The Buffalo Hunt

 

The rapid, near-total extermination of Buffalo occurred during the peak commercial hunting era from approximately 1867 to 1884—about 17 years. In the mid--1800s, the population exceeded 40 million.  Some sources cite as low as 325 wild bison were still alive in the U.S. in 1885.

 

Counting Crows’ lyrics often weave in evocative, metaphorical references to “Buffalo,” symbolizing cultural displacement (e.g., the extinction of bison herds as a stand-in for vanished innocence). 

 

The primary songs are in “August and Everything After” (title track, with:

“I am the last remaining Indian / Looking for the place where the buffalo roam / In August and everything after / Man, them buffalo ain’t never comin’ home”. These get extended, improvised in live settings, where Adam Duritz’s stream-of-consciousness style shines and are delicious to witness.

 

Duritz’s lyrics, encapsulates the meaning of my painting, The Buffalo Hunt. The metaphor rings true: just as government paid hide-hunters slaughtered the great herds to near-extinction, my father quietly disseminated a living culture within the walls of his own home—while, across the same decades, the U.S. government choked the last breath from the sweet, Protestant soul of America.