With a sublime, almost oak tree-like voice, rising Seattle songwriter Arthur James has penned and recorded an emotional ode to his cat. And today, American Songwriter is proud to premiere that new song, “Little Buffalo”, which comes ahead of James’ forthcoming new record, BYOC.
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Check out the track below, along with a brief interview with James, who tells the tear-jerker of a story of how he had to leave his cat behind after a difficult life change. It’s the kind of thing that stirs the soul and reminds you that true love does, indeed, exist.
American Songwriter: Tell me about your new single and how it fits into your forthcoming EP?
Arthur James: This song is something of an explanation to my son, my cat, Jun-fan, who I adopted in 2018. At the top of 2025, and due to some rather unplanned and unforeseen circumstances, I had to make the decision to leave him with his mother and his sisters (a three-year-old pup, and their older sister, a 13-year-old cat).
The song lends itself to the rest of the upcoming EP in that it’s a song centered around grief. The whole record’s about grief and loss, really. But it also speaks to the love, and hope, and joy that exist alongside grief. I tried to show that in this song—this explanation to Jun-fan.
AS: Tell me and all the cat lovers out there, what made your bond so strong with your animals?
AJ: Between 2020 and 2023, I’d lost 13 people. Not just acquaintances, or people I knew by proxy, but pillars in my life. Traversing that frequency and level of grief was, well, it was just hard. Really, really hard. There were countless moments inside of a day or night where I’d just plummet into a seeming abyss of this, like, debilitating sorrow.
And the kids, they’d just.. find me. They knew—every time, they knew. Jun-fan wasn’t the one I thought I’d learn much from, but that boy showed up, day after day, with these lessons. I’d be on the couch at 3 am, having a full-on panic attack, and he’d appear outta the darkness, climb up onto my stomach, and just lay his head on my chest.
Or, I’d be at my desk, working—the walls would start closing in and I’d start to spiral. Then, Jun would stroll into the office, hop up onto the headrest on my chair, and just nuzzle my neck. He taught me to be gentle and kind to myself, he taught me to be patient, and to allow for these waves of grief to come and go.
Historically, I wasn’t the kind that would’ve seen what he and his sisters were doing as acts of real intention. But it’s like they understood this need to be vulnerable in times like that. They just carried themselves that way around me. They were the kindest, most gentle examples of love and care. In life’s school of grief, Jun-fan, Athena, and Sadie were my greatest teachers.
AS: What’s next for you, personally, professionally, and spiritually?
AJ: Well, 2026 is going to be interesting. Personally, it’s gonna be a lot of the same thing that 2025 was for me. Continued growth, learning, healing, and creating. Alchemizing. Professionally, I’m focusing on re-imagining the aesthetic, artistically, while finishing this upcoming EP. With any luck, it’ll be done by this time next year, and I’ll be on the road touring it soon after. Spiritually, well, there isn’t enough bloody space on the internet to get into that, my good man!
Photo by KT Neely, Courtesy Arthur James
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