Music of the Mountains: Dango Rose

In this week's episode of Music of the Mountains, we bring on Dango Rose to talk about his musical endeavors, celebrating his opening at Ned General for Redd and the Paper Flowers on May 30, 2026. From a new documentary focusing on his songwriting and mental health journey to performing with Elephant Revival, we catch up with Dango on his current musical direction.

Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello there, everybody. Welcome to Music of the Mountains, Where to Be and What to See, a weekly series brought to you by the Mountain Air Podcast. I'm Jamie Lambert. And this week I'm bringing a very special guest back to the Mountain Air Podcast. Dango Rose recently opened for Red and the Paper Flowers at Red General on Saturday, May 30th. And I was really excited to be able to talk to him and bring him back on the Mountain Air Podcast. While the show has already passed, I'm still incredibly excited to talk to Dango in this week's episode of Music of the Mountains. Let's cut to that interview now.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

So do you mind just introducing yourself real quick?

SPEAKER_02 0:47

This is Dango Rose.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

And you'll be opening very soon for a show at Ned Jen.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Yeah, my friends uh Red and the Paper Flowers are coming to town. They're from Knoxville, Tennessee, and they asked me if I wanted to join them for a couple shows, and I uh I said yes. And it would be a wonderful opportunity to uh play a few songs and just support an amazing band from Tennessee.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Absolutely. How long have you known Red and Paper Flowers and potentially played with them in the past?

SPEAKER_02 1:14

I I've known Red and the Paper Flowers uh I'd say really only about nine months or so. And Red and I just kicked it off uh really well just on a few conversations over the phone. It was interesting because their music came across my playlist and I was like, oh, who is this? This sounds really good. And then uh that same day a friend of mine called, a longtime friend, and asked if I could uh connect with Red for some coaching, band coaching.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Super cool. And so, yeah, what's been happening in terms of your musical world here in Colorado and and elsewhere? You know, what's been happening in in your corner?

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Yeah, so um most of my focus has been on education. So I became the assistant professor of songwriting at the University of Colorado, Denver, and uh the program director of the songwriting program, and that's an incredible, incredible program that we're in the works of uh making one the top in the country. The students are amazing, so I I work on uh probably over three hundred songs a year with the students at the University of Colorado Denver, and that's been my main focus the past few years is getting that going up and running in a good way. And uh now the beauty of it is I guess to start focusing on um my own songs for the summer. And uh yeah. Elephant Revival. We're about to announce a big show and uh a couple festival plays this summer, doing a documentary right now on songwriting and mental health, put together a nice quartet for that. Had a an amazing songwriting session yesterday. And yeah, that's kind of my life. It revolves around songs and songwriting and education and getting back into performance and gonna get back in the studio here soon. I don't know exactly when, but definitely getting back in the studio soon. Super awesome.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

And so, yeah, well, I mean, what was your background here in the Colorado music scene as well, you know, the build-up to everything you're doing now?

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Yeah, I'd say 25 years, you know, in Colorado, but so much in Netherland. I mean, arriving in 2001 and just being fortunate enough to be a part of the culture during that time with the picks, with the PI, the acoustic coffee house, uh being surrounded by folks, you know, from Yonder Mountain string band, Leftover Salmon, string cheese incident. Uh speaking of string cheese, I uh been playing with uh Bill Nursey recently. He sends his regards and Jillian, his wife, and Lauren, uh the Nursey family band. It's been really sweet. So Netherland uh is home. I miss it dearly and uh hope to be able to return one day. Almost went in on a cabin up on Caribou, but I realized the drive down to Denver five days a week might be a little much. So had to revamp that plan. Well, yeah, when I think of uh a place that feels like home, I mean the caribou homestead, which connects to Arapahoe ranch. That land right there is so meaningful to me. Spread the ashes of my dog, Nico, which uh some folks out there may remember. Yeah, let's just say I've spread ashes in Netherlands and uh the mountains feel like home. But yeah, I worked for the paper for many years. Thank you so much to Barb and the Mountaineer for having me be the entertainment journalist for the formulative years of Elephant Revival. It was amazing to be able to write articles on the road, you know, to help keep afloat during that time when we were living in the uh veggie oil school bus. Man. Yeah, we uh we converted a school bus uh to run on vegetable oil on Caribou Road, thanks to uh the great engineering mind of Sage Cook, our original banjo player. Those are the days. You know, they talk uh leftover salmon talks about or asked the question, when are the good old days? And I don't think you really realize uh when they are until they're long gone. And then uh I think at that point you just start creating them again. And so that leads me back to kind of Red and the Paper Flowers. Uh I think they're in the good old days right now. They just did a show over at the uh Gold Hill General store. I opened that one as well, and it it reminded me of early 2000s Netherland. And uh that vibe that I felt at the Gold Hill General store with Red and the Paper Flowers on May 22nd was the closest thing I have felt to the shows at the Acoustic Coffee House Pioneer and Stay Stop between 2001 and 2004. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

And what's the greatest question in the last few years of being able to focus on songwriting especially and focus on more in in that direction?

