chatham County, now entering its eighth year.

. . .    . . .    . . .

Jam band fans already knew McCracken via Folkswaggin’, which started in Greensboro in 1994 and played at the Blind Tiger regularly.

“I really cut my teeth in that place,” he says. “That’s where I learned how to play keyboards. I’ve been playing there since ’97. I’ve gone through a lot of things in that place, and it means a lot to me. I’m looking forward to playing there again. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there.”

In recent years, McCracken has played at the Blind Tiger with Q-Bex, a version of the band Hobex which includes acclaimed drummer Jeff Sipe.

McCracken did a stint in Hobex about 10 years ago, and he played in a metal band called Perpetual Iniquity in Greensboro as a teenager in the late 1980s. But his musical ambitions go all the way back to his early childhood in the 1970s.

“Playing music for a living was seriously a dream I had when I was, like, 3,” McCracken says. “You know how Facebook reunites people so much? I reunited with somebody who was my friend until I was 5. He was like, ‘Wow, you’re playing music for a living.’ He said it wasn’t surprising at all because all I talked about back then was how I wanted to do it.”

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Read the full article at gotriad.news-record.com

Tara Nevins also interviewed for the Blind Tiger show. She spoke with Laura Graff from the Winston-Salem Journal. Here is a bit of the article:

Photo by Lewis Tezak Jr

Donna the Buffalo’s music belongs on the festival circuit — it’s an engaging mix of roots, bluegrass, reggae, country and New Orleans-inspired zydeco. . .

. . .     . . .    . . .

“We just come from a base of traditional music,” said Tara Nevins, one of the band’s original members. Nevins formed the band with Jeb Puryear, and both play old-time fiddle.

“Over the years of playing fiddle music, we discovered other traditional music,” Nevins said. “We don’t do it on purpose, it’s just that we have a lot of music that we’ve been involved in over the years and that we love.”

Nevins, who started out playing the fiddle, bought an accordion about 20 years ago.

“That gave us a Louisiana flavor to our songs,” she said. “We just have a lot of musical influences, because of some of the different instruments we play, those flavors come out in our music.”

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Nevins just finished work on a solo album, “Wood and Stone,” which will be released on Sugar Hill in April.”Wood and Stone” is her second solo album. The last, “Mule to Ride,” showcased the fiddle and was, Nevins said, more “old-time bluegrass.” This new album, she said, showcases her songwriting.

“I’ve written pretty much everything on the record,” Nevins said. “It’s not all about the fiddle the way the first one was.”

She said the band is planning to return to the studio in late February to work on a new album.

“It’s going to be a collaboration,” Nevins said. “We’re inviting other artists that we’ve played at with festivals over the years — artists we admire.”

Read the full article at www2.journalnow.com

On Saturday, the band jumps on the bus over to Asheville to play the Orange Peel. The Mountain Xpress wrote a nice little blurb about the show and some of DtB’s Asheville connections:

Kyle Spark. Photo by Lewis Tezak Jr.

For years, upstate N.Y.-based, self-desribed “Cajun/ zydeco, rock, folk, reggae and country” band Donna the Buffalo has long had an Asheville connection through it’s bassist. First it was Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses) then Jay Sanders (Acoustic Syndicate). Now DTB has Massachusetts bassist Kyle Spark but the group (who has toured for 21 years) still makes its semi-annual trek South (DTB is likely to pop up at regional warm-weather festivals). . .

Read the original post at: mountainx.com

Great weekend in store. We hope to see lots of the Herd around for these SouthEast shows!

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Donna the Buffalo brings the Herd to Nashville at Music City Roots 1/26 & Mercy Lounge 1/27 : New DtB Album in the Works; Nevins’ Solo Album Release in April

Donna the Buffalo is bringing the Herd back to Nashville with two performances! DtB plays Music City Roots on Jan 26th and Mercy Lounge with The Roy Jay Band on Thursday, January 27th, 2011. The Music City Roots Lineup for January 26th includes Catie Curtis, The Cleverlys, The Black Lillies, Donna The Buffalo, Rayland Baxter, with Host: Jim Lauderdale.

DtB is also excited to announce are going to be spending more time in Nashville working on a new Donna the Buffalo album starting in late February!  Tara Nevins’ solo album is is due out this April! More details below.

