Crowdfunding Campaigns of the Week: Holly Bowling, Donna the Buffalo

As the holiday season rolls around and the air begins to get colder, many artists turn their attention from the summer touring season to the studio, where songs coalesce into new albums. For some artists, that also means some time spent on their favorite crowdfunding site setting up a campaign to fund said album. But with so many, how can a consumer even know everything that’s out there. That’s where I come in. Each week, I will peruse the most popular crowdfunding sites to find the best roots-oriented campaigns and deliver them here. Think your band’s crowdfunding campaign is worth inclusion? Send me an e-mail with a link to your campaign and a way to hear your music and I’ll select my favorites for a future column.

Donna the Buffalo Bus Fund

Not every crowdfunding campaign is to raise money for a new album. For a band who tours as extensively as Donna the Buffalo, there’s also the matter of having a bus to ferry them from gig to gig. So that’s what the band has taken to crowdfunding site GoFundMe to raise money for. With over a million miles traveled in their old bus, a replacement is needed and the call has been put out to the band’s dedicated fanbase, who call themselves The Herd. While GoFundMe isn’t normally used for music related crowdfunding and often doesn’t include backer rewards, Donna The Buffalo isn’t just asking for charity from their fans. They have set up a rewards system that includes a signed copy of their new album, an entry into a lottery to win a weekend on the bus with the band, and a private songwriting session with Tara Nevins and Jeb Puryear.

Holly Bowling – Better Left Unsung

The Grateful Dead was a band that knew a thing or two about taking songs and reimagining them into entirely new genres. So it makes sense that other artists have been doing the same thing with their music over the years. The latest is classically trained pianist Holly Bowling, who is an avowed fan of the band Phish, having seen over 300 shows according to her bio. Now Bowling will turn her mix of classical piano and jam improvisations to one of Phish’s own biggest influences. This solo piano double album will feature over two hours of music and includes hits like “Dark Star” and “Eyes of the World.” Backer rewards include a signed triple-vinyl set of the album, a manuscript page, and a chance to pick your own favorite Grateful Dead song to be transformed for solo piano by Bowling.