Summary

From 2012: Tara Nevins of Donna the Buffalo dives into her journey of creativity and self-discovery in this episode, kicking things off by chatting about her latest solo album, Wood and Stone. She shares how her upbringing in a musically vibrant household and her classical training on the violin shaped her path, leading her to embrace the roots of old-time fiddle music that resonate deeply within her. Tara reminisces about her time in Huntsville, Alabama, where she penned much of the album, revealing how the laid-back Southern vibe inspired her songwriting and allowed her to explore new musical avenues. With a mix of personal anecdotes and reflections on her artistic evolution, she highlights the significance of collaboration, especially her serendipitous connection with producer Larry Campbell, which helped her craft a record that celebrates her journey while keeping the fiddle close to her heart. This episode is packed with warmth, wisdom, and a whole lot of musical soul, perfect for anyone looking to vibe with the creative process.

Show Notes

Diving into the vibrant world of music and its eclectic influences, Sloane Spencer welcomes Tara Nevins, the creative force behind Donna the Buffalo, to chat about her solo project, Wood and Stone. Tara reflects on her roots, tracing her musical journey from the violin in public school to the heartfelt fiddle tunes that embody her current work. With a warm, conversational vibe, Tara shares anecdotes about her upbringing in a musically rich household, where gatherings would turn into lively jams, setting the stage for her eventual dive into the world of old-time and folk music. Throughout their chat, they explore how her time spent in Huntsville, Alabama (where she penned much of her new album) shaped her artistic perspective. In a thoughtful exchange, Tara explains how her creative process evolved after significant life changes, including her marriage ending, highlighting the introspection that fueled her songwriting. The duo dives deep into the influences of traditional and modern sounds, illustrating how Tara's unique blend of genres manifests in her latest work. As they uncover the sonic tapestry of Wood and Stone, listeners are treated to a glimpse into the heart of a musician who embraces her past while forging a new path, embodying the spirit of creativity and resilience.

Links

• REMINDER: IGNORE ALL LINKS OR EVENTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE FROM 2012
• Tara Nevins of Donna the Buffalo
• You may also enjoy this conversation from 2015 with Willow Avalon's dad, Jim White
• Toss a few in our Tip Jar!

Chapters

• 00:08 - Interview with Tara Nevins
• 02:46 - The Journey into Traditional Music
• 11:21 - The Journey of Self-Discovery Through Music
• 13:24 - Transitioning to New Beginnings in Music Production
• 17:30 - Cultural Reflections on Living in Alabama

Takeaways

• Tara Nevins' journey into music was deeply influenced by her childhood experiences and family gatherings filled with music, showcasing the importance of early exposure to artistic expression.
• Living in Huntsville, Alabama, brought Tara a refreshing perspective on southern culture, highlighting the warmth and non-judgmental nature of the community, which inspired her creativity.
• The evolution of Tara's sound in her new album Wood and Stone reflects her personal growth after significant life changes, blending elements of traditional music with modern influences.
• The collaboration with Larry Campbell marked a pivotal moment for Tara, as it allowed her to explore new musical avenues while maintaining her roots in old-time and folk traditions.
• Tara's songwriting process during her time in Alabama was fueled by introspection and self-discovery, leading to a record that conveys a vibrant and upbeat vibe despite its thematic depth.
• The supportive nature of fans in the folk music scene is a testament to the community aspect of music, where audiences are eager to embrace and explore the individual members' solo projects.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Donna the Buffalo
• Sugar Hill Records
• Larry Campbell

Recommended If You Like

Country Fried Rock, Tara Nevins, Donna the Buffalo, Wood and Stone album, old time fiddle music, Southern music, Huntsville Alabama, folk music community, creative process, songwriting inspiration, traditional music, acoustic guitar, bluegrass music, fiddle festivals, relationship reflections, music collaboration, Larry Campbell, music production, independent artists, music interviews

Transcript

Speaker A

00:00:00.320 - 00:00:18.240

Welcome to Country Fried Rock where we talk with musicians to find out what inspires their creativity. Country Fried Rock music uncovered. My guest today is Tara Nevins of Donna the Buffalo on her solo effort Wood and Stone.

Thank you, Tara, for being with us on Country Fried Rock.

Speaker B

00:00:18.240 - 00:00:19.440

Well, thanks for having me.

Speaker A

00:00:20.000 - 00:00:21.760

How did you learn to play as a kid?

Speaker B

00:00:22.080 - 00:02:23.480

Where I grew up, where I went to school, had a public school system that I grew up in, had a really good music department and I was offered, you know, like everybody in grammar school, whatever, to pick an instrument. And I chose the violin. And so I, you know, I basically learned, you know, in public school and then through high school to play violin.

And I also had an acoustic guitar at home and I started, you know, I taught myself to play guitar at home. And I always really loved music. My mother and father loved music and were always having folks up.

