Donna the Buffalo

Donna the Buffalo is a band from Trumansburg, New York. It plays both original songs and cover versions.

Donna the Buffalo
At the Festival International 2010 in Lafayette, Louisiana
Background information
Also known as	Dawn of the Buffalo
Origin	New York, USA
Genres	Zydeco folk rock country rock reggae roots music
Years active	1989–present
Members	Tara Nevins Jeb Puryear Chris English David McCracken Ted Pecchio
Past members	Joe Thrift Richie Stearns Jennie Stearns Kathy Ziegler Tom Gilbert Shane Lamphier Jimmy Triplett Jim Miller Jordon Puryear Jed Greenberg Bill Reynolds Jay Sanders Vic Stafford
Website	donnatheBuffalo.com

A musician friend suggested "Dawn of the Buffalo" as a name for the band, which was misheard as "Donna the Buffalo" and, over thirty years later, the band is still called "Donna the Buffalo". The followers of the group are called The Herd, a self-organized "tribe" of people who found each other at the group's live events.^[1]

Donna the Buffalo is one of the founding and host bands of the annual Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance, and of the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival; and is among the headliners at The Great Blue Heron Music Festival in Sherman, New York. The band was featured in On The Bus, a documentary co-directed by Dave Sale.

The band has performed and recorded with a variety of musicians, including such prominent folk/roots performers as Jim Lauderdale, the father and son zydeco musicians Preston and Keith Frank, Bela Fleck of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Malian musician Mamadou Diabate, Claire Lynch, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, The Duhks and Amy Helm. In 2009, Tara Nevins toured with the former Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and his band, BK3.

Members

• Tara Nevins - vocals, acoustic guitar, fiddle, accordion, washboard, occasional backing vocals, tambourine
• Jeb Puryear - electric guitar, vocals, occasional pedal steel, rare backup vocals
• Chris English - drums
• David McCracken - electric keyboard, organ
• Ted Pecchio - electric bass guitar

 

Tara Nevins

 

Jeb Puryear

Nevins and Puryear do most of the songwriting.

Past band members include:

• Keyboards: Joe Thrift, Richie Stearns, Kathy Ziegler and Sam Fribush
• Drums: Mark Raudabaugh, Vic Stafford, Tom Gilbert, Shane Lamphier and Jimmy Triplett
• Guitar and frequent vocalist: Jim Miller
• Bass guitar: Bill Reynolds, Kyle Spark, Jay Sanders, Jordon Puryear and Jed Greenberg.

Discography

• The White Tape (1989)
• The Red Tape (1991)
• Donna the Buffalo (a.k.a. The Purple One) (1993)
• The Ones You Love (1996)
• Rockin' In the Weary Land (1998)
• Positive Friction (2000)
• Live From the American Ballroom (2001)
• Life's A Ride (2005)
• Silverlined (2008)
• Tonight, Tomorrow and Yesterday (2013)
• Dance in the Street (2018)

References

1. Interview with Jeb Puryear and Tara Nevins, The Americana Music Show, episode 147, released July 8, 2013

External links

• Band official website
• Donna the Buffalo Internet Archive
• Donna Fans official website
• The Donna Base: Search lyrics of all Donna the Buffalo songs, and live shows