The White Buffalo’s newest, Year of the Dark Horse (2022), finds towering frontman Jake Smith in the mood to shake things up.
“You think we’re a country band? A folk band? Americana? Rock? What the fuck are you gonna say now?” he asked in press materials. “With this album, I wanted something outside of what I’ve ever done. I wanted to open up. Do something dangerous. I’m hard to put into a singular genre as it is, but now I really wanted to take away any kind of preconception or pigeonholing.
“And don’t ask me, ’cause I don’t know what it is!” he continued. “It’s a genre-bending thing—there’re elements and influences from ELO, Daniel Lanois, Tom Waits, The Boss, circus, pirate music, yacht rock, and I’m driving and pushing some of these numbers in a way I’ve never done before. At the top of the pandemic, I put the acoustic guitar on its stand, got a synthesizer and began writing on it, not really knowing how to play keys, just exploring the different sounds and landscapes. In the not knowing, it allowed me to expand my vocal melodies and compositions in ways the guitar had possibly limited.”
What it is is what The White Buffalo’s music has always been: soaring, literate, transportive, with Jake Smith’s special brand of macho sans cockiness.
On “Not Today,” he sings about his reinvention, a new year, and a new beginning: “One more trip around the sun/ What else do we say/ Happy New Year, Earth/ Or something else cliché// Well, it’s a whole new me/ It feels like I’m born again/ Think what I could become/ I hope this feeling never ends.”
Smith’s booming baritone conjures up memories of Crash Test Dummies lead singer Brad Roberts, and watching his YouTube video of the song brings theatrics to the lyrics that drive home the song’s point. The album, his eighth, was released last November and “is a sonic and lyrical journey of one lunar year in one man’s life,” he explained. “Four seasons in 12 songs. Loosely based on my twisted truths and adventures.”
It’s a worthwhile ride, and this Saturday, April 29, Numbskull, Good Medicine, and KCBX present BarrelHouse Jam with The White Buffalo, local R&B/soul band Próxima Parada, and local bluegrass party band The Mother Corn Shuckers on Saturday, April 29 (3 p.m.; all ages; $32 at goodmedicinepresents.com), at BarrelHouse Brewing. Prepare yourself for some sun. The weather’s looking to be almost 90 degrees!
If Bruce Springsteen was born in North Carolina rather than New Jersey, I imagine he’d sound a lot like American Aquarium, a group of blue collar Southern rockers singing about rural life and the resilience of the working class, for instance in the song “Tough Folks”: “See I come from a long line of Carolina farmers/ For years, tobacco was the answer/ It kept the lights on and put food on the table/ ‘Til the doctors started callin’ it cancer/ So we took to the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains/ With a harvest of corn and some copper line/ And we found you can get a little slice of heaven/ With some sugar yeast water and a whole lotta time// Life ain’t fair/ Saddle up, boy, and see it through/ Tough times don’t last/ But tough folks do.”
Frontman and chief songwriter BJ Barham is Southern through and through, but he’s honest about the South and its long racist history, which he addresses in “A Better South”: “On the backs of the poor, these towns were built/ Where every ounce of pride comes a pound of guilt/ There’s a shadow here, looms long and black/ It’s always one step forward and two steps back,” and in another verse, “I’m sick and tired of listening to Daddy’s generation/ The byproduct of war and segregation/ Still thinking they can tell us of what to do/ Who can live where and who can love who.”
For a Southern rock band, Barham and company are remarkably progressive.
“When these massive life changes happen, we feel like we are the only ones facing these problems. Talking about them openly, giving them a name, and dragging them into the light makes them seem a little less daunting, a little more conquerable,” Barham said in press materials. “I hope this album serves as a salve to anyone who has experienced this sort of loss over the last few years. I hope it makes them feel a little less isolated and disconnected. I want them to know that someone out there is going through the exact same shit and that they are not alone.”
See American Aquarium at The Siren on Saturday, April 29 (8 p.m.; 21-and-older; $22 general at goodmedicinepresents.com or $102 for VIP pre-show meet and greet). Emily Nenni opens the show. She said of her music, “What I love about country is the songs can be very honest and vulnerable, yet they’re beautiful enough to make you cry. My music is sweet and sad, but I don’t take myself too seriously. It’s old-school honky-tonk with a slightly different flavor.”
Also at The Siren …
Eagles tribute band The Boys of Summer play on Friday, April 28 (7 p.m.; 21-and-older; $22.50 presale at eventbrite.com), delivering classic hits such as “Tequila Sunrise,” “Witchy Woman,” “Hotel California,” “Desperado,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” and many more.
Scratch plays a free afternoon show on Saturday, April 29 (2:30 to 5:30 p.m.; 21-and-older). Hailing from SLO and northern Santa Barbara counties, the band’s played together since 2014, delivering rock, pop, and blues covers from the 1960s to the present.
Soak in the positive Cali-reggae vibes when Through the Roots, Cydeways, and The Darts play a Cuatro de Mayo party on Thursday, May 4 (7 p.m.; 21-and-older; $18.50 at eventbrite.com).