They grew up in Greenwich Village and on the weekends and they grew up in Greenwich Village and then when they got older and they got married, they left the city and moved up to where I grew up in Orangeburg, New York, or which is a suburb of New York City, I guess you'd say.

And so on the weekends, all their crazy friends from Greenwich Village would come up and they'd pull back the rugs and have these just get togethers almost every weekend and dance all night, listen to music. So my family, there was always a lot of music in my family and a lot of support from me playing music.

So when I was playing the violin through high school and learning the acoustic guitar and buying my songbooks, my James Taylor and Carole King and all my song books, learning these different songs, I actually started writing songs then too. I guess when I was then in college for my classical studies, I discovered old time fiddle music. And so it was then that I.

My world shifted in direction, kind of. Although I have to say that even when I was in high school, I was fascinated by fiddle music.

And I had a Mel Day fiddle book, you know, and I would actually sit in the back of orchestra practices and sort of be, you know, while the conductor was talking to the trumpet section or something, I'd be back there, you know, playing, you know, really quiet, trying to play turkey, turkey in the straw. Fiddle book. I always had an affinity for that.

And when I was in high school also, I guess it was high school, yeah, that I got the album Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

Speaker A

00:02:23.480 - 00:02:23.960

Yes.

Speaker B

00:02:23.960 - 00:04:01.390

And that was really inspirational to me.

But then I went off to college and was in the classical music program, but there my roommate turned out to be someone who played in an old time fiddles band, that turned my head right there. And the minute I graduated out of college, I just dove into traveling to fiddle festivals and playing fiddle music.

And I never played another note of classical music. After I graduated I just dove right into what I think had been a yearning inside of me all along.

So I kind of went down that road into the world of traditional music. And over the years I'm part of a large community of folk that play old time fiddle music.

And during that time you naturally discover other traditional music when you're doing that.

And so I traveled to Louisiana and discovered the Sydeco and Cajun creole music there and fell in love with that and bought an accordion and this whole time was writing songs. And so it was sort of like over the course of many years, just an evolution of, you know.

And then I was playing the old time fiddle music and for like 10 years was in a band called the Heartbeats and all female string band and pretty hard driving fiddle tunes and songs. And then dawn of the Buffalo started.

And so now Don the Buffalo, you know, is sort of has a combination of a lot of all of these influence, you know, the fiddle music and the country music and the zydeco music and so on and so forth, you know.

And I still travel to all these fiddle festivals and I'm part of this old time fiddle community and it's a big part of guess where my sort of center of music comes from. And that's also the need to make a record like I just did too.

Speaker A

00:04:01.470 - 00:04:13.370

I appreciate that you, you encapsulated what it is that drives someone as creative as you are to investigate these different styles within what they're. Have you been based out of the greater New York area this whole time?

Speaker B

00:04:13.690 - 00:04:44.650

Yeah, basically I'm hardly ever here, but yes, I spent four years, two years ago, four years leading up to two years ago. That makes sense. I spent four years spending a lot of time basically sort of living in Huntsville, Alabama.

And that's actually where a lot of this record was written and. Yeah, so yeah, but I'm from here and I still have my apartment here and that's where I am right now.

And we have a few days off and so yeah, just I travel so much, I'm hardly ever here and I'd love to move to the South. I love the South.

Speaker A

00:04:44.730 - 00:04:47.210

You know, if you're going to move to the South, Alabama will do it.

Speaker B

00:04:47.450 - 00:05:28.630

Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely no.

I was, I was seeing someone, you know, and one of the relationships reflected in the album, the writing of the record, I never would have necessarily looked at the map and pointed and put my finger on Alabama, necessarily, because a lot of the fiddle music I play traveled to North Carolina a lot, Virginia and such, you know, and I. So I do travel and I enjoy tennis, but I hadn't really had much of any experience with Alabama.

But after spending time there, I just really fell in love with Huntsville. And I really, really like Alabama. And it's just I have just this yearning to move to the south, have the opportunity I may.

Hey, this is Tara Nevins and you're listening to Countryside Rock.

Speaker A

00:05:28.790 - 00:05:31.990

I wondered what led to covering Stars Fell in Alabama.

Speaker B

00:05:32.070 - 00:06:34.590

What actually led me to covering that actually, is when I was living in Huntsville, I was approached by these gentlemen that were directing and producing a movie called 20 Years After.

And they asked me, they knew I was spending time there in town and I was hooked up with them and they asked me if I would rewrite that song, Stars Fell in Alabama, they said, you know, the jazz classic Stars Fell in Alabama.

Would you consider kind of rewriting it for the movie in like an old time sort of mountain music approach, you know, same lyrics, but completely different melody treatment. And basically I was commissioned to do that and I did that. And it's in the soundtrack of the movie. So that's where that came from.

But definitely, probably would never have come my way as an opportunity if I hadn't been living in Huntsville, Alabama. And it's just funny that the song is called Stars Fell in Alabama. I mean, how horrible. I was talking to a friend down there last night.

Huntsville was hit pretty hard. It's just awful. And I have friends down there just sort of.

