Live From the American Ballroom

 (9 customer reviews)

Combine musicians extremely skilled in all forms of American roots music, plug them in to make a mostly electric band, add psychedelic garage band Lowery organ sounds, stir with lyrics that touch on various eternal truths, and you get a conscious dance party from this upstate NY that has been playing together for more than 12 years called Donna the Buffalo. Multi-instrumentalist Tara Nevins adds much to the ever-changing sound of the group as she switches between fiddle, accordion, rubboard and acoustic guitar, as well as vocals, which she alternates especially with guitarists Jeb Puryear and Jim Miller. Fans have been waiting a long time for Donna to put out a live recording, and this double album captures the intoxicating rhythmic vibrations of their live shows. Live from the American Ballroom was recorded on the band's spring tour, and shows their affection for driving, zydeco-fueled grooves. The musicians rip through rollicking renditions of "Riddle of the Universe" and...Read more

I really, really like Donna the B. This is the band that brought me out of my post Garcia blues, the first band that wrote songs that were so engaging I played the discs over and over again. I wore out, literally, Positive Friction and bought a second copy. This double live LP is less good, but still definitely worth owning. The recording is a little lifeless from a technical standpoint, but then it's live, and maybe they didn't have the best sound that day. Or those days. But be that as it may, this is wonderful, happy jam music, highly recommended. I know they aren't the Dead, not by a mile, nor do they wish to be, but this music made me perk up my ears when nothing else did.

Okay, so what exactly is Donna the Buffalo? First off, there's no one in the band named Donna. Don't ask. So, what is their music like? Well, think of it as kind of like Bob Dylan meets Bob Marley somewhere between the mountains of Appalachia and the swamps of Louisiana. Still confused? Good. Just listen to the music. It speaks for itself. Even better, go see them live. The infectuous energy of their live performances cannot adequately be captured on a CD.

So, about this specific recording... It's great for what it is, which is a live sampler from their 2002 tour. Or was it 2001? They all kind of run together after awhile. The thing is, Donna the Buffalo is a taper-friendly band and there are live recordings of literally hundreds of shows circulating on the Web and many of them have more life and energy to them than this one. So if you want to support the band with your dollars (always a good thing) then buy this recording or one (or more) of their excellent studio CDs...Read more