By Brett Milano

The Pittsburgh sextet Buffalo Rose doesn’t worry too much about whether it’s defined as a pop group or a folk group. “You can’t nail us down, so I don’t know what to tell ya,” says singer Margot Jezerc. “Some people have called us ‘analogue pop,’ which is pretty funny. And I love to see people who like acoustic music bring their grandkids to shows — It’s that changing of the guard thing..”

Adds mandolinist Bryce Rabideau, “I love bluegrass, jazz and all those genres that come from the people and are passed along because it’s our way of communication. People see us doing popular music, mixed with this communicative every-person style. They might say, ‘A mandolin is not supposed to do that; it’s supposed to do what my grandfather did.’ But I think they also see our influences coming together and think it’s cool and charming. I love the super traditional stuff, but I also love to hear people rapping over cellos.”

Formed in 2016, Buffalo Rose are folk enough to have collaborated with old-school legends like Tom Paxton, and to have an upcoming show at Passim Tuesday. But they’re pop enough to cover They Might Be Giants’ 80s classic “Birdhouse in Your Soul” on their latest single. “I’ll admit to being one of the two TMBG nerds in our band,” Rabideau says. “I grew up in Natick, and they became one of my middle-school fixations especially after I learned they grew up a couple towns away from me (in Lincoln). I think part of their identity is squeezing a little joy out of everything they do, so that kind of energy isn’t too far from us.”

Buffalo Rose has three harmony singers (Jezerc, Shane McLaughlin and Lucy Clabby), and the blend of voices has long been their trademark. “The fun fact about our band is that we all grew up Catholic and we were always singing in church, so in that way we had harmony singing in us,” Jezerc says. “We try to push ourselves in different directions — Sometimes I’m on the tippy-top harmony and sometimes I’m holding down drone notes. Two part harmony is beautiful and classic, but there’s something really magical about three voices.”

Currently they have two albums underway. One is an all-covers set that will include both pop and folk tunes — from Fleetwood Mac to the Carter Family — and includes their first use of keyboards and synthesizer. And the other is an original set that will continue their collaboration with Paxton, who they met a few years back. He initially contacted them, after hearing a Buffalo Rose song on a compilation.

“That was very flattering and wild,” says Rabideau. “His coming into our lives was what connected us to that classical world of folk music — It stopped being this mysterious unattainable thing.” Adds Jezerc, “He’s not bound by anything, that’s part of why he’s a beautiful soul. A lot of songs we’ve just started working on are co-writes with him— and even if they sound like Michael Jackson or Mariah Carey, Tom Paxton is in there.”

One question they’ve been dealing with is whether to get more topical in their songwriting. “I would not be surprised if you saw us do a separate project of songs of that nature,” Jezerc says. “We’re writing a lot of songs that are maybe trying to keep us afloat — songs that are high energy, fun, positive vibes. But we may be taking our social justice activist side off the back burner.”

Buffalo Rose will perform at Passim July 22