This has been the project of my heart for the past nine years and now it’s time to bring it into the world. The kickstarter for The Bucolics Project is LIVE! Please check it out. Link (and full video) in the bio.
Video @dladds
#bucolicsproject #newsongsoldbones #mauricemanning
Sneak preview of The Bucolics Project!
I’ll be launching a kickstarter next weekend to raise the money e need to bring this project into the world. Watch this space.
Text by Maurice Manning, music by me. Video @dladds More soon.
#bucolicsproject #newmusic #makeart #cleavethemselvestoyou
A whole bunch of new followers in the past couple of days, so I thought I should introduce myself: I'm Brendan. I'm a composer and a singer; I play banjo, fiddle, guitar, and mbira; I am a crankie artist; I run singing retreats in Europe and the US as Turtle Dove Harmony (hence the handle); and I have a small homestead in southern Vermont where I'm trying to bring an 18th c. farm and farmhouse back to life. I've made a lot of music in different configurations (much of which you can hear at brendantaaffe.bandcamp.com), but the work of my heart these days is The Bucolics Project, a collaboration with Kentucky poet Maurice Manning creating songs based on his poems and archival field recordings. And I have a dog named Blue, who I love more than I thought was possible. Thanks for being here.
PC: @pjrphoto
#basinfarm #allthethings #bucolicsproject
Some beautiful shots of last month's Bucolics Project tour in Kentucky, all from the eye of @dladds
What a privilege to share this music at @theberrycenter@bereacollege@shakervillageky and @hindmanschool .
Thank you to everybody who gave us their ears and their time to hear these songs.
( and if you want more in-depth reflections on the tour, check out the latest substack)
#bucolicsproject #mauricemanning #fieldrecordings #appalachiansoundarchives
Friends, I have a question for you:
I've been working on this little cabin for the past two years and I just have a few finishing touches before it's ready to go. I'm going to be offering for rent as a little retreat from the world/ the fanciest glamping you've ever done. My experience renting airbnbs when I travel, esp. in recent years, is that it's never as good as it looks in the pictures and I want this to be the opposite. Everything is handmade with love and attention, the mattress is an organic cotton/bamboo blend and is super comfy, etc. It's completely off-grid with no running water or power. The composting outhouse is cedar-lined and has a tadelakt vanity. Bougie, amiright?
Here's the query: what little extras would make you feel super welcome in a rental space? I plan on stocking the medicine cabinet with essentials/back-ups. What would you most like to find there if you had forgotten things (aspirin, menstrual supplies, etc.)? What do you like to find in a cabin? Thanks!
#basinfarm #prettylittlecabin #retreat #haven
Home from a beautiful inaugural tour in Kentucky with The Bucolics Project, where we performed at @theberrycenter@bereacollege and @shakervillageky (that incredible staircase!). So many meaningful moments, from bringing the music back to Berea College where I had a research fellowship in the archives that started it all to singing at The Berry Center and being able to tell Wendell's family that his writing changed the course of my life. Thank you to everybody who made it possible.
Just so happens that today is Bandcamp Friday (the day that bandcamp leaves all the money to the musicians), the perfect day to buy a copy of the album (if you haven't already) or tell some friends about it (if you have). It all helps plant the seeds for the next tour.
brendantaaffe.bandcamp.com
#bucolicsproject #bandcampfriday
The Bucolics Project has it's inaugural performance last night at The Berry Center in New Castle, Kentucky.
It is no exaggeration to say that Wendell Berry's writing changed the course of my life. I read 'The Unsettling of America' when I was an 18 yr old college student at Deep Springs. Up to that point, I had assumed that I would finish an ivy league education and become a comp lit professor somewhere, but Wendell's astute analysis of the connections between culture and agriculture and the choice we possess to cultivate a posture of nurture over exploitation convinced to leave my academic aspirations to the side and become a farmer. Which I did for a time, until I burned out, but that put me in a community that was also interested in traditional music and singing, which became both my passion and my vocation, which eventually birthed The Bucolics Project. So it was a very full circle moment to bring this back to Wendell's home place. Deeply grateful for this man's thinking and his words.
During his introduction, @ben.g.aguilar said that the future is unknown and unknowable, so we can draw conclusions from it of how we should act. The same could be said of the present—especially now, perhaps, but probably always—and so we look to our traditions to inform right action. That was such a beautiful summation of the ethos of this project, where each song is rooted in archival field recordings from Eastern Kentucky, letting the richness and musical wisdom of those singers guide us in our choices.
Free concert tonight at Berea College at 7 pm. Ticketed show tomorrow afternoon at The Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill. Hope you can join us.
#bucolicsproject #wendellberry #fullcircle #bereacollege
I’m eager to hear the sublime music of the @bucolicsproject performed live at @bereacollege this Saturday! Details below.
The Bucolics Project
Free public concert
Saturday April 25, 2026, 7:00 pm
Presser Hall, Berea College,
190 Chestnut St., Berea, KY
Some things I made from firewood this spring:
Cherry bowl from a hollow log. Made it with an adze, which was totally fun.
Spoons, l to r: peach, lilac, burning bush, lilac. Turns out burning bush is incredibly nondescript as wood goes, so I painted the handles. And if you apply white vinegar that’s had old nails soaking in it, lilac turns a dusky grey/purple. Not things you were wondering about, but now you know.
#basinfarm #whatsonyourbench
The Bucolics Project hits the road for the first time next week and Maurice came up with lyrics for a new song. Been learning it and almost (but not quite-ha!) have the words down. Come hear us in Kentucky!
#bucolicsproject #mauricemanning
