BRUCE PALMER

Bruce Palmer biography
Bruce PALMER (1946-2004) was a Canadian musician from Liverpool, Nova Scotia best known as the bass player in the folk rock group BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD. PALMER started pursuing a musical career in Toronto in the early 60's where he played with some of his earliest groups, namely JACK LONDON & THE DISCIPLES which would later turn into STEPPENWOLF, and THE MYNAH BIRDS where he would meet for the first time with NEIL YOUNG and the funk frontman RICK JAMES. After THE MYNAH BIRDS fell apart, PALMER and YOUNG moved to Los Angeles to meet up with a folk musician YOUNG played with some years ago, and upon meeting Stephen STILLS it didn't take long before the very successful BUFFALO SPRING was formed.

PALMER wasn't a full time member throghout the whole of BUFFALO SPRING's lifetime, several drug and legal problems led him to more isolation from other members and ultimately even to deportation from United states for a while. While a couple of gigs were played later on, he would never recover the lost trust of his bandmates before BUFFALO SPRING disbanded in 1968. Afterwards in 1970 he recorded one very non-commercial album which was not well received, and besides some smaller gigs and working on the album 'Trans' with NEIL YOUNG in 1982, he seemingly retired from the music business.

PALMER's one record 1970, 'The Cycle Is Complete', was created with the help of players from the psychedelic group KALEIDOSCOPE and even features RICK JAMES on some of the vocals. His life experiences sometimes draw comparisons with that of SYD BARETT, but musically, the album was much more improvisational and free form in nature. While it is rooted in psychedelic folk, the record can be recommended to fans in the mood of more jam based music.