Tommy Buller Archives - Bluegrass Today

6 Feet Under and Still Going Down from Tommy Buller

Tommy Buller – photo © Barbara Potter

RBR Entertainment has a new single this month for Tommy Buller, the third from an upcoming album and follow-up to I Still Call It Home, which did well on our Bluegrass Today Weekly Airplay chart in 2020.

Buller is an artist who grew up as a grasser, playing with his family band in Nebraska, before taking musical detours into both blues and mainstream country, only to return to his first love. In fact he pursues both country and bluegrass these days, with the influence of each clearly showing in the other. He is Tommy in the bluegrass, and Tom in the country.

His latest track is 6 Feet Under and Still Going Down, one Tommy wrote with Bart Hansen about a guy who is definitely dealing with hard times, losing at love, and still sinking lower by the day.

Buller says that this one shows his ease in switching genres.

“This song was originally written for a country music project that I’m a part of. I thought, if we speed this up a bit, it would be a great bluegrass song.”

He is supported here by Frank Rische on guitar, Greg Martin on bass, James Seliga on mandolin, Tim Crouch on fiddle, Ron Stewart on banjo, and Josh Swift on reso-guitar. Josh also handles harmony vocals.

Check it out in this lyric video.

6 Feet Under and Still Going Down from Tommy Buller is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers will find the track via AirPlay Direct.

I Still Call It Home from Tommy Buller

As the market for bluegrass music expands internationally, it has not only scooped up a more urban audience who enjoy the more modern or progressive string band style, it has likewise widened to encompass a growing market for traditional acoustic country. And with the big Nashville labels turning a blind eye to these folks, the artists and fans have begun to find a home under the swollen bluegrass umbrella.

One such is Tommy Buller, an old hand around Music City who has taken his songs and his guitar wherever anyone would listen for the past few years, and has developed a regular following at Layla’s on lower Broadway. The Nebraska native has the real country sound in his voice, and though he is usually seen with a chapeau, his isn’t hat country or bro country in the least.

The bluegrass bug bit Tommy as a youngster playing with his family’s band, and the love for the style has never left him. He is recently signed by RBR Entertainment, founded by fellow singer/songwriter Billy Droze, and has a single released today written by Droze and Chris Myers called I Still Call It Home.

Buller says that after spending much of his adult life on the road, the song hit him right away.

“The first time Billy played it for me, I listened to the words and I fell in love with the song because it’s kind of the way I feel. I love being in Nashville, but I always miss being at home with Mom and Dad.”

Here’s a taste..

I Still Call It Home is available now on popular download and streaming services, and to radio programmers at AirPlay Direct.

Prayin’ For A Cold Day from Tommy Buller

Since country music has essentially turned its back on, well… country music, there are more and more artists who are too country for country radio looking to the bluegrass market. One great example is The Malpass Brothers, whose honky tonk country sound would never hit today’s airwaves, but have become a very popular attraction at bluegrass festivals around the country.

Another is Caleb Daughtery, who came up as a grasser, tried his hand at commercial country, and is now among the hottest new acts on the bluegrass circuit. And we have yet another in Tommy Buller, who has been on our Bluegrass Today Weekly Airplay chart this past two weeks, moving up with his first single, Prayin’ For A Cold Day. Buller grew up in a family bluegrass band in Nebraska, and moved to Nashville where he has been a honky tonk hero on lower Broadway this past couple of years. A new album is in the works for RBR Entertainment that accents his bluegrass side, along with his band, Just Plain Trouble.

The new single clearly mixes these musical roots, with Tommy’s agile, country-tinged vocals out front.

Here’s a taste…

Sounds like a hit to me!

Prayin’ For A Cold Day is available now wherever you stream or download music online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.