Jeb Puryear and Hat Style Where to Buy

Not everything that counts can be counted, according to members of Donna the Buffalo, an eclectic group whose music might be dubbed "roots fusion" from the unlikely influences of rock, old-timey, Cajun, country and zydeco from which the band traces its roots.

Not that the numbers aren't impressive. The band has been together for 20 years, sold hundreds of thousands of records, plays an average of 100 gigs a year and packs the house with thousands when they play.

They will perform Saturday at the Sherman Theater.

But for Jeb Puryear, an obsession with numbers, money and success is like clutching quicksilver: an open hand holds it so much better.

Although their music is "succinct" in arrangement and style and their dedication to the music is unmistakable, there is a freedom to the music that spans genres and attracts a variety of fans to The Herd, as their followers are called.

"We are songwriters, and when we play, we follow the song wherever it needs to go. When the song really gets rolling, you can hop on that and do whatever you want. It creates a pressure, a ball of energy that just takes off," Puryear said.

Puryear and co-founder Tara Nevins met on the old-time circuit, where both were playing or learning to play fiddle. Searching for a name, a mispronounced "Dawn of the Buffalo" morphed into "Donna the Buffalo" — appropriate enough as they hail from upstate New York.

"Half the people, when they hear old-timey music, say, 'I wonder why those people are doing that?'" guitarist Puryear joked, but although the band's music is far more diverse than their Appalachian roots, there is still a strong element of the old-time style in every song they play, even when the instrumentation looks like straight rock and roll, country or Cajun, with electric guitars, rub-boards, accordions and drum-sets in addition to fiddle, mandolin and banjo.

For the uninitiated, all music with banjo and/or fiddle is about the same, but old-time music, which sprang from Scotch-Irish fiddle and pipe tunes, is structurally different than bluegrass, a modern musical form.

Variations in old-time music is more percussive or rhythmic as opposed to the melodic variations of bluegrass. Those rhythms set up a "groove," or beat. The acid test of success, then, is whether the audience gets into that groove with the band.

"It's hard to say if we make such and such amount of money then we'll be successful," Nevins said. "I think you have different successes along the way. You feel you've done something meaningful and that's a success right there — you've played a great show or you've made a record that you really like, the band is communicating great and is in a beautiful place together."

While the band does inimitable versions of Johnny Cash and Mel Travis, their original material has tight musical arrangements and ethereal lyrics that are alternately light-hearted and soul-searching.

Nevins penned a tune called "Family Picture" where she writes that "Sure as the sunrise it doesn't matter the shape of the hat/It all fits together in a family picture/And every wall's got room for that." While "Biggie K's a Star" offers these lyrics as a whimsical tribute to the miracle of birth and motherhood: "Sun shine, roses bloom/ Pops a baby from her womb/Just when you thought the miracles done/Brace yourself for another one."

The band tours up and down the East Coast in a bus, which Puryear said might appear large to the casual observer. "People say, 'This is so big!' You try putting 13 people in a motel room that's 45 feet long and 8 feet wide for a month. After a while you need more room," he joked.

A few times a year, the band makes a tour out West and often plays venues with Railroad Earth, well known in this area. The commonality between the two bands is that fun lies at the heart of the music, according to Puryear.

"To play music, to go on the road, it's a privilege. It's like golf. How many people play, and how many get to play professionally? It's about the same percentage in music," Puryear said.

WHAT: Donna the Buffalo with opener ErthaN WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday WHERE: Sherman Theater, 524 Main St., Stroudsburg COST: $20 INFORMATION: (570) 420-2808; www.shermantheater.com

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Jeb Puryear and Hat Style Where to Buy

Source: https://www.poconorecord.com/article/20090403/LOCALENT/904030347

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