Watch the lyric video for Rising folk duo Buffalo Traffic Jam’s new single “Hanging on Hope”
Buffalo Traffic Jam - Hanging on Hope (Lyric Video)
Rising Montana folk duo Buffalo Traffic Jam return with another song steeped in unvarnished emotional truth: “Hanging on Hope”. The slowly building new single tackles an especially painful form of heartache, and arrives as the band continues their both inaugural and sold out headlining Take Me Home Tour, which has seen the boys from Bozeman playing clubs packed with fans screaming back every word.
Buffalo Traffic Jam are also featured in the latest print issue of Billboard, as well as online, freshly crowned as the publication’s current Chartbreaker. The honor comes as the pair’s driving 2025 single “Fool’s Gold” rises to a new high of No. 3 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart, marking another win for their debut major label project, October’s Take Me Home EP. In addition to its radio rise, the song has been streamed over 65 million times since its September release.
“Hanging on Hope” only builds on that humble yet sturdy foundation — as well as January’s heartbreakingly reflective single “I Don’t Care” — opening on warmly wistful acoustic guitar and Frankie Cassidy’s smoky vocal as he confesses that “this mind is broke.” While the music swells to include strings, piano, keys, and drums, we come to understand what ails him. It’s a dying love he just can’t let go: “Bleed me, use me, run around, don’t kill me — it’s better than being alone / Well, love me, heal me, turn around and see me, ’cause I’m hanging on hope.”
As Frankie explains, “‘Hanging on Hope’ is about attempting a last-ditch effort to salvage a relationship that was lost. When you truly believe in something and want it to work, your mind can think that being mentally abused by the situation is preferable to losing what once was. No matter how bad it is, sometimes you just feel like being used is better than being alone.”
The accompanying “Hanging on Hope” lyric video captures him and Nathan Ross in their element back home in Bozeman, playing in a DIY studio/practice space that feels lived-in and familiar, just like Buffalo Traffic Jam’s music. Of course, they’ll be on the road for much of 2026, with the Take Me Home Tour crisscrossing North America and eventually Europe. All dates are already sold out, including back-to-back nights at the Troubadour in West Hollywood.
Buffalo Traffic Jam also have support slots upcoming with the likes of Turnpike Troubadours, Ole 60, Dylan Gossett, and Goose, not to mention a slew of festival appearances including North Carolina’s MerleFest, BottleRock Napa Valley, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, and Louisville’s Bourbon & Beyond, among many others. You can find the band’s full routing below.
All of this follows an incredible breakthrough year that saw Buffalo Traffic Jam play their first festivals; share the stage with the likes of Dylan Gossett, make Amazon Music’s Best of 2025: Folk playlist; and land the #9 slot on Holler Country’s hotly tipped 20 New Artists for 2026 list. The band’s vulnerability and realness has resonated with a growing community of fans who’ve pushed their monthly Spotify listeners past 3.4 million.
As Atwood Magazine wrote in a recent profile, “In an era dominated by slick, algorithm-friendly music, Buffalo Traffic Jam stand out because they don’t pretend to be anything they’re not. Their songs are down-to-earth and hit close to home.” Stay tuned for more from Frankie and Nate.
About Buffalo Traffic Jam
Buffalo Traffic Jam is a folk band born in the heart of Bozeman, MT, where its members, Frankie Cassidy and Nathan Ross, first crossed paths as students at Montana State University. United by a love for storytelling and the raw beauty of acoustic sound, they began crafting music that evokes wide-open landscapes and the emotions that live quietly beneath the surface of everyday life. The result was a self-titled debut EP followed by singles “Rescue Me” and “Forgot Your Roots,” the latter of which saw the band gain their first bit of online momentum and led to them signing with Arista Records. With rich harmonies, stripped-down instrumentation, and vocals that make you feel — whether it's longing, joy, or that bittersweet in-between — Buffalo Traffic Jam creates songs that linger long after the last chord fades. Their music is as much about atmosphere as it is about melody, rooted in folk traditions but carried forward by a modern emotional edge. They released additional singles in 2025, including “Strangers Now” and “Milestone,” and played their first festivals (Montana’s Under the Big Sky, Utah’s Red West Festival) before heading out on tour with rising country singer-songwriter Dylan Gossett. From dorm-room jam sessions to packed local venues, Buffalo Traffic Jam stays true to their roots: authenticity, friendship, and the natural beauty that first brought them together in Montana.
FOLLOW BUFFALO TRAFFIC JAM
Website | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music
