Herd of ‘em?
They were supposed to be Dawn of the Buffalo but somebody heard it wrong. Twenty-one years later Donna the Buffalo are a well heard band with a country-wide fan base of followers called “the herd.” A favorite at Floydfest, they played to a full house at the Sun Music Hall in downtown Floyd Saturday night.
The band’s original sound is aptly described on their webpage as “socially conscious music that has its base in traditional mountain music and is infused with elements of Cajun/ zydeco, rock, folk, reggae, and country. Female lead and vocalist Tara Nevins (sometimes mistakenly called Donna) wears many musical hats, playing the accordion, fiddle, guitar, and the scrubboard. Lead guitarist Jeb Puryear plays mostly with his eyes closed in the jam journey tradition of Gerry Garcia and sings with a Bob Dylan meets Mark Knopfler kind of voice. 
It wasn’t your typical Floyd crowd. Apart from the couple of dozen or so Floyd friends I hugged, smiled or waved to, I recognized some familiar faces from Roanoke, Blacksburg, and Stuart, and many in the mix I didn’t know.
Standing up close to the stage with beer in one hand and a camera in the other, I saw a friend and asked if he had camped overnight on a lawn chair to get such good “seats.” But who wanted a seat with such danceable music? Some did. There were plenty of places to sit in the back of the hall and in the Roadhouse for those who wanted to watch the twirling swaying dancers against a psychedelic-style light show.
I didn’t hold on to my camera or beer for long. They played a 2 ½ hour set of their original songs, many of which were sing-along favorites, and I danced the entire time. During the encore I zeroed in on a single queenly looking living room chair that I had my eye earlier in the night. It was finally empty, so I plopped myself down, saying to all who passed by, I earned this chair.
Watch the light show HERE or a clip of the band playing HERE and HERE.
Note: An adapted version of the above was recently published in The Floyd Press.
October 5th, 2010 9:42 am
never heard of them, but I will be sure to keep my eye out for them!
October 5th, 2010 11:51 am
I LOVE how you get out there and have such a GOOD time….All that dancing is great fun besides being WONDERFUL excersize…..Good for you, my dear.
That building you were referring to that is such a “burning” problem is a Hotel in Las Vegas….It sounds like they have a major problem there….!
October 5th, 2010 2:24 pm
I’m thinkin’ that this is their second appearance at the Sun??
October 5th, 2010 3:30 pm
Really? How did I miss that?
Thanks, Jim. I fixed it.
October 5th, 2010 4:59 pm
I was there, and I thought it was even better than seeing them at Floydfest b/c it felt like a big house party. I was the closest to the stage as I’ve ever been at a DTB show. Like Jeb said, I wish we could do this every weekend! I thought it was a tremendous show. In fact, I can’t stop thinking about it, can’t stop smiling when I think about it, singing, dancing. If you haven’t heard DTB, then do yourself a favor and check out Silverlined at their website!
October 5th, 2010 5:07 pm
I agree Linda. I felt like we were hosting them in our own Floyd living room. I loved seeing them perform up close. At one point I noticed that 4 out of 5 of the band members were jamming with their eyes closed, a soulful sign in my book.
October 5th, 2010 5:25 pm
Yes, 2nd time for Donna at Sun Hall. John and I had a wonderful time. We arrived at the end of their 3rd song, but were greeted with a “Love and Gasoline”, as well as “Locket and Key”. We can’t make it to fall Shakori this year, so this was extra special for us and it really was like Donna was playing in our living room with a bunch of colorful, wonderful friends.
October 6th, 2010 10:27 pm
[…] I really enjoyed THIS psychedelic light show at the Sun Hall last Saturday during the Donna the Buffalo show. Keep your eye on the guy’s white sweatshirt in the clip. It’s like a slide show screen the […]
December 4th, 2011 11:26 am
[…] a big fan of Donna the Buffalo and Jeb’s Puryear’s guitar work. They played at the Dogtown Sun Music Hall Friday and […]
December 4th, 2011 8:24 pm
[…] a big fan of Donna the Buffalo and Jeb’s Puryear’s guitar work. They played in Floyd at the Dogtown’s Sun Music Hall […]
August 1st, 2013 9:14 am
[…] When I saw that the Last Bison was playing at Floydfest this year, I had to wonder where Donna the Buffalo […]
April 25th, 2016 2:36 pm
[…] A clip from last year’s Floydfest with Donna the Buffalo performing on the Workshop Porch is HERE. A post describing their music and how they got their name, is HERE. […]