Arthur Buezo spent roughly eleven years helping The Blind Owl Band build one of their strongest regional followings right here in Rochester. On Wednesday, September 30, he returns to Abilene Bar & Lounge as a solo act — one man, one guitar, and a sound he calls “Savage Folk”: part desert grit, part grunge, part western nostalgia, with threads of Middle Eastern and gypsy music woven through.
About the Show
Buezo performs as a one-man band, layering foot percussion and sound effects into a set that Abilene describes as “driving and edgy, yet deeply contemplative.” He co-founded The Blind Owl Band at Paul Smith’s College in 2010, with the group taking shape after he and a bandmate began busking on campus, and the quartet went on to tour across 17 East Coast states under the banner of “Freight Train String Music,” a high-energy acoustic approach with no drummer required. The band built a particularly devoted following in Rochester before members went separate directions.
Buezo has been running his solo project full-time for approximately seven years, shaped by what he calls the defining principle behind “Savage Folk”: “sacrificing perfection for passion and never letting genre be a boundary for creativity.” His catalog includes Black Hills, Pig Iron (recently out on vinyl), and EUROPE LIVE '25, which reflects his current reach as an internationally touring, award-winning artist. Influences stretch from classical guitarists Andrés Segovia and Paco De Lucía to indie touchstones M. Ward and Andrew Bird, which starts to explain why a single genre label was never going to hold him.
The Blind Owl Band reunited in early 2025 for a run of shows at Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, with the first performance selling out in 45 minutes. This September stop at Abilene is Buezo on his own, the format he has been refining for seven years on the road.
Venue & Logistics
Abilene Bar & Lounge is at 153 Liberty Pole Way in downtown Rochester. Doors open at 4:00 p.m.; the show starts at 7:30 p.m. It is the kind of close-quarters room where a one-man-band performance actually connects: you are close enough to catch every foot-stomp and every genre shift as they happen. For anyone driving in from elsewhere in the Finger Lakes region, Rochester is a straightforward run and the venue is easy to find in the center of the city.
Tickets
Tickets are $15 at the door. No age restrictions are listed. Buy tickets