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Donna the Buffalo and associated Artists Full Shows

These are various venues , band configurations, etc. videotaped by DaBabe & LeVelHeAdS and friends over a course of more than 10 years.....
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. Donna the Buffalo is known for touring the country 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.

"Donna the Buffalo is in the enviable position of being a homegrown entity, a group that finds itself outside the coloring lines of the accepted formula, a formula that is now in the past tense...People doing what they love, and better, sharing that passion to the benefit of the public, is the strongest business formula ever written. Donna the Buffalo is living proof of that." states Beat Magazine. Edd Hurt with the Nashville Scene writes, "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....they've never sounded better..."
The dynamic songwriting tandem of vocalists Jeb Puryear and Tara Nevins have penned over 180 songs in their collaboration with DTB and have many more in the making. Although never writing a set list for live show, the Erie Times notes, "they stick to a pattern...usually alternating between Puryear's rhythmic, Dylan-influenced, guitar-centered songs and Nevins' breezy, melodic, accordion-driven gems like the folksy Tides of Time and infectious Locket and Key." As of late, Nevins and Puryear have also been known to perform as a duo on air and at live shows, which is always enjoyable to the fans to hear their favorite DtB songs in stripped down arrangements. The band's 2008 release Silverlined, on Sugar Hill Records, rose to #8 on the Americana Music Chart. They have also been busy writing new music for a 10th album with the current band lineup of Puryear on guitar, Nevins on fiddle, guitar, accordion, and scrubboard, keyboardist Dave McCracken, bassist Kyle Spark, and drummer Mark Raudabaugh.
Over the years and through their travels, Donna the Buffalo as a band and its individual members have had the opportunity to play music with and/or record with musicians such as Jim Lauderdale, Preston and Keith Frank, Railroad Earth, Bela Fleck, John Paul Jones, Bill Kreutzmann, The Avett Brothers, Del McCoury, Tim O'Brien, Pete Wernick, Abigail Washburn, Mamadou Diabate, Los Lobo, Rusted Root, Claire Lynch, David Hidalgo, The Duhks and Amy Helm, just to name a few.

Donna the Buffalo's fervent fan base, self-named The Herd, follows the band with zeal and has created a unique and supportive community online and at DTB shows across the nation. Puryear declares, "The main thing I like to say about The Herd is that you don't have to do anything to be a member. You just have to like a song." In an interview with The Roanoke Times, Nevins conveys,, "It's a great feeling to promote such a feeling of community, like you're really part of something that's happening, like a movement or a positive force...All those people that come and follow you and you recognize them and you become friends with them — you're all moving along for the same purpose. It is powerful. It's very powerful, actually." When asked in an interview with the Weekender in PA what new people should look forward to experiencing at a show, Nevins replied "a really friendly, comfortable crowd, and a real community-oriented, positive experience."

As an extension of this community and the band's own dedication to live roots music, Donna started, and are still the driving force behind, the 20 year old Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, NY, the bi-annual Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Silk Hope, NC and February 2012 marks the first year for the Virginia Key Grassroots Festival in Miami, Florida. DtB are regulars at Merlefest (NC), Suwanee Springfest & Magnolia Fest (FL), All Good (WV), Floyd Fest (VA), and The Great Blue Heron Festival (PA) amongst others. You can also see them in 2011 at Nateva (ME), Del Fest (MD), DuneGrass (MI), Head Jamz (TN), Targhee Bluegrass Fest (WV), Smilefest (NC) and a variety of other venues across the nation.

With over twenty years to celebrate, hundreds of gigs ahead of them, and an ever-evolving grassroots sound; it looks like Donna the Buffalo is riding a cloud that is truly Silverlined.

Favorite videos

Virginia Key Grassroots Performers Videos

History :

In 1990 we held a benefit concert to support a local AIDS organization in Ithaca, New York. Encouraged by the success of that night, we decided to create an annual festival dedicated to raising money for the fight against AIDS while supporting arts and education. With the help of countless volunteers, the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival has become an internationally recognized event with a focus on traditional and contemporary roots music and dance from all over the world. For four days every July the festival hosts over 60 performing groups on 4 stages at the Trumansburg Fairgrounds in Central New York near the university town of Ithaca.

Twelve years later we started the Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival on a 75-acre farm in rural North Carolina near the triangle cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. Twice a year, in April & October, thousands of people attend our event to revel in great music, sweat it out on the dance floor, celebrate the arts, and build community. The site has since become the Shakori Hills Community Arts Center, a non-profit organization created to strengthen the community through music, arts and education.

Now we're ready to head south again, and have found an amazing site, the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, just off the coast of Miami Florida. Its the ideal spot for our 4th yearly, winter season GrassRoots Festival.

