Terry Buffalo Ware (February 14, 1950 – August 5, 2026) was an American guitarist and composer.
Early life Ware grew up in the Northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward. He attended the University of Oklahoma and graduated in 1972 with a degree in journalism professional writing.
He studied piano for 10 years beginning at age 9. He began playing guitar at age 14, and was self-taught. He also played the trombone in his high school band, and was in the Pride of Oklahoma, the University of Oklahoma's marching band, for one year. While still in high school, Ware played guitar in The Debtor Group, which performed regularly throughout Northwest Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. The band Sailor which Ware formed in college was a local fixture in Oklahoma music scene of the early 1970s.
Career After graduating college, Ware moved to New Mexico, where he met Ray Wylie Hubbard. He and Hubbard formed Ray Wylie Hubbard and the Cowboy Twinkies,Rusty Wasn't, But the Fuzz Wuz, Iconoclast, Dallas, Texas, October 4–11, 1974; Beal jr., Jim. Terry "Buffalo" Ware Reverb Babylon (OkieMOtionRecords), "My San Antonio San Antonio Express News," September 13, 2011. a group which still enjoys cult status. Hubbard and the Cowboy Twinkies performed all over the country from 1973 to 1979, including a stint at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and tours with Willie Nelson.
When the Cowboy Twinkies disbanded, Ware formed The Sensational Shoes in Norman, Oklahoma. This group enjoyed great regional popularity through the mid-1980s.Proctor, Dan. Sensational Shoes: Nothing is serious...but the music, Woodward Daily Press, September 19, 1984. Ware also released his debut album Caffeine Dreams in 1981.Savage, William W. Rock Around the Block, Oklahoma Monthly, 1981.
Ware rejoined Hubbard in 1986, and the duo performed all over the United States and overseas. Ware's guitar work on Hubbard's Lost Train of Thought (1992) was critically acclaimed,Deming, Mark. answers.com as was his work on the 1994 release Loco Gringo's LamentConquest, John. Music City Texas, October 1994; Henderson, S.D., theMet, December 8, 1994; Regenstreif, Mike. Sing Out!, May/June/July 1995. and 1997's Dangerous Spirits.Steinberg, Brian. Country Standard Time; Goulding, Steve. Chicago Tribune, August 15, 1997. Ware performed with Jimmy LaFave from 1997 to 2000, giving many notable performances such as the July 31, 1999, Central Park Summerstage in New York.Sigman, James. No Depression, September–October 1999.
In 1999, Ware was named a Texas Tornado by Buddy Magazine. The Buddy Texas Tornados are "an elite corp of the Lone Star State's finest musicians."Buddy Magazine. Ten guitarists picked as new Buddy Texas Tornados, Buddy Magazine, April 2001
From 2000, Ware was a freelance guitarist backing artists including Ray Wylie Hubbard, John Fullbright, Joel Rafael, Michael Fracasso, Eliza Gilkyson, Smokey & the Mirror, Bob Livingston, Audrey Auld, Susan Herndon, Wanda Jackson, Don Conoscenti, Monica Taylor, Mary Reynolds, Red Dirt Rangers, Sam Baker, Greg Jacobs, Ellis Paul, Camille Harp, Iain Matthews, Sandy Rogers, and many others.
In 2003, Ware and the legendary singer-songwriter Bob Childers recorded Two Buffalos Walking-Live at The Blue Door.Easterling, Mike. Two Buffaloes Walking, Oklahoma Gazette, May 17, 2000. With John Fullbright, he performed on the 2013 Grammy pre-telecast, and on the David Letterman show in August 2014.
