Meet The Raven and The Remedy

Take two word-nerd songwriters, mix in equal parts of silly and sublime, a twist of kickass harmony, and then settle back and enjoy.

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Award-winning songwriters Leah Kaufman & Janet Buehler will tug at your heart, catch your ear, and make you laugh aloud, often in just a single song

Award-winning songwriters Leah Kaufman & Janet Buehler mix equal parts silly and sublime with a twist of kickass harmony. Their songs tug at your heart, catch your ear, and make you laugh aloud, often in a single song. Whether it's the story of Dorothy after Oz, or being seduced by a pumpkin spice latte, The Raven & The Remedy sing you from laughter to sorrow and back again. 

North Carolina songwriters Leah Kaufman & Janet Buehler mix equal parts of silly and sublime with a twist of kickass harmony. Their original songs have garnered awards from the South Florida Folk Festival, Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest, Intermountain Acoustic Music Awards and a few others. But it's Janet’s riveting voice and Leah’s intricate guitar playing that seals the deal, making these two an up-and-coming duo to watch. Sit back and let their songs catch your ear, tug at the heart, and make you laugh, often in the same song. Whether it's the story of Dorothy after Oz, or the lure of a pumpkin spice latte, The Raven & The Remedy, sing you from laughter to sorrow and back again. 

Janet Buehler, the Artist Formerly Known as Mom, lives in Hillsborough, NC. She recently discovered her lifelong interest in words and music could actually go together, like peanut butter and chocolate (who knew?). For her, songwriting is a way to process the beauty and the mystery of life, in ways both heartfelt and hilarious. She does most of her writing in the woods while walking her dogs (they are very generous with co-writing attributions) or driving her youngest son around. Her influences range from traditional ballad singers from the North Carolina mountains such as Sheila Kay Adams and Donna Ray Norton, Irish singers Cathy Jordan (Dervish) and Cathie Ryan, and contemporary singer-songwriter Dar Williams. Along with her solo work and duo performances with Leah Kaufman, she sings and writes with The Carrborators, an acoustic quintet that blends folk, rock, and jazz influences in true Americana style, all originals written by the band members. 

Janet is forever grateful to her oldest son who gave her a Christmas gift of three guitar lessons in 2023, as he wanted to make sure she had a plan for when her three sons left the nest. So far, so good.

In the 1990’s, Seattle singer-songwriter Leah Kaufman released three recordings with popular acoustic quintet ‘The Wailing Strangers’, and her own solo debut CD, ‘Five Fingers’. Performing in festivals and venues throughout the Northwest, her songs garnered songwriting awards and accolades from the South Florida Songwriting Competition, Intermountain Acoustic Music Association, Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Competition and the Austin Songwriting Competition.  

After relocating to Raleigh, NC in 2015 and then to Durham, NC in 2020, Leah re-emerged with two new albums in 2017 and 2019, each collection of songs demonstrating a deepened commitment to writing, singing and performing. Her songwriting took a love for old-time music’s drive and melodic simplicity and married it with the evocative lyricism of contemporary songwriting. The result: songs with melodies that stick like glue and lyrics that tell stories you love hearing. 

Both albums, 'On to Something Fine', and ‘Midnight Refrain’, were produced by renowned songwriter and Piedmont Blues musician Jon Shain, engineered at Good Luck Studios with FJ Ventre, and feature a cohort of incredibly talented NC musicians, including Jon Shain on guitars, FJ Ventre on bass, Bill Newton (Duke Street Dogs, Indigo Girlsi) on harmonica and soprano sax, Danny Gotham (Peter Ostroushko) on mandolin, and Lyn Blakey (Tres Chicas, Alejandro Escovedo) singing harmony. The songs skip across genres like a stone across a lake, from the sweetness of a lullaby, a honky-tonk dance tune, love songs Cole Porter would approve of, finger-style hobo’s blues, to the ever popular a murder ballad. But her songwriting also includes contemporary folk that tells the stores such as Don Quixote’s tale from his horse's perspective, the patchwork that holds a broken heart together, Dorothy’s life after Oz, and the award-winning ‘Postcards from Dog Heaven’. Regardless of style or story, her songs begin with a backbone of articulate guitar, layer on an ear-catching voice, and pull you in, finding the rhythm and style that serves the story best.

“After making a name for herself and loading up on folkie awards, Kaufman disappeared for a while and relocated from Seattle to Raleigh where she really makes back porch sounds with locals who aspire to the back 40.  A gentle rain of well wrought folksiness, Kaufman finds her métier in the country where the nearest coffee shop is miles away and the good vibes stretch out like the fields before you. Delightful singing and playing that can make people who make faces at the mention of folk music, stop being so rude.”  - Chris Spector (Midwest Record)