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Claire

New Music Monday Featuring Dango Rose


How do you drink your coffee? My favorite espresso drink is a cortado with a little bit of extra oat milk, making it somewhere in between a cortado and a very small latte. With the oat milk, we then created a name for such a drink – A talladocort…. More or less, a Tall Skinny Oat Milk Latte.


What’s your favorite food on the road? I’m all about finding the best Thai food in town…. I’m a big fan of the Drunken Noodle.


Was there ever music playing in the kitchen growing up? A bluegrass band named ‘Cornmeal’ moved in next door when I was fifteen in Chicago. There wasn’t any music being played in my house, yet at my neighbors’ place, there definitely was.


Here’s the chorus:


Mamas cooking cornmeal, Cornmeal in the kitchen

Kitchen in the cornmeal, Finger licking corn

Mamas cooking cornmeal, Cornmeal in the kitchen

Cornmeal in the kitchen


If you could share a meal with any 4 individuals, living or dead, who would they be? Leonard Cohen / Paul Simon / Barack Obama / Ghandi


What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given about pursuing a career in music? To return to this affirmation time and time again before going on stage – “May this music be put forth as a dedication in service to the highest good in all.” I forget this far too often still, ‘that this isn’t about me,’ -- So what is it that I can do right now to best be of service to others?


You’ve played on a lot of stages with a lot of big artists. Is there anyone you've been star struck by? As far as being star struck goes, I’d say being backstage with Roger Waters at Newport Folk Festival was the only time I felt truly starstruck.


What is one thing you can tell us that most people don’t know about you and might surprise us? That my grandfather and his family escaped Nazi Germany, crossed the pond, and then returned to Germany at the age of 19 as an American Spy. He held POW camps of Nazi soldiers and would begin his interrogations by cutting off the heads of chickens and splattering their blood on the wall. He would then bring in and sit down a Nazi Soldier across the table…. He would begin his interrogation in perfect German by speaking very clearly three distinct words – “I am a Jew.” From there, he’d go on to gather the necessary intelligence. So, perhaps I carry just a little bit of his spirit and sense of humor with me in the day to day.




Since every project has a story, what’s the story behind your new single “Life’s Too Short”? "Life’s Too Short" is simply a reminder to take the time to enjoy the moments that we do have in life, amidst all the busyness and uncertainty, to focus on Being rather than Doing, in accordance to the Light.


Who have been some of your biggest musical influences growing up and do the same artists currently continue to influence you now? If it weren’t for the legendary David Batiste (patriarch of the Batiste Family) picking me up off the streets during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2000 and putting me on stage with The Meters and other legendary Jazz & Heritage Musicians at Saint Augustine High School, I probably would not have chosen music as my path.


Other influences include…. Leonard Cohen, Sufjan Stevens, Pete Seeger, Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridgers, Paul Simon, The Wood Brothers, The Barr Brothers, Roo Panes, Yusuf Islam, Balmorhea, Novo Amor, Nihl Frahm, Dirk Powell, Natalie Merchant, David Gilmour, et al….


Finally, if you could be sponsored by one food/drink brand who would it be and why? Big shout out to my brother in arms Skanda who is a co-founder of Sambazon Acai. Skanda became a silent partner in the company and has been my yoga teacher for many years. Om Kriya Babaji Nama Aum.



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 like,When I Fall, The Pasture, Jet Lag Blues and others. Since Elephant Revival decided to go on hiatus in May 2018, Dango has taken refuge in the recording studio while focusing upon songwriting collaborations with various artists. Here he melds his background in traditional forms with the more transformational elements of musical craft. As journalist Marc Tonglen explains, “He reminds me of a cross between Leonard Cohen, Cat Stevens and Alan Parsons, while remaining deeply embedded in the progressive Indie-Folk scene. His voice is distinctive, words penetrating and his arrangements— on the edge, yet engaging."

Rose has shared the stage with the likes of Gregory Alan Isakov, The Lumineers,Nathaniel Rateliff, Mandolin Orange, Blind Pilot, Hiss Golden Messenger, Iron and Wine, The Oh Hellos, Billy Strings, Greensky Bluegrass, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Joan Baez, Ani DiFranco, Sam Bush, Little Feat, Donovan, Amy Helm,Aiofe O'Donovan, Chadwick Stokes, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Leftover Salmon,John Oates, Elvis Costello, Yonder Mountain String Band and many more. He was a three time headliner at Red Rocks with Elephant Revival and performed several headlining shows with The Colorado Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he's performed at high profile national festivals, such as Newport Folk Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and more.

Rose released a new song entitled Ring Out on September 25th, which will be the A-Side of an old school A-side/B-Side offering. The second piece, Life’s Too Short, was released on November 13th.

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