Dave McIntyre welcomed Jeb and Tara from Donna the Buffalo to KGNU for a conversation about the band’s long career, their role in starting the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival, and how festival culture has evolved into a broader Americana community. They discussed writing socially conscious songs, balancing positivity with commentary, and their ongoing work with culture camp workshops. The band performed a couple of new songs in the studio and shared details about upcoming shows at Swallow Hill and the Aggie Theater, highlighting their mix of roots, dance, and Americana music. (Studio Session: 9/5/25)
Dave McIntyre: [00:00:00] Well, we have some guests in the studio this morning from Donna the Buffalo—Jeb and Tara. Say good morning.
Donna the Buffalo: You say my name so well. Thank you.
Dave McIntyre: Relatively easy pronunciations of those names. You’d be surprised.
Donna the Buffalo: You’d be surprised. Everyone says my name differently.
Dave McIntyre: You guys have been at this since 1989, is that correct?
Donna the Buffalo: It’s true. At different levels. We weren’t full-time or anything like that—not like we are now. That took a while to develop. But Jeb and I have been writing songs and beginning the journey since then.
Dave McIntyre: That’s great.
Donna the Buffalo: Yeah, at a certain point it was a source of pride. Now you go and do a gig, and somebody starts announcing you—“They’ve been a band since 1989.” People are surprised we can walk across the stage [00:01:00] or something.
Dave McIntyre: Well, a lot of bands don’t last very long anymore. There are a certain few that do, of course. And with every tribute coming back, people are returning who had been retired for a while.
Donna the Buffalo: We’ve actually never slowed down. We started out slower, but as our organization grew and we got our scene together, we’re actually busier now than ever. It still feels fresh.
Dave McIntyre: That’s great. After all those years, you’ve been involved in a lot of festivals in the New York area. You were a part of creating as well as playing in…
Donna the Buffalo: Yeah, the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival. We started that long, long time ago. When we first got the band together—me and Tara—we met playing old-time fiddle music. We were a big part of that scene. At that time, festivals were more focused. They would have a bluegrass festival, or stylistically defined festivals.
When we started this band, we wanted to play festivals because we really liked them. That was one of the impetuses. Fortunately, everything broadened right around the time we started. We wound up playing a lot of festivals. We played Italian Ride a couple times, MerleFest, and a lot of bluegrass festivals. Over time, festivals broadened stylistically—now they’re more Americana. Grassroots, for example, has a lot of African groups and international acts.
Dave McIntyre: That term “grassroots” stuck out to me when I read it. It’s not one I hear a lot.
Donna the Buffalo: Yeah.
Dave McIntyre: I assumed it was bluegrass.
Donna the Buffalo: It’s everything. Bluegrass, country, singer-songwriter, African, punk, garage band—whatever. We focus more on the “roots” than the “grass.” The “grassroots” was about grassroots movements, from the bottom up. Even though Colorado tends to be very bluegrass-centric, we were never limited to just that.
Dave McIntyre: Even this year’s RockyGrass and Folks Festival was full of different genres. Especially the Folks Festival—lots of styles of music. To me, that’s great.
Donna the Buffalo: There are so many festivals now. You can go to one every weekend, almost all year, in different states and places. It’s created a real sense of overarching community. People who love music get exposed to different genres. Everyone sees these genres as one big expression of roots music. It creates a community around it.
Dave McIntyre: Americana is a genre now that didn’t exist before—it’s just a name.
Donna the Buffalo: Right. It’s for the sake of business and radio. But really, all of this music has been “Americana” since day one. The name gives people something to latch onto. It’s also a home for mainstream artists who had hits and now have a place in the Americana category.
Dave McIntyre: One of the things I enjoy is music for kids. I know you have a culture camp that you run.
