Buffalo Jones unites local music scene in support of KYRS Community Radio
Buffalo Jones, one of Spokane’s longest running local bands, is bringing the scene together to support KYRS Thin Air Community Radio.
Jason Johnson moved to Spokane in 2004. He had just graduated from Colorado State University and “wanted to do something different,” so Johnson moved in with his cousin with the loose idea of creating a production company together. In the meantime, Johnson figured he would put his experience working at Colorado State’s library to good use and began working for the Spokane County Library District.
Although he did not initially see working in the local library system as a long-term commitment, Johnson continued to find new roles and is now assistant director of the Spokane Public Library.
“No production company ever came out of this,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I didn’t plan on being here long, but it’s a good place to be, so I stuck around.”
Johnson also brought his musical skills to Spokane with him. He had a “terrible” band in high school and played guitar in “a few weird bands” in college, but mostly focused on open-mic singer-songwriter nights at bars in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Almost immediately, Johnson found similar open-mic nights in Spokane and played solo consistently for about a year until finding motivation to put a band together. He gradually collected members, leading to the founding of Buffalo Jones around 2006.
“Been playing pretty much nonstop since then,” Johnson said. “This year, someone said, is 20 years since our first show – I can’t remember the exact date.”
The alt-country rock band, with parallels to groups like Wilco and the Old 97s, released their first album “Wake Up. Struggle.” in 2008. They released their fifth and latest record, “Celebrate,” last year with the intention of sounding similar to a live Buffalo Jones show. The album features themes of isolation and intentionally “living in the moment” that stemmed from the pandemic.
“Some of our first couple records are very slickly produced, and I like them, but it doesn’t sound exactly like us,” Johnson said. “I think we’re, at our heart, a pretty good live rock and roll band and that’s what we wanted this one to sound like.”
Each member has a job and lives outside of Buffalo Jones, while the band is more of a side project. Johnson said their collective love of performing and having a creative outlet keeps the band going after all these years.
“It’s definitely not the money,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I can’t imagine not doing it … it’s a part of my life that I can’t imagine going away anytime soon.”
With the band being such long-time members of the Lilac City music scene, Johnson has found deep appreciation for local culture and those that help put it on display, such as KYRS Thin Air Community Radio. The volunteer-powered, noncommercial station began as an idea to showcase an array of news, music, culture and views in 1999 before hitting the airwaves in 2003.
Over the years, Johnson has been on KYRS many times in order to showcase Buffalo Jones or help friends who have had programs on air. After being a longtime fan of the station, he joined the board of directors when KYRS moved to downtown’s Spokane Central Library.
“It’s such a cool thing to have local, independent community radio,” Johnson said. “They reach so many different voices, so many different communities here that mainstream media doesn’t reach and you can hear some real deep cuts or stuff you can discover musically that you wouldn’t hear on commercial radio.”
Being a noncommercial station, KYRS is funded by listener donations, grant funding that Johnson said is increasingly difficult to come by, as well as underwriting advertisements, in which financial support is exchanged for on-air acknowledgment.
With a belief that independent media may be more important now than ever, Johnson and Buffalo Jones will be hosting a benefit concert at the Chameleon on Saturday. They will be joined by multiple local bands that Johnson is “a big fan of,” including Tomboy, Land Line and Betsy Rogue – a perhaps unsurprising consistent collaborator.
“I think they’re one of the best bands in town,” Johnson said. “I happen to be married to the lead singer, so that doesn’t hurt either.”
All proceeds from the show, including merch and the usual cut each band would normally be paid, will be donated directly to KYRS.
“I just want to see a bunch of people out there, I mean it’s nice when you’re playing to a bunch of people, but just really to support KYRS,” Johnson said. “We need media organizations like KYRS in our current landscape and the more people that come out the more fun it’s going to be, the more money they make … we’re just hoping to get a big crowd out there to celebrate this really cool organization we have here in Spokane.”