Bozeman-based duo Buffalo Traffic Jam are just “two dudes” making music that sits with you while you figure things out.

‘Take Me Home’ – Buffalo Traffic Jam

Looking around Nate Ross and Frankie Cassidy’s apartment, you’ll find some classic young-musician touches: Shelves lined with liquor bottles, a framed collection of bottle caps, and across the room, a large poster of Bigfoot posing provocatively with a strategically placed raccoon to keep it PG. Somewhere amid it all is a modest recording setup where the Montana-based duo, better known as Buffalo Traffic Jam, created their first EP.

It’s a snapshot of who they are as musicians: real and relatable, like Bozeman itself, where “ranchers shake hands with hippies.” That mix of country, rock and folk shapes the six tracks of their studio debut, Take Me Home.

In an era dominated by slick, algorithm-friendly music, Buffalo Traffic Jam stand out because they don’t pretend to be anything they’re not. Their songs are down-to-earth and hit close to home. (Even if that “home” has a Bigfoot poster in the living room.)

“Music doesn’t have to fix you. Sometimes it just sits with you while you figure it out,” Cassidy says. “We don’t want to be the soundtrack to someone’s happy ending. We want to be the song that gets them through the middle of it.”

Take Me Home feels like watching the dramatic rise and fall of a relationship, starting with the wistful title track, then moves through “Black-Eyed Susie,” “Fool’s Gold,” “Broken Love,” and “Can’t Let Go,” before closing with “Comfort in Misery.” Each song builds on the last, creating an emotional arc of falling in and out of love, and finding moments of unexpected comfort in the sadness.

“It starts with that feeling of needing to be taken home, goes through the loss and confusion of a breakup, and ends with learning to find comfort in misery,” says Cassidy. “There’s a calm that comes from admitting you’re not okay. It’s a sad ending, but also kind of honest.”

The duo’s natural chemistry – Cassidy leaning toward country, Ross toward indie rock – merges into a sound that sits comfortably in the Americana-folk space.

Cassidy’s vocals have a patina-like quality (rustic, slightly weathered and full of texture), while Ross’s guitar and mandolin lines add depth and color. The result is something that’s a little hard to categorize; not joy, not despair, but that middle ground where real life happens.

The duo met at Montana State University, where Cassidy was studying architecture, and Ross was in mechanical engineering. Their partnership began casually, strumming guitars after class and swapping rough demos. When Cassidy left for an internship in Maryland, they stayed connected creatively by swapping GarageBand files.

“That natural chemistry just clicked,” Ross says. “We didn’t plan to mix genres. What the other person made always felt right.”

From those laid-back beginnings in student apartments to recording most early tracks in Cassidy’s bedroom, the duo has stayed grounded.

“We’re not spending copious amounts on studios,” Ross says. “We want people to know we’re just honest people making honest music.”

Now signed with Arista Records, and with their debut studio project out in the world, the duo is gearing up for national tours with Dylan Gossett, Allen Stone and Bayker Blankenship, as well as a spot at Red West Festival with Noah Kahan and Kacey Musgraves. It’s been a wild ride that Cassidy and Ross are still learning to navigate as newcomers to the music business.

In just a couple of years, Buffalo Traffic Jam has gone from tiny Bozeman bars to touring nationally. One surreal moment came in Saint Paul, Minn., when the crowd began chanting “B-T-J” as they stepped on stage.

“That was the moment we realized people actually knew who we were,” Ross says. “A couple of years earlier, we were just two guys in a student apartment.”

Despite growing audiences, Cassidy emphasizes they haven’t lost touch with where they started.

“At the end of the day, we’re just the same two dudes hanging out in Bozeman,” he says.

When they’re off the road, Buffalo Traffic Jam plans to hole up in an Airbnb for a few days to write and record new demos. The idea of experimenting with more rock-driven sounds isn’t off the table as they continue to carve out their own path.

“We’re still figuring out what’s next,” Ross says. “But the goal is to keep growing without losing that rawness.”

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 © Matthew Alec Gold

Take Me Home

an EP by Buffalo Traffic Jam