Here are some video song samples of the current artists on the Virginia Key Grassroots lineup which we are so excited about...we hope these get you as "Keyed Up" as we all are !

Donna the Buffalo

Individual Songs by DaBand, Special Guests and a couple Special Documentaries.....
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. Donna the Buffalo is known for touring the country 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.

"Donna the Buffalo is in the enviable position of being a homegrown entity, a group that finds itself outside the coloring lines of the accepted formula, a formula that is now in the past tense...People doing what they love, and better, sharing that passion to the benefit of the public, is the strongest business formula ever written. Donna the Buffalo is living proof of that." states Beat Magazine. Edd Hurt with the Nashville Scene writes, "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....they've never sounded better..."
The dynamic songwriting tandem of vocalists Jeb Puryear and Tara Nevins have penned over 180 songs in their collaboration with DTB and have many more in the making. Although never writing a set list for live show, the Erie Times notes, "they stick to a pattern...usually alternating between Puryear's rhythmic, Dylan-influenced, guitar-centered songs and Nevins' breezy, melodic, accordion-driven gems like the folksy Tides of Time and infectious Locket and Key." As of late, Nevins and Puryear have also been known to perform as a duo on air and at live shows, which is always enjoyable to the fans to hear their favorite DtB songs in stripped down arrangements. The band's 2008 release Silverlined, on Sugar Hill Records, rose to #8 on the Americana Music Chart. They have also been busy writing new music for a 10th album with the current band lineup of Puryear on guitar, Nevins on fiddle, guitar, accordion, and scrubboard, keyboardist Dave McCracken, bassist Kyle Spark, and drummer Mark Raudabaugh.
Over the years and through their travels, Donna the Buffalo as a band and its individual members have had the opportunity to play music with and/or record with musicians such as Jim Lauderdale, Preston and Keith Frank, Railroad Earth, Bela Fleck, John Paul Jones, Bill Kreutzmann, The Avett Brothers, Del McCoury, Tim O'Brien, Pete Wernick, Abigail Washburn, Mamadou Diabate, Los Lobo, Rusted Root, Claire Lynch, David Hidalgo, The Duhks and Amy Helm, just to name a few.

Donna the Buffalo's fervent fan base, self-named The Herd, follows the band with zeal and has created a unique and supportive community online and at DTB shows across the nation. Puryear declares, "The main thing I like to say about The Herd is that you don't have to do anything to be a member. You just have to like a song." In an interview with The Roanoke Times, Nevins conveys,, "It's a great feeling to promote such a feeling of community, like you're really part of something that's happening, like a movement or a positive force...All those people that come and follow you and you recognize them and you become friends with them — you're all moving along for the same purpose. It is powerful. It's very powerful, actually." When asked in an interview with the Weekender in PA what new people should look forward to experiencing at a show, Nevins replied "a really friendly, comfortable crowd, and a real community-oriented, positive experience."

As an extension of this community and the band's own dedication to live roots music, Donna started, and are still the driving force behind, the 20 year old Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, NY, the bi-annual Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Silk Hope, NC and February 2012 marks the first year for the Virginia Key Grassroots Festival in Miami, Florida. DtB are regulars at Merlefest (NC), Suwanee Springfest & Magnolia Fest (FL), All Good (WV), Floyd Fest (VA), and The Great Blue Heron Festival (PA) amongst others. You can also see them in 2011 at Nateva (ME), Del Fest (MD), DuneGrass (MI), Head Jamz (TN), Targhee Bluegrass Fest (WV), Smilefest (NC) and a variety of other venues across the nation.

With over twenty years to celebrate, hundreds of gigs ahead of them, and an ever-evolving grassroots sound; it looks like Donna the Buffalo is riding a cloud that is truly Silverlined.

Harris Brothers

The Harris Brothers are what you might call songsters. They can draw from a vast repertoire of American traditional music - "Americana" is often used to describe their style, but the Harris Brothers just call it music. Their sound is heavily influenced by traditional blues and Appalachian mountain music, jazz, country, and rock n' roll. No matter what the Harris Brothers play, be it originals or old favorites, they have a special way of making the music their own; it's stripped down, intense, and real, with no gimmicks.

Reggie and Ryan Harris were born into a musical family in the foothills of western North Carolina and have been playing and singing since they were children. For the last 17 or so odd years they have honed their skills as a duo, performing everywhere from honkytonks to popular festival stages. They most often perform with just an acoustic guitar, a bass, vocals and an old suitcase used for a kickdrum, with Reggie sometimes switching to fiddle, banjo, or electric guitar.

With their good showmanship, diverse repertoire, and ability to improvise, no two shows are ever the same. And, with their hearts truly in the music, the Harris Brothers are sure to captivate any audience.