Buffalo Gospel – We Can Be Horses – Album Review | The Ark of Music – The best music in the world…you never knew existed.

Okay, I’m going to go out on a limb. That said, I’ll only be out on a limb from the point of view of some of you out there. But from my point of view…it’s no limb at all. Here goes:

The Country/Americana band of music-makers known as Buffalo Gospel is not only Milwaukee Wisconsin’s best kept secret, they just might be country music’s best kept secret.

Yup. There it is. In print. Care to disagree? If so, I respect that, truly, I do. But before you do, before you disagree, before you wail and moan in—admittedly—rightful protection of your very personal and sacred country saviors…give Buffalo Gospel a listen. Just, just, just…listen. For, I cannot overstate their music’s ability to touch, to draw near, to transfix listeners. Yes, transfix. I write these words shamelessly, honestly, hopefully.

Shamelessly, in that I simply do not care that my reputation as a member of the music media may be on the line. Their music is simply that good. Honestly, in that I mean every word of this. I’ve got no vested interest in their success. Their music is simply that good. Hopefully, in that if we at the Ark of Music can help, in some small capacity, to bring real, authentic sonic art like this back to the realm of the popular culture…well then, maybe this all stood for something after all.

Fronted by singer/songwriter/guitarist Ryan Necci, the band recently held up near the Twin Cities in Minnesota recording their next album. In eager anticipation of that release, we will be discussing their 2013 twelve-track masterpiece, We Can Be Horses.

The album opens with the anthemic Song Of The Ox, a near perfect piece of country-rock music that challenges conventional wisdom’s canned dogma on life, death, and the canyon that dwells in-between. It belongs on a soundtrack, the radio, anywhere…

“Let me tell a secret, friends
About where you go when it all ends
Well I know it is a thin line
Between heaven and here
We can wash in the river
And this year will be our year

I sing me the song of the ox
Right over that long pine box
That they left in the field
By the hole full of ghosts
By the busted old post
That are shaped like a cross
And they make me feel
Like a dirty old sinner
And the line gets thinner
I am an ox and I eat the grass
If the preacher don’t like it
He can kiss my ass”

Mule, the second track, brings to mind my first live experience with Buffalo Gospel. I traveled to Milwaukee to see The Pines perform in support of their new album. Opening for The Pines was some group I’d never heard of called Buffalo Gospel. Near the front-end of their set, they broke into Mule, a slow-building, heart-wrenching tale of the lonesomeness and self-loathing that can only be told by one who’s witnessed and experienced it in some capacity. Necci’s vocal rendition of this number on that particular night was something I won’t soon forget. Near the song’s midpoint, as if pleading with his own historical demise to somehow change itself in real-time, he repeated over and over until something inside told him it was enough…

“And you never know that a little love is all you need
‘Til a little love is all you got
And you never know that a little love is all you need
‘Til a little love is all you got
And you never know that a little love is all you need
‘Til a little love is all you got”

The Western (The Devil Is Me), is simple and real. A lightly finger-picked guitar, a few soft and eerie electric chords that swell and fade in the background, and Necci’s vocals, all collide to subtly form what could be argued is the most moving piece on the album. And, like any great prose, the haunting reality of Necci’s lyrics remain long after the track ends…

“It took a while to catch my breath
It took a while to catch my breath
It took a while for me to see
That the devil, well the devil is me”

Within We Can Be Horses’ over all structure, If I Was The Last Man brings a perfectly timed brand of relief. Fiddle and all, this quick little Americana number dares you to sit still…and you won’t. Lyrically brilliant, it follows suit with the rest of the album…

“Hey Rose, double on the wall
First to fire is the first to fall
My blood dries black and it dries fast
Hey Rose, saddle and the sin
Angel that you are and the devil that I been
If I was the last man
Could I be your man at last?”

Staying true to the project, Letters to Georgia is a delightfully sorrowful love song, and a perfect way to end this journey of an album. Heidi Spencer’s accenting harmonies combine once again with Necci’s, and waltz you right out the door, leaving you wanting more…

“I’m a dog in the dirt
You’re the salt of the Earth
We’re hounds in the whispering light
I’m a book full of words
You’re the lesson I learned
Sincerely, I love you, goodbye”

Great music pulls fans into its genre—rather than the other way around as we currently so often see it work. And, this album, this band, does just that. Country music has Buffalo Gospel to thank for countless new fans of the genre, now and into the future. For, whether you’re a country fan or not, We Can Be Horses is the album which all lovers of real music are looking for. It’s the music for which we wait desperately amidst a torrent sea of overly-produced, cookie-cutter, candy-pop. Never too much, never not enough—of anything—We Can Be Horses is sharp and technically brilliant—both live and on the album. Necci’s lyrics and delivery are so authentically raw that we wouldn’t change a single note or tone—not one. Story tellers like him come around rarely, and we feel damn lucky to have stumbled across him and his crew of outlaws on that random night last Winter.

So there you have it. Yes, I’m gushing. I get it. Yes, I’ve written an undisciplined, nonobjective review. I get it. Truth is, for love of the music, I just don’t give a damn.

Whose lovechild…?
If Kurt Cobain wrote songs for Hank Williams Sr. (No, I’m not kidding.)

Below, you can listen to Buffalo Gospel’s album, We Can Be Horses, connect with their website and social media platforms, watch their music video, check out their live show/tour schedule, and find their booking & contact information. Please support Buffalo Gospel by visiting them online, and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing their music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music!