Northern Music... Buffalo Sojurn

Blissfest has had a lot of bands on its stage over the past 25 years, some more popular than others. One of those making the popular side of the list is Donna the Buffalo. When festival organizers approached The Buffalo to perform at this year’s 25th Anniversary weekend, it was too late: they were already booked by another festival. So Bliss decided to do the next best thing and have a “Warm Up Concert” with Donna the Buffalo performing.
Now, “warm up” implies opening act, and Donna the Buffalo are headliners. After 17 years on the circuit with over 2,000 concerts and 100,000 plus albums sold, they have earned that designation. So they are headlining the “Warm Up Concert,” May 29 at the Holiday Inn in Traverse City to benefit and celebrate 25 years of the Blissfest Music Organization.
Just who is Donna the Buffalo?
Great, that challenge of categorizing a band by conventional industry classifications, hmm... let’s see, first name Donna. Okay file them with Britney and Christina? Try again. Last name The Buffalo, maybe with The Beatles and The Animals. Guess not. Maybe it is best to put them in a new category called “Damn Good Music.” Since their start almost 18 years ago in upstate New York, herding this band into a category has been a challenge. Then again buffalo like to roam, and that seems to be the case here as well.

ELUSIVE CATCH
“We really have been an elusive catch for people who like to categorize bands,” said Jeb Puryear, singer, guitarist, co-founder and one of the two primary songwriters. “We don’t label our music. We consider ourselves a songwriting band, period. If Bruce Springsteen adds accordions to a song, he isn’t a Cajun rocker, he is still Bruce Springsteen. At the end of the day, regardless of what we do, we remain Donna the Buffalo.”
Okay, so just who is Donna the Buffalo?
“Well, when jam bands became popular, we were thrown into that mix, but we have never considered ourselves a jam band,” said Puryear. “We simply try to create music that exudes energy. We draw from numerous genres and all of us are heavily influenced by old-time music.”
Old-time means banjo and fiddle style music, not classic rock. To better understand this band one needs to look no further than the instrumentation used on their fifth CD, “Life’s A Ride,” released three weeks ago. The sounds of the scrub board, tamborine, fiddle, accordion, organ and acoustic guitar are blended in with drums, synthesizer and electric guitars and bass, creating a collision between old school and new school sounds resulting in what is best defined as American dance music.

A NATURAL THING
Or simply blend together reggae, rock, country, zydeco, Cajun, and folk styles and there is a good chance that you’re listening to Donna the Buffalo.
“We just do what we do. And it’s a very natural thing. It’s a thing we find joy in and it’s a lifestyle that we’ve pursued forever,” said Puryear. “We don’t manipulate any of our circumstances for the market.”
For Puryear and his bandmates you either get them or you don’t. The band is in high demand and are booked solid through the year. In order to pursue other musical interests they primarily focus on touring during the warmer months and spend winters recording and performing in solo projects. Another reason to focus on summer touring is the festivals.
“For us the festival scene is where it is at. Most festivals have loosened up on the criteria and the real energy for the music scene today is at the festivals,” said Puryear. “For several years the music (recording) industry has not done a good job appealing to the music enthusiasts. It is evident that their focus is elsewhere and so the festivals have replaced them as the heart of the music scene. Festivals are where bands like us thrive and build a following.”

GRASSROOTS FESTIVAL
The band even started a festival in upstate New York during July. The Grassroots Festival was developed several years ago to benefit a friend of the band with AIDS. It now has grown to 15,000 plus and spans four days with a fulltime staff organizing two additional festivals in North Carolina. While national acts come through including Los Lobos, Ricki Lee Jones, Patti Loveless and Nickel Creek, Donna the Buffalo remains the headliner at all three festivals.
Without anyone looking like a Buffalo and with no one named Donna, where did this name come from?
“Well Buffalo just kept popping up when we were playing with names. Then someone said Dawn of the Buffalo which we decided to use,” said Puryear. “Well at our first gig they kept announcing us “Donna the Buffalo” and the name stuck.”
If you haven’t seen Donna the Buffalo, it shouldn’t surprise you. They have only performed in Michigan a dozen times since they formed. The first was in 1996 at Blissfest when they stole the show. Gopherwood music organizers in Cadillac were in attendance and booked the band but had to wait two years for the band’s schedule to clear. Blissfest landed the band again in 2000.

BUFFALO BURGERS
So, for those who have never seen a Donna the Buffalo show, what should they expect?
“That is a good question. Maybe a better one is what should we expect out of Traverse City? We heard that there is going to be a big picnic with a bunch of buffalo burgers the week before. Any chance a few of those could be saved for the band? All kidding aside, if people have never seen us, they should expect a clicking good time,” said Puryear.
A clicking good time; what is a clicking good time?
“If the band is clicking and if the audience is clicking, then well, hey, we are all clicking, and if we are all clicking, well then, hey, it is a musical party,” said Puryear.
Loyal fans of Donna the Buffalo call themselves The Herd. Bring your dancing shoes and join the herd to celebrate 25 years of Blissfest with its “Warm Up Jam.” For info or advance tickets visit www.blissfest.org or call the office at (231) 348-7047.


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