| 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, bluegrass |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Associated acts | BK3, Jim Lauderdale |
| Website | donnathebuffalo.com |
| Members | |
| Tara Nevins Jeb Puryear Mark Raudabaugh David McCracken Kyle Spark |
|
| 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 |
|
Donna the Buffalo is a band from Trumansburg, New York. They play both originals (primarily written by Jeb Puryear and Tara Nevins) and covers.
The band plays primarily in the Midwest and on the East Coast of the United States. The followers of the group are called The Herd. The name was suggested by a musician friend of the band; they liked it, and over twenty years later they are still "Donna the Buffalo".
The story is often told that the band's name had its origins in their first live performance, when an inebriated M.C. misheard their newly-chosen name, "Dawn of the Buffalo", and introduced them instead as "Donna the Buffalo". According to the story the name stuck. This story, despite its legend on The Herd's mailing list, is not only false, but had its origins as a prank on the members of that list and members of the media.
Donna the Buffalo is one of the founding and host band of the annual Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance along with the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival and headliners at The Great Blue Heron Music Festival in Sherman, New York. Donna the Buffalo was featured in On The Bus, a documentary co-directed by Dave Sale and Bud Selig.
Donna the Buffalo has performed and/or recorded with a variety of musicians including Jim Lauderdale, father and son Zydeco masters Preston and Keith Frank, Bela Fleck, Mamadou Diabate, Claire Lynch, David Hidalgo, The Duhks and Amy Helm, to name a few. In 2009, Tara Nevins toured with former Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann's band BK3.
Surrealist artist Yanni Osmond and his partner Spanky the Woman Tamer licensed some of Donna the Buffalo's music for their upcoming cartoon Living Evil.
Songwriting duties are generally split between Nevins and Puryear. Past members have included keyboardists Joe Thrift, Richie Stearns and Kathy Ziegler, drummers Tom Gilbert, Shane Lamphier and Jimmy Triplett, as well as guitarist Jim Miller. Jeb's brother, Jordon Puryear, played bass for the group for a while, as did Jed Greenberg. As of July 5, 2007 Jay Sanders replaced Bill Reynolds on bass, followed in Jan 2010 by Kyle Spark.