Buffalo Traffic Jam Talks Capturing a Transformative Year on Its ‘Audible Photo Catalog’ of a Debut Album, ‘Pictures of You’
Categoria: Musica
The duo’s Frankie Cassidy and Nathan Ross chronicle their evolution as artists and performers on their debut album.
Por Billboard | 03/08/2026
Folk-rock duo Buffalo Traffic Jam’s Frankie Cassidy and his bandmate Nathan Ross were on the road late last year, opening shows for Dylan Gossett, when Cassidy received the call that his grandmother had unexpectedly passed away. He made the decision to leave the tour for a couple of days to be with his family — a decision that would ultimately guide the concept behind the duo’s recently released debut album. “My family is all from Maryland. I flew there to be with them, and we were looking through old pictures for her funeral,” Cassidy recalls to Billboard. “It was bittersweet looking at all the pictures, and seeing her life unfold.” That moment of selecting photos that would most clearly portray key moments in his grandmother’s life sparked the idea for the titular track of Buffalo Traffic Jam’s debut album, Pictures of You , which was released July 31 on Arista Records. “I fell in love with this idea of how all these songs could also be a picture of our lives over the past year and how all the crazy things have been from graduating college to now touring and doing this full-time,” Cassidy says. “This album is like an audible photo catalog.” Cassidy and Ross met while attending Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, where Ross was pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, while Cassidy was studying architecture. Both influenced by artists such as Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan, they began collaborating on music in 2024. “One day I was in Yellowstone National Park and ended up getting stuck in a buffalo traffic jam for a few hours, so I added it to our list [of potential band names] as a joke,” Cassidy says of the duo’s band name. “Then a year later, we started releasing music. I used to work in a kitchen in college, and we came up with Cigarettes In the Handicap Stall [as another option] …we were always laughing, too, because especially in Yellowstone, it’s not buffalo, it’s bison.” Cassidy and Ross graduated in May 2025 and that same month signed with Arista, on the strength of songs including “Rescue Me” and “Forgot Your Roots.” They issued a 2024 self-titled EP, followed by 2025’s Take Me Home . It was the heartbreaking “Fool’s Gold,” released in September 2025, that became their breakthrough, reaching into the top 5 on Billboard ’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart. The new album builds upon that EP, and folds in a more full-bodied sound with a broader range of instruments. But the project is still infused with elements of a rustic, pared-back sound that evokes the feel of Montana’s rugged terrains, lofty mountain peaks and wide valleys. They worked with five different producers on songs for the project, including Brian Elmquist, Ryan Hadlock, Sam Westhoff, Carrie K and Joe Becker, a producer they had previously worked with in Bozeman and who is known