Album review : THE WHITE BUFFALO – Year Of The Dark Horse

Snakefarm [Release date : 02.12.22]

The White Buffalo (aka Jake Smith) is hard to pin down. Aged 49, and hailing from the beautiful state of Oregon, this is his eighth studio album. So sustainability is not a problem. In fact he’s looking to build on a big YouTube hit pedigree over the years, recently including Problem Solution in 2020.

The Buffalo can sing. He can write a mean song. Good songs, good music, delivered well. However, he is described as country, folk, pop, rock, americana, hard rock – none fitting all that well !

To these ears he is accompanied by a kind of quirky, contemporary sound – not a bad thing at all, but not standard musical backing for these genres.

Production is by Jay Joyce who has superstar country credentials with Eric Church and Brothers Osborne.

Yes The White Buffalo is hard to pin down. The label Snakefarm itself is redolent of the swampy south, and I wonder if the title Year of the Dark Horse is in fact a self portrait.

Certainly the idea of the album is good. Four seasons sung in twelve songs. One year of life in the lyrics. A year of debauchery and blame, of love and loss, a life lived against the odds. Good year then !

If that’s not enough the album has a companion art film, little vignettes done by four different directors, each allocated a season in the year.
Buffalo is tuneful, tasteful and certainly well topped up with creative juices ! ***1/2

Review by Iain McGonigal

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)