He also released 12 CDs on his own label OkieMotion Records, Buffalo Tracks (2001),Geddes, George. Pipeline Instrumental Review Issue #54, 2002; Silverstein, Robert. 20th Century Guitar Magazine, May 2002. Ridin' the Reverb Range (2004),Forte, Dan. Vintage Guitar Magazine, 2004; Dirt, Phil. Reverb Central; Taylor, Alan. Pipeline Instrumental Review 64; Marsh, Dave. Rock and Rap Confidential, 20th Century Guitar; Patterson, Beverly. The Lance Monthly. Reverb Confidential (2007),Forte, Dan. Check this Action, Vintage Guitar, January 2008; Taylor, Alan. Pipeline Instrumental Review, Winter 2007; Patterson, Beverly. The Lance Monthly, October 2007; Peckett, Davy. The New Gandy Dancer, September 2007. Reverb Babylon (2011),Silverstein, Robert. Music Web Express 3000, August 2011; Hill, Doug. Reverb Babylon, a true work of beauty for Ware, The Norman Transcript, August 26, 2011 Everybody's Got One with Gregg Standridge (2015),Hill, Doug. Terry 'Buffalo' Ware and Gregg Standridge album traverses diverse themes and sound, The Norman Transcript, January 16, 2016 Man With Guitar and Amp (2016), Aren't You a Little Old for This? (2018), Into The Dwell (2019), Isolation Reverberation (2020), Covered Tracks (2021), Buffarama Chronicles Vol. 1 (2023), and Buffarama Chronicles Vol. 2 (2024). In December 2011, Reverb Babylon was named one of the Top Ten Best Albums of 2011 by the San Antonio Express-News.Beal, Jim. Top 10 albums of 2011, San Antonio Express-News, December 21, 2011.
Ware performed at every Woody Guthrie Folk Festival since it began in 1998, and led the house band and served as master of ceremonies for the Hoot for Huntington's since 2003. Among the artists he backed or performed with at the festival are David Amram, Ronny Elliot, Joel Rafael, The Burns Sisters, Rob McNurlin, Emma's Revolution, Kris Delmhorst, Nancy Apple and many others.
Ware's memoir, Man with Guitar and Amp: A Sideman's Memoir, was published in 2026, shortly before his death.
Death Ware died from lung cancer on August 5, 2026, at the age of 76.
Discography Caffeine Dreams, 1981 Buffalo Tracks, 2001 Two Buffalos Walking - Live at The Blue Door, Bob Childers and Terry Buffalo Ware, 2003 Ridin' the Reverb Range, 2004 Reverb Confidential, 2007 Reverb Babylon, 2011 Everybody's Got One, Terry Buffalo Ware and Gregg Standridge, 2015 Man With Guitar and Amp, 2016 Aren't You a Little Old for This?, 2018 Into The Dwell, 2019 Isolation Reverberation, 2020 Covered Tracks, 2021 The Buffarama Chronicles, Vol. 1, 2023 The Buffarama Chronicles, Vol. 2, 2024
Appears on the following recordings:
Ray Wylie Hubbard & The Cowboy Twinkies, 1975 Off the Wall, Ray Wylie Hubbard, 1978 The Clovis Roblaine Story, Clovis Roblaine, 1979 Oklahoma Bossa Nova, Steve Weichert, 1979 Lost Train of Thought, Ray Wylie Hubbard, 1992 Loco Gringo's Lament, Ray Wylie Hubbard, 1994 Dangerous Spirits, Ray Wylie Hubbard, 1997 Miles from Here, Macon Greyson, 1999 Gecko Canyon, The Banded Geckos, 2000 Staring Down the Sun, Red Dirt Rangers, 2002 Land of a Thousand Surf Guitars, The Plungers, 2002 Guitars Gone Wild, The Plungers, 2003 Evil Fuzz, Davie Allan Tribute, 2004 Restless Spirits: A Tribute to the Songs of Bob Childers, various artists, 2004 Bitter Sweet, Dante, 2005 The Stone Soup Sessions, John Egenes, 2011 The Wind and the Weeds, Wendy Allyn, 2011 Lucky Live, Greg Jacobs, 2011 From the Ground Up, John Fullbright, 2012 Songs, John Fullbright, 2014 Vagabonde, Susan Herndon, 2015 Thin Black Line, Smokey & the Mirror, 2015
Produced the following recordings:
Don't Let Go, T.Z. Wright, 2015 Old Habits Die Hard, Shawna LaRee, 2015 End of Summer, Heartbreak Rodeo, 2018
References
Savage, William W. Singing Cowboys and All That Jazz: A Short History of Popular Music in Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 1983, pp. 165–168. Sellars, Tony. The Mysterious Musician, Oklahoma Music, Spring 2003, pp. 51–52.
External links