Donna the Buffalo: Yes, but it’s not really aimed at kids. Sure, there are youth programs, but it’s four days of workshops, dinners, dances—it’s really for ages 18 to 70. People come who are serious about learning different styles and culture. You might get to take Cajun fiddle lessons from someone who came up from Louisiana, for example. It’s open to all ages, but it generally focuses on more serious musicians.
Dave McIntyre: One of your quotes was about the “boiling cauldron”—protests, community, politics. You write a lot of protest music.
Donna the Buffalo: A portion of what we do has that. It’s a traditional form, coming out of the ’60s with Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Bob Marley. It feels natural to reflect on what’s on your mind. It’s a way of commenting on the times without being hyperfocused on one topic.
When you have a negative focus, like the Vietnam War, people coalesce around it. Once that goes away, community can feel less focused, but you’re still wanting to find a better way forward. These days, people feel emotional—the world’s changing, and many don’t feel comfortable. I’ve never seen logic hold such a low place. You can say “two plus two is four” and someone will respond, “If that’s what you want to think.” Everything feels so emotional now.
Sometimes pointing things out—like “Stop dumping poison in the water”—doesn’t even register. These are interesting, weird times.
Dave McIntyre: So you write about it.
Donna the Buffalo: Yeah. The song we’re going to do now is a little commentary, but pretty positive. We try to encourage love, oneness, acceptance, excitement about living. We’re not talking specifics—we’re avoiding pissing people off on stage.
Dave McIntyre: What song are you going to do for us?
Donna the Buffalo: This one is called Sitting on Top of the World. But it’s not the bluegrass standard, or the blues standard. It’s something else.
(Song performance excerpted: “Down the boulevard / across a Milky Way…”)
Dave McIntyre: Very nice.
Donna the Buffalo: Thanks.
Dave McIntyre: You had a lot to say.
Donna the Buffalo: See, I said something without being overtly obnoxious toward anyone.
Dave McIntyre: There you go. That’s a trick these days. Not pissing people off while still saying something. So—where are you going to be?
Donna the Buffalo: Swallow Hill tonight and tomorrow night, then in Fort Collins the next night at the Aggie Theater. So the 5th, 6th, and 7th.
Dave McIntyre: Nice venues.
Donna the Buffalo: Yeah. Last night we were up at Beaver Creek Village. Different scene up there—lots of skiing, lots of money.
Dave McIntyre: Yeah.
Donna the Buffalo: We were trying to make our way in, and pulled up to this big toll booth. They came running at us waving their hands like, “No, no, this isn’t your place.”
Dave McIntyre: You won’t have any of that at the upcoming venues. Much more friendly.
Donna the Buffalo: Yeah, we’ve been here before. People were nice two years ago—except for that one lady honking at our bus. But overall, great crowd.
Dave McIntyre: How old is that song?
Donna the Buffalo: It’s newer. We haven’t recorded it.
Dave McIntyre: Are you working on a new recording?
Donna the Buffalo: We need to figure out our approach—singles or an album. It’s tricky these days. People don’t really buy records anymore, so the dynamic has changed.
Dave McIntyre: Would you play us another song?
Donna the Buffalo: Sure. I’ll put the guitar down and pick up the accordion.
(Song performance excerpted: “Stare high, the new green… Eternal sadness from the great beyond…”)
Dave McIntyre: Nice.
Donna the Buffalo: Thanks.
Dave McIntyre: You’re going to be at Swallow Hill tonight and tomorrow night.
Donna the Buffalo: Yep. Looking forward to it. Thanks for having us.
Dave McIntyre: Thanks for coming on.
Donna the Buffalo: We do a lot of different stuff, but much of it is dance music all night, feeling good.
Dave McIntyre: I read that you were playing Americana before the genre even had a name.
Donna the Buffalo: Right. Our album Positive Friction was on the Americana charts back when they first started. We were Americana before it was cool.
Dave McIntyre: We’ve been listening to Donna the Buffalo on KGNU. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Donna the Buffalo: Thank you! See you at the shows.
Dave McIntyre: Take care. That was fun.
