Buffalo Traffic Jam: “We’re massive Kingfishr fans"

Buffalo Traffic Jam are still catching their breaths as they sit down in the greenroom, buzzing from the first of two nights at the Button Factory.

“It felt like a European soccer match,” says Frankie Cassidy, one half of the outfit that also includes Nathan Ross. “The chants were incredible. I don’t think there was a song that we played that they didn’t sing every word to last night. It was probably my favorite night of my life, honestly.”

It’s high praise, but something he’ll likely be repeating. They’ve already announced a bigger Dublin show at the National Stadium for April 2027.  But that’s all ahead of them. For now, our conversation steers towards their debut album Pictures of You.

“The title track is actually written about my family and mainly my grandma, who I unexpectedly lost this last fall,” Frankie says. “I had the idea for this track when I went home to my family’s farm in Maryland, and we were going through photo albums to choose pictures to display at her funeral… each line is just kind of about one of my aunts or uncles on my mom’s side.”

That tenderness permeates the record. ‘Older’ deals with outgrowing a relationship, ‘Too Young to Die’ came straight out of a panic attack during which death felt inevitable,  and ‘Fools Gold’, written during a week home alone, wrestles with the lie that you just need people around you, when the real fight is the one going on in your own head. Love or loathe the genre, it’s the sort of open-hearted songwriting that’s driving the stomp-and-holler folk revival on both sides of the Atlantic.

The duo met through Frankie’s ex-girlfriend while at Montana State University, bonding over Mario Kart and a shared love of music. After getting some traction from their single ‘Forget Your Roots’, the architect and engineer decided to swap their rulers for guitars and give a music career a proper go.

“Yeah, it was difficult,” Frankie says of the decision. “I kind of saw it as like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I was 22 when we graduated, and I thought if we’re going to do it, now’s the time. I convinced Nate to also be a part of it.”

“It was definitely a nerve-wracking transition at first, just because everything was so new,” says the quieter Nate. “But I’m so glad that I decided to do it. I’ve spent my whole life studying STEM, I guess, doing engineering in school and stuff, and that was like my life for 22 years, and then everything changed, but it’s so much fun.”

What they did get out of college was somewhere to lay down roots. Frankie is originally from Baltimore, Nathan from around Seattle. The pair don’t plan on leaving Bozeman, Montana, any time soon.

“We’re both big skiers. That’s the whole reason we went out there for school, to ski,” says Frankie. “There’s something about Montana that ties into the music. I think that’s where all the authenticity comes from. That’s where we met, that’s where we started making music, and that town is really special to us.”

Nate is the better skier, for those wondering.

“The nature obviously is beautiful, a lot of imagery to be drawn from there,” Frankie continues. “It’s one of the biggest cattle capitals of the world, so there’s a lot of cowboy culture there. Hipsters shake hands with cowboys in the downtown area.”

They might be infatuated with their adopted home, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t seen plenty of the outside world.

They’ve become friends with fellow folk-revivalists Kingfishr, having shared bills early on.

“We’re massive Kingfishr fans,” Frankie says. “They were the second opener on our first-ever tour with Dylan Gossett.”

“I hadn’t heard of them really before seeing them open for Dylan,” Nate says. “My first time meeting them, Eddie was seconds away from walking out on stage, and he pulls an in-ear out, and then takes time to come say ‘hi’ to us right before he runs out, puts it back in, and then goes out and puts on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. So, they’re just amazing guys.”

• Buffalo Traffic Jam’s debut album Pictures of You is out now.