The White Buffalo?

If I was in a record store and flipping through the stacks (in my own little slice of heaven) and I came across something called The White Buffalo EP, I would probably shallowly dismiss it as some kind of Native American folksy music and keep going to the White Stripes or even Whitesnake.

But that would be foolish of me.

Picture instead that the first exposure to this tune is a soundtrack to a low-key little surfing movie called Shelter, with a gorgeous blue wave curling its way around a bronzed and happy surfer dude (or chick). That opens my mind to the sound -- and I immediately liked the unique, quavering, urgent voice and the old-school scatting interludes to the vocals, like an old blues song. Give it a shot, I ripped it here from DVD audio:

Wrong (acoustic) - The White Buffalo

I don't know why Jake Smith chooses to call himself The White Buffalo. Maybe it came to him in a dream about a woman dressed in white with a holy pipe. But I have learned that he was born in Oregon, moved to San Francisco, waited tables, and is currently on tour with Ziggy Marley and later with Donavon Frankenreiter, and has that aforementioned EP which is actually thoroughly enjoyable.

Here's one more track, others on his MySpace, or buy the EP here.

Love Song - The White Buffalo (alternate link)

(Both songs re-upped on 11/11/06)