A group portrait of the five members of the band Donna the Buffalo standing outdoors in a desert landscape. From left to right: Kyle Spark, Mark Raudabaugh, Tara Nevins, Jeb Puryear, and David McCracken. They are all smiling and dressed in casual, roots-rock attire, including flannel shirts and denim. Tara Nevins, in the center, wears a blue plaid shirt and a decorative belt, while Jeb Puryear to her right wears a patterned hat. The background features a large, rocky hill under the soft glow of golden hour light, with a rustic wooden building visible on the left.
Donna The Buffalo Credit: Dreamspider Publicity

Like a massive amount of fellow New Yorkers, Zydeco outfit Donna The Buffalo have a thing for spending New Year’s in Florida. The band has rung in the new year at Tampa’s Skipper’s Smokehouse for the last few years, but takes a different, slightly more intimate approach on Wednesday.

There’s currently no telling whether Jim Lauderdale will show up for a guest spot, but expect an accordion-drenched career retrospective to kiss 2025’s ass goodbye next week.

Ahead of the band’s first downtown Clearwater show in a decade, co-founder Tara Nevins told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay about the best gig she ever saw. Read her full quote below.


I have seen many incredible concerts so it’s difficult to answer, but one of the most influential concerts was the first time seeing Preston Frank and his family band play Zydeco in Soileau, Louisiana. I came home and immediately bought an accordion, and that started a very important chapter in both mine and Donna The Buffalo’s musical evolution. -Tara Nevins, Donna The Buffalo

Tickets to see Donna The Buffalo play Clearwater’s Bilheimer Capitol Theatre are still available and start at $44.

Donna The Buffalo

Time Wed., Dec. 31, 8 p.m. 2025

Location The Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, 405 Cleveland Street, Clearwater

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This article appears in Dec. 25 – 31, 2025.

Josh Bradley is Creative Loafing Tampa's resident live music freak. He started freelancing with the paper in 2020 at the age of 18, and has since covered, announced, and previewed numerous live shows in...