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Photo by Jim Gavenus

Show Details at a Glance:
Music City Roots
Wednesday, Jan 26, 2011
Loveless Barn
8400 Tennessee 100
Nashville, TN 37221 
– All Ages Show –

$10, Doors open at 6:00PM. Seating is first come, first served.

http://www.musiccityroots.com/tickets

-AND–

Donna The Buffalo & The Roy Jay Band
Mercy Lounge
Thursday, January 27, 2011
doors 8pm, $15, 18+
(615) 251-3020
1 Cannery Row
Nashville, TN 37203
www.mercylounge.com

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Here’s a Nice video of DtB on Music City Roots in 2009:

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Donna the Buffalo is excited to announce that they are heading in to the studio this February in Nashville for their next album to be produced by Sugar Hill Records.

DtB had successful 2008 release of “Silverlined“, which rose to #8 on the Americana Music Chart and also marked their 20th year as a band.

In an interview with Tad Dickens(Roanoke Times reporter), Nevins described the album:

Donna is preparing to record a new album in the next couple of months. It will be the band’s “greatest guests record,” Nevins said. The idea sprang from the band’s annual closing set at the festival it helped create, Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance, held in Trumansburg, N.Y. The band likes to bring up whatever musicians are still around by the time the festival is winding down.

“We’ve formed so many great relationships like that over the years, and we also have our musicians that we’ve always loved to play with or collaborate with but haven’t yet,” said Nevins.

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Other exciting news is that multi-instrumentalist and DtB’s co-band leader, Tara Nevins, has a new album set for an April release by Sugar Hill Records.

Produced in Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock by 2 time Grammy award-winner Larry Campbell who also be performs on the album.  Nevins penned 90% of the material and sings on all of the songs.

In a recent interview with Scott Preston (Cincy Groove) Nevins describes the players on the album:

The nucleus of the band was Larry Campbell, Byron Issacs, who plays bass in Levon’s band, Justin Glip who is the engineer at the studio played drums on quite a few tracks. I was also very fortunate to get to have Levon Helm play drums on 2 songs. I overdubbed some fiddle, accordion, tambourine, and Larry played pedal steel, mandolin, banjo, electric guitar, bass. We also had Teresa Williams and Amy Helm (Levon’s daughter) do some vocals, they both also sing in Levon’s band. Allison Moore came in to sing on a song as well. I played in an all female string band, called The Heartbeats. So I had those gals come in and we ripped out a couple tunes.

Check out this fan video from Shakori Hills performing one of her new songs, Snowbird.

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Archive: Tara Nevins tells about 5 musicians she’d love to record with

Jacksonville.com/ The Florida Times Union published a gimme 5 with Tara Nevins of Donna the Buffalo promote their show at the Freebird in Jacksonville Fl.

Here are her answers:

Photo by Lewis Tezak Jr.

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By Heather Lovejoy

TARA NEVINS

donnathebuffalo.com

Tara Nevins sings and plays fiddle, guitar, accordion and scrubboard in the Americana band Donna the Buffalo. The band plays music that incorporates a mix of Cajun/zydeco, rock, folk, reggae and country.

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5 musicians I’d love to record with:

1. Levon Helm: I’ve had the opportunity to record with him a little, and I’d love to do it a lot more. He’s an incredibly soulful musician and an amazing drummer and singer. He’s also a wonderful person.

2. Loretta Lynn: She is my all-time favorite female country artist. I love her voice, her songs and her soulful spirit. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” is my favorite movie; I find her life’s story very compelling. As hokey as it might sound, I’ve even gone to Butcher Holler. I took my fiddle out, sat on the porch of the cabin she grew up in and played a tune!

3. Sheryl Crow: She is my favorite pop artist. I love her songs and her voice, her style of pop music. She has been inspirational to me in some of my songwriting.

4. Marty Stuart: I’ve seen him in concert a few times, and I’ve listened to many of his recordings. He is incredibly soulful and powerful in his presentation of the music he loves. I love his voice and his songwriting. He is a great instrumentalist as well. He’s the real deal.

5. Kid Rock: Yes, I find him to be soulful — something about his energy attracts me. He has an edge that I like a lot. Hard to pinpoint why, but I’d love to record with him.

READ THE FULL POST HERE: http://jacksonville.com/entertainment/music/2011-01-06/story/gimme-5-tara-nevins-donna-buffalo

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Donna the Buffalo Live on WSKG! Video of full episode

Donna the Buffalo‘s eclectic and often socially conscious music has it’s base in traditional mountain music and is infused with elements of Cajun/ zydeco, rock, folk, reggae, and country. The group’s core are vocalists Tara Nevins, who plays fiddle, guitar, accordion, and scrubboard, and guitarist Jeb Puryear. Keyboardist Dave McCracken, bassist Kyle Spark, and drummer Vic Stafford complete the ensemble.

Check out their live performance on WSKG on July 1, 2010.

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