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Yeah, so I've I've always been writing songs. I mean, I started a little bit late. I think I wrote my first song at 16. So I think uh it's it's for me it's been more about the comfortability of singing and sharing my songs. Uh when I play the bass, you know, upright bass, I feel it's like riding a bike. I feel so comfortable. Throw me on a any stage, you know, I won't get nervous. But there's that vulnerability in sharing songs that is one of the most vulnerable things, and it's amazing what happens. You know, I'm doing this documentary on mental health and songwriting right now, and you know, I kind of get the yes, which is a sports term for like when a baseball player could no longer throw correctly. So just just noticing how I freeze up, there's a lot there, right? There's a lot under under the surface. So allowing that to uh dissolve now in middle age and uh get out there and uh actually really put my songs out there. But yeah, Jamie, I've I've been writing since uh 1998. And um, you know, I have a handful of songs in the Elephant Revival catalog. Songs like When I Fall, instrumentals like The Pasture, Jet Light Blues, Asleep with the Light on, Lexington. Yeah, so I've been writing for a long time and at this point just gonna rebrand myself in a different way. I'll probably start releasing music again uh closer to uh 2027. Super awesome.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

What's been interesting in terms of playing solo compared to like when you jump in playing with Elephant Revival? You know, is there is there a really focused difference in those shows for you?

SPEAKER_02 7:08

There's a big focus. I I think the big difference in focus or feeling in general, because what happens is I notice the stories, the negative self-talk that I have, right? That's personalized to me and the way I I talk to myself or the way I was talked to, you know. And this is the stuff that you know I'm currently opening up about in the documentary. But being able to move through those blockages as artists, and it's not just artists, it's athletes, it's politicians, public speakers. I think it happens for people at different ages. A lot of my students they turn 21 and they think their opportunities have passed them by, or like they're 24. You know, this this whole concept of age that I see in uh generation Z right now, because of, you know, screen culture and TikTok culture, believing that they've failed before they've even begun. It's an interesting thing, I think, in culture right now, with the way that we compare ourselves to others because of short attention spans and the quick reels on TikTok and Instagram and um to take that back to me, and that still exists. It was just a different culture and a a different time. Like a sense of not being good enough before I even begin. And when you do that to yourself in any field, you close the door on creation, manifestation. And in the context of the band, I can keep the door open. The door's open. But when when the band and the family system and the structure goes away, there's no shield. And so any story or imprint that I'm creating in my own mind, in my own experience that I'm giving to the world, putting out there, will be manifested back to me. So the whole concept or idea of a solo career has been the greatest obstacle to overcome of my own making. So it's really profound, and I'm not looking to be a singer-songwriter with a guitar out there performing for the world. My intention always has just been to share my songs, and that could be in so many different ways. So many different ways. So just taking a a gid to uh support my friends writing the paper flowers is one of those ways where uh feels like a really good opportunity to uh show love to one of the greatest bands I think is out there right now doing this neo acoustic folk traditional original songwriting thing around a single microphone, and I could take one step closer to uh overcoming the blocks that I've uh put before me in my own life at the same time. So right there, that's copacetic and that's also friendship, you know.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

For sure. And y I mean, is there anything in general with your performances that you kinda hope people take away from from the shows and songs when they come to see you?

SPEAKER_02 9:51

At this point, I'm just looking to be honest, you know. That's it. And if that comes across in a way that creates an emotion or is moving to someone who hears it, I'm grateful for it. But at this point, this is for me. And because it's for me, it it's for others. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

And yeah, I don't know, is there is there just anything else in general about this upcoming show or other forms that you have, or bed and paper flowers, or anything else that you wanted to talk about?

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Thanks, Jamie. You know, I'll just say I'll just say this. We have an incredible songwriting program at the University of Colorado, Denver. If anybody uh is thinking of wondering what to do next, it's a very special program, and I encourage you uh to reach out to me if you have any questions. Also, this documentary on songwriting and mental health. Right now it's called The Tuned documentary. My friend uh Mariel is the director, producer. Elephant Revival. We're gonna be announcing a show September 18th. I'll say the date, but I won't say where. So I'm really looking forward to that. That's very exciting. Excited for the announcement. And um, let's see what else. Oh, yeah, I'm playing in the Nursey Han trio as well as the Nursey family band. So uh keeping some of those Maryland roots going. And yeah, this uh show coming up in Ned General, May 30th, Red and the Paper Flowers. I'll be coming up. I'm bringing up one of my students, his name's Aiden Carpenter, host by the small town American, and uh we're gonna be performing a duo set and uh also solo, and it's gonna be an incredible night, so I hope y'all can come out.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

I mean, I think those are the big questions that I have on my end.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Thanks, man. I just rambled about a whole bunch of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

So you're you are you are t you are totally fine. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk about all of that.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Thank you, Jamie. I appreciate you. I appreciate you, I appreciate the mountaineer. Barb is just an amazing person. And uh her commitment to the paper and the community is really awe-inspiring. And the support she's shown me over the years. I don't take it lightly, it means the world to me. And also Doug Armitage over at Brightwood Music. Uh, these two people care so much about Netherland and uh everything they've been through. All the love in the world to Barb and Doug, the Mountaineer and the town of Netherland. And uh I look forward to uh coming back home on uh Saturday. Sweet. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Thank you so much, Dango, for coming on board and catching up with us on your recent musical endeavors. To continue following his musical endeavors, be sure to head to Dangorose.com. If you want to learn more about Red and the Paper Flowers, I had the incredible honor of interviewing the band back in October of 2024. You can check out the column and podcast episode based around Red and the Paper Flowers, and check out their music and follow their endeavors at red and the paperflowers.com. Thank you so much, everybody, for tuning in this week to Music of the Mountains Withaby and What the C brought to you by the Mountain Air Podcast. I'll be back next week with the next episode. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to this podcast wherever you get your podcasts Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Podcaster, and Word. And be sure to share this episode and others around with whatever you see. If you want to subscribe to the physical or digital edition of the Mountain Air newspaper, then be sure to head to our website at the ntner.com and click on the