Because, you know, they lost electricity and when you lose that, you can't charge your cell phone. Right.

Speaker A

00:06:34.590 - 00:06:42.230

You know, and it's been terrible. Over 300 people killed. I mean, just the Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, I mean all the way up to Huntsville. Just terrible.

Speaker B

00:06:42.650 - 00:07:02.970

I know, it's just. It makes you really crazy things that have been happening weather wise.

You know, this makes you really wonder what's going on just around the world with all the tsunamis and the earthquakes and fires and the extra snow every year and all these places that don't normally get it and these storms and these like 100 and something tornadoes hitting down in Alabama.

Speaker A

00:07:03.050 - 00:07:03.610

Insane.

Speaker B

00:07:03.610 - 00:07:16.940

I can't even fathom that makes you think that, you know, it's all true and that the world is about to end or something. And when I was spending time in Huntsville, there would be Warnings and sirens would go off, but there would never.

There never was one in Huntsville in my time.

Speaker A

00:07:17.020 - 00:07:33.020

Right.

We've had a lot of focus on the resurgence in the Muscle Shoals sound and the Muscle Shoals music scene right now, but not so much old time music coming out of Alabama. What kind of support did you have for playing live there? Or were you simply based there and on the road a lot?

Speaker B

00:07:33.260 - 00:08:05.080

I was based there and I was on the road a lot. But there's definitely a group of folks that play old time music there.

In fact, where I was living, there was fellow and his wife that lived right down the street from me that I actually knew from the old time community and I spent a little bit of time with them and that was really nice. Definitely invited to some gatherings and so yeah, it doesn't have a super loud voice there in Huntville anyway, but it is there.

You know, I did experience it a little bit while I was there, but yeah, I was on the road a lot and when I was there, I was taking it pretty easy.

Speaker A

00:08:05.480 - 00:08:22.730

You said you wrote the bulk of this record while you were living there. When I first listened to this, I had like these little snippets of inspiration from completely different music and it just really drew me in.

So what was leading you creatively to this solo venture?

Speaker B

00:08:23.450 - 00:08:59.309

Well, I made an. This is my second solo album. I made one probably came out also on Sugar hill Records, probably 10 or 11 years ago.

Yeah, it was called Mule to Ride and it was really an old time, sort of slash, light, curly, bluegrass kind of sound. Really featured my fiddle playing and sort of a cast of thousands. And I only sang maybe two songs on it. Mostly traditional public domain material.

And I knew how to do that. I knew how to present it, I knew how to produce it. So I produced the record and all that. I always knew I would do another one.

It was part of my whole situation with Sugar Hill and I wanted to do another one.

Speaker A

00:08:59.309 - 00:08:59.589

Right.

Speaker B

00:08:59.589 - 00:14:02.650

It took me this long to get around to it being busy in dawn of the Buffalo and also, and I'm glad it took this long because I knew that anyway, so because it's been this many years, I wanted to do something different. I didn't want to do the same thing again, of course. Well, I guess what happened was I just started writing these songs.

I was married for a long time and I thought I would always be married, you know. And six years ago that marriage ended and it was a huge shift in my life, my level of independence and all that.

And from then till now, I've had some other relationships and I've just. It's been a time of a lot of discovery and finding yourself core and your strength.

And it's been actually really a great time of discovery and just reflection on these relationships. And I just.

In this time period and living in Huntsville, I just started writing these songs and it kind of came together and I thought, this is my record, you know, this is what I have to say right now. And this is, you know, the fiddle will be on this record. And it is. It's not always the main featured instrument.

You know, Larry Campbell's wonderful pedal steel and electric guitar and then this banjo and you know, so on and so forth and you know, life just works in a mysterious way, as we know.

And for some reason I was just led in this direction and these songs came about and then my opportunity to record with Larry Campbell came about and I realized actually when I was writing these songs I was, I was getting excited and I was thinking, wow, you know, these songs, these songs, like, you know, when you make a record, you kind of want to paint a picture and you kind of want to say something. You kind of want. It's kind of nice to send one sort of vibe out there or one sort of message.

And when I was writing these songs, I was like, God, you know, these songs, they're. They're not downers. Even though they're about relationships, they're pretty upbeat.

I like the vibe and you know, I think all these songs together could make like one cool, paint one cool picture in a record. I wasn't sure how to do it because it wasn't about just playing bluegrass or old time music. It's about songs.

It's about me singing about what instrumentation should I use. I don't want it to be like rock and roll. I don't want it to be totally, totally soft tracks with no drums somewhere in the middle.

I don't know exactly how to do this. So I realized I could not. I didn't want to produce it myself. I wanted someone to help me.

But I had a sort of an idea in my head of what I wanted it to be.

So I think that my marriage ending and the six years in between writing these songs, spending the time in Huntsville, Alabama, just this whole growth period, I guess you say self discovery, it's a pretty introspective record and it just kind of led me in this direction and I don't know, here I am. And then I got the opportunity...