Buffalo Tom returns with first new album in six years this spring

photo: Kelly Davidson

Buffalo Tom – singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist/singer Chris Colbourn and drummer Tom Maginnis – will release their 10th album Jump Rope on May 31 via their own Scrawny Records.

At the top of the year, the band released the album’s first single, “Helmet,” with the video premiering as well. On March 8, the trio will release the second album single, “New Girl Singing.”

As they have throughout their career, Buffalo Tom have chosen to partner with a photographer for album and single art that best represents the music. 

“We (Buffalo Tom) and our main art designer, Bob Hamilton, have often relied on a contrast of photography and abstract art for album and single cover designs. We engaged a wide variety of photography through the years like Iranian Magnum photographer Abbas Attar for the cover of Sleepy Eyed, Helen Levitt's Girl Playing At The Side of The Car for the ‘Soda Jerk’ single from Big Red Letter Day,” explains Chris Colbourn.

For their most current releases, the group was inspired by images from street photographer Mark Cohen’s book “True Color.” 

Says Colbourn, “Based in rural Pennsylvania, Cohen's photographs reflect a rural American melancholy. The absence of any fonts or titles brings more attention to the colors and details of the photo -- like the slightly worn and dirty feet of the adolescent jump roper in the album cover image.”

“We are very excited to release Jump Rope and look forward to adding these songs alongside BT classics when we take on whatever limited touring we are able to do,” adds guitarist Bill Janovitz. “We’ve been blown away by the audience response at our most recent sold-out shows.”

Buffalo Tom have several dates confirmed in the U.S., with more to be announced prior to their European tour, beginning later this fall.

Track listing:

1. Helmet (VIDEO)
2. New Girl Singing
3. Autumn Letter
4. Recipes
5. Pine For You
6. Come Closer
7. Little Ghostmaker
8. Our Poverty
9. The Belle of Borderline Dismay
10. Compromised
11. In The Summertime
12. Why’d You Have To Be Like That
13. Rifled Through
14. You’re On

U.S. TOUR DATES

Dec 2 / BOSTON, MA @ The Paradise **SOLD OUT**
Jan 13 / NEW YORK, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom **SOLD OUT**
March 9 / GLOUCESTER, MA @ The Cut **SOLD OUT**
March 15 / SOMERVILLE, MA @ The Crystal Ballroom^ **SOLD OUT**
March 16 / SOMERVILLE, MA @ The Somerville Theater^ **SOLD OUT**

More TBA…
^Fort Nights Benefit Performance

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES

Sept 27 / DUBLIN, IE @ Whelan’s
Sept 28 / GLASGOW, UK @ SWG3 Warehouse
Sept 30 / LONDON, UK @ Lafayette
Oct 3 / ANTWERP, BE @ De Roma
Oct 4 / SNEEK, NL @ Het Bolwerk
Oct 5 / EINDHOVEN, NL @ Come As You Are Festival
Oct 7 / COLOGNE, DE @ Luxor

Photo courtesy: Think Press PR