The Band
Ruby Highway
Nick Buttice
Born on Staten island 1958. moved to Bainbridge NY 1967. Began playing guitar at age 7 when I was bitten by a dog on my left arm and my father thought this would be a good way to keep using my left forearm and develop dexterity and strength.
At age 10 I began reading classical guitar pieces and also self taught some piano from an old book I found. Soon music became more present in my life as my brother and sisters played many kinds of music of those times. My father had exposed me to a vast variety of opera, Italian folk songs, classical music including the great violinists, and real traditional blues. Rounding out that early listening experience was some guitar jazz and Sinatra and large exposure to the great pianists. Today I still listen to these pieces of music.
I played in the stage band some in high school on guitar and sang in the chorus. I credit all the good things in my life to my parents, my friends and family and also my teachers and coaches in high school. America’s most valuable resource is our teachers.
I wrote my first song at 16 in Bainbridge, NY sitting under a bridge and that song was tender love – on this release it has a great sax solo and keyboards. It changed very little since the day I heard/ wrote it. I am fortunate to have the ability to hear songs from nowhere and it has always been like listening to a radio from space. I just sat and listened and ran for my guitar and a pen. I wrote songs in bus stations on paper plates, once on some paper towels and many times sitting alone on the back roads. Several while sitting on bales of hay during the morning chores on a dairy farm. Many of these occurred with a sort of nervous fit that felt relieved when the song was out. I have woken up in the night and heard a song that woke me up and wrote it down. Makes me wonder where this stuff really comes from.
I have about 140 songs and another 100 poems. Throughout most of my life I played in bands and sang lead for some very good groups in Central NY. I seemed to have given up when my son brought a fresh wind to my sails and here we are with our first release. He went to college, learned the guitar and sent my a five song demos from Kentucky. That got me started again and now I will record and market my songs for rest of my life. Funny how things come back to you sometimes.
Vinnie Buttice
I started playing guitar when I was 13 in a guitar and piano class. Having been around music my whole life, it was something that came to me quickly. I got serious about playing guitar when I was 17 years old and really began diving into classic rock, blues, and jazz music. I began learning everything I could in those genres. I would listen to and try to learn anything from Led Zeppelin to John Coltrane. Music took over. I started taking lessons from Richard Harris in Cortland, New York and was writing music with my dad, Nick, simultaneously.
In 2018 my Dad and I decided to do an album while I was living in Kentucky and he was living in New York. We pieced it together over the course of two years. As a young kid music had always been a part of me. I would listen to any type of music I could get my hands on. Learning to play and write my own music was somewhat unavoidable.