The White Buffalo (a/k/a Jake Smith I believe) is a singer-songwriter who, based on my web wanderings, receives high praise from all that have seen him perform. I only recently stumbled upon this intriguing and seemingly elusive cat, whose bio depicts him as a hard-drinking, mountain of a man with much musical promise.
West-coasters may have heard of him, but he had flown under my radar to this point. Of course, that doesn’t really mean all that much, so I checked with a few folks more knowledgeable than me. Nope, hadn’t heard of him. He is an acoustic rocker with a pretty compelling voice—I liken it to a cross between Eddie Vedder and Jim Croce. This isn’t acoustic pop. Noirish lyrics about prostitute love are more like it.
The White Buffalo has a six-song EP that is available on iTunes (released in 2005), but apparently his prior full-length album Hogtied Like A Rodeo is even better. One problem: it is extremely hard to find. Maybe this is intentional symmetry with the rarity of a white buffalo. If anyone out there in HearYa land knows how to get your hands on a copy of Hogtied, please share the knowledge.
The White Buffalo - Love Song 1
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice find my starchy friend. This guy is great. Glad to see all those hours dreaming you were a surfer are finally paying off.
Well Mofongo, after much frustration I can not find the ‘Hogtied Like A Rodeo’ album. I would like to give you ups on the great find though.
I listened to this track several times on the way back from DC this week. Let me know if you guys find the LP. I’ll pick up the EP in the meantime.
To close the loop on this one: I didn’t give up my search and, as a result, I am currently listening to my used (though good-as-new) copy of ‘Hogtied’ that I found on Amazon — only copy they had. Demand is obviously exceeding supply because this CD was ridiculously expensive. But I have since learned that you can purchase new copies through Buffalo Records (no relation or correlation to TWB) in Japan. Their website doesn’t really work all that well for those of us in the states, but if you email doug@buffalo-records.com, he will hook you up. I enjoy the LP (which features additional instruments and musicians), but actually prefer the raw effort and tracks on the EP. You can check out a recent interview with TWB at the following link: http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/columnist/0,1375,VCS_4436_6508,00.html. Click on the Feb. 8 article.
Someone recently posted a great clip of TWB on YouTube performing a killer song “The Highway Man”, but it was taken down a few days later.
Check out My Space The White Buffalo……new video of Love Song #1
Hi. Yes, Mofongo is correct, we do have some copies of “Hogtied” left. Unfortunately, our website is only in Japanese. And our shopping cart is not set up to take non-Japanese credit cards.
We don’t have a PayPal account set up, so at this time we can only send orders to the US: we have a Bank of America account, into which people have been depositing money directly, and we send out the CD(s) as soon as i can verify that online.
Sending cash is an option, but at your own risk. That’s one way that we can take non-US orders.
Money orders are a possibility, but they MUST be INTERNATIONAL POSTAL MONEY ORDERS. Not domestic MOs, as we have no way of cashing or depositing them here. An Int’l money order will have “International” clearly printed on it.
Anyway, write me if you have questions at doug@buffalo-records.com
FYI, I started Buffalo Records here in Japan in 2000; we specialize in many sub-genres of American Roots Music, including jug bands and jam bands, acoustic swing, New Orleans funk and brass, some blues, singer-songwriters, etc. String Cheese, moe., Lotus, Papa Grows Funk, Asylum Street Spankers, Keller Williams, are some of our best-selling bands here.
Best,
Doug
Hey man, I stumbled across this looking up The White Buffalo himself. I first saw him on a ‘Donovan Frankenreiter’ DVD - Live From Abbey Road. He comes out for a song or two. Anyway….I found a link to his album. I hope it works for ya.
http://lix.in/31feb6
Enjoy!
-Rich
I also caught this guy on “the abbey road sessions” and thought, wow his voice and charisma could really go mainstream with proper management and desire. his voice reminded me of joe cocker. I will check out his I-tune material .
Found a few copies of this album @ justthedisc.com in case anyone is still looking.
I found a copy of hogtied like a rodeo on amazon. It didn’t come with a case, but it is as good as the ep with 12 tracks.
This guys is fantastic. I saw him at the Mint a few years ago. At the live show all of the songs are played with a steel guitar. Unfortunately, it is not on the album. Either way if you can get your hands on a copy, do it. You will be pleased.
He is playing at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood on July 11th. Go check him out.
I just stumbled upon TWB about a year and a half ago and have worn out the EP. I have been looking for tab/chords/lyrics since then and can only find Love Song #1 info. Does anyone have any other options?
I have the hogtied like a rodeo, and trying to get additional copies. Everyone I have played this for loves it but can’t get their hands on it!!!
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