SLO Brew Rock
Speaking of tribute bands, Son of a Gun, a Guns N’ Roses cover act, plays on Friday, April 28 (7 p.m.; 18-and-older; $20 at ticketweb.com). The band is fronted by Argentine singer Ari Kamin, who’s also lead singer for former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler’s solo band.
Brooks Nielsen returns to SLO Brew Rock on Thursday, May 4 (7 p.m.; 18-and-older; $30 at ticketweb.com). Best known as lead singer for SoCal surf-psych act The Growlers, Nielsen released his debut solo album in 2022, the highly theatrical One Match Left. “There’s happiness in there,” Nielsen said of the album in press materials. “The bands that I like have a sense of humor, like Television Personalities or Jonathan Richman, but there’s tragedy too. That’s the old theatrical tradition.” Nielsen alternates between carnival barker, lullaby crooner, and rock ‘n’ roll priest, depending on the track.
More music …
Pianist and Cal Poly Music Professor Emeritus W. Terrence Spiller plays an all-Beethoven recital this Friday, April 28 (7:30 p.m.; $20 general, $10 for students), in the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center’s Pavilion. The recital is the seventh in Spiller’s survey of the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven. This year, he plays the poetic masterpiece Op. 109; two large early works: Sonatas Op. 2, No. 2, and Op. 10, No. 3; and the compact and joyous Sonata Op. 78. Proceeds benefit the Cal Poly Music Department Scholarship Fund.
The Dulcie Taylor Band plays Pear Valley Vineyard (4900 Union Road, Paso) this Saturday, April 29 (1 to 4 p.m.; free), delivering Taylor’s socially conscious, thoughtfully constructed original songs that have been viewed more than 3.5 million times on her YouTube channel and streamed more than half a million times worldwide. She’ll be joined by guitarists George Nauful and Tim Jackson, bassist Freeman Lee, and drummer Tracy Morgan.
The second annual International Jazz Day returns this weekend with vocalist Deborah Gilmore and her jazz ensemble Mo Betta Jazz performing at a variety of locations. On Saturday, April 29, see them at SLO Provisions (12:30 to 2 p.m.), Saints Barrel Wine (4 to 5:30 p.m.), and Antigua Brewing (7:30 to 9:30 p.m.). On Sunday, April 30, they’ll play Mint+Craft (11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.), Old SLO BBQ (2 to 3:30 p.m.), Field Day Coffee (3 to 4:30 p.m.), and Linnaea’s Café (4:30 to 5:45 p.m.). All the events are free, though a $10 donation is suggested.
The Basin Street Regulars hosts a hot jazz concert this Sunday, April 30, in the Pismo Beach Vets Hall (11 a.m. jam followed by a 1 p.m. concert; $15; all ages), with opening act the Tevis Ranger Jazz Ensemble featuring seventh- and eighth-grade musicians from Tevis Junior High in Bakersfield and headliner the Dawn Lambeth Jazz Band, playing swing era tunes from the ’20s to the ’40s.
The SLO Wind Orchestra presents Salute to America, a concert featuring works by Gershwin, Sousa, Gould, and more, this Sunday, April 30, in the Cuesta College Performing Arts Center (3 to 5 p.m.; all ages; $10 to $30 at slowinds.org). Special guest pianist Rudolf Budginas and the orchestra will be under the baton of conductor Jennifer Martin.
Jazz Vespers returns to the First Presbyterian Church of SLO this Sunday, April 30, with Cuesta College’s award-winning vocal jazz a cappella ensemble Voce, directed by John Knutson (4 p.m.; free though donations are appreciated). Voce, first formed in 1981, won an Outstanding Performance Award from Downbeat Magazine, First Place at the Reno Jazz Festival, two invitations to perform at the Conference of the International Association of Jazz Educators, two invitations to perform at the Jazz Education Network conference, and an appearance at the National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association.
Cal Poly Arts presents Aditya Prakash Ensemble at the PAC Pavilion on Wednesday, May 3 (7:30 p.m.; $40 at calpolyarts.org). Vocalist Aditya Prakash, who’s known for his powerful and emotive voice, is a foremost young virtuoso of Carnatic music—South India’s traditional classical style. “Growing up in his native Los Angeles, Aditya was rooted in South Indian arts and culture through his immigrant family, yet at school found himself in a distinct minority,” his bio explains. “He studied Carnatic voice with great dedication from childhood but kept that passion apart from the public persona he had for his friends. Balancing two worlds in this way leads one to isolation, a feeling of being separate from both cultures. Yet it also drives the creative to find ways to bring these worlds together.”
Calling all guitar-ophiles!
The annual Central Coast Guitar Show is Saturday, April 29 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; $8.99 presale at my805tix.com or $10 at the door, with a dollar off if you’re bringing in an instrument to sell or trade), this year in Santa Maria’s Radisson Hotel Ballroom. “This show is all about the most popular musical instrument in the world—the guitar,” organizer Ed Miller explained. “Manufacturers, dealers, collectors, and local musicians will be displaying, selling, and trading their new, used, and vintage guitars and guitar-related products, as well as other musical instruments and services.” Δ
Contact Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 7, 2023.