Dango Rose embraces a passion for music as a vital healing influence and spiritual path. He creates and collaborates to support harmony and truth. Born with a poet’s soul and a warrior’s heart, his life’s journey has been one of transformation.
For seventeen years, Dango traveled nationally and internationally in touring bands. In 2006, he co-founded Elephant Revival and spent eleven years performing and recording with this influential outfit that pioneered the genre, “Transcendental Folk.” Rose penned band favorites such as, “When I Fall,” “The Pasture,” “Jet Lag Blues” and others.
Since Elephant Revival went on hiatus in May 2018, Dango has begun a solo career, focusing most of his time in the recording studio and behind the writer’s desk. As music journalist Marc Tonglen explains, “He reminds me of a cross between Leonard Cohen, Cat Stevens and Alan Parsons. His voice is distinctive, words penetrating and his arrangements— on the edge, yet engaging.”
Dango is in the midst of releasing a collection of genre-defying EPs dubbed The Forgotten Years. From this collection, fans will hear takes and storylines that Rose has never before shared. Written while touring with Elephant Revival, yet released well thereafter, The Forgotten Years is a culmination of Dango’s seventeen year journey on the road, inviting us to see elements of his transformation from a different point of view.
Today Glide is excited to premiere “On the Road,” a tune that began at a music store in Bozeman Montana while on the road with Elephant Revival. With its simple banjo chords and gorgeous folk harmonies, the song is an ode to being an optimistic traveler. The group sing chorus – “Yeah, We’re headed on the road – love” – conveys that feeling of anything being possible that many of us have felt when we take off on a trip and the sense of freedom. The sparse instrumentation allows the song to slowly build and the vocals to take the spotlight.
As Dango explains, “There was a certain era of touring with the band that felt innocent. The chorus of “On the Road” stays in my mind as a positive reflection of this era. There’s a freedom that occurs when you get on the bus, the same kind of freedom that Keesey and Kerouac describe from a bygone era. Yet, I have come to understand over the years, that this freedom is not for free. I believe that somehow this song speaks to that, when taking into consideration what we do (or did), into a broader cultural, political and environmental context.”
Dango’s co-producer, Evan Reeves says, “Dango Rose’s On The Road is #SteamPop. Built on the bedrock of banjo, protest-lyrics, and a Folk-singers voice. It is subtly ornamented with elements of modern pop and folktronica. Track by track, Dango Rose is pushing the evolution of Folk music through his inclusion of these production techniques. On The Road will satisfy your mind and your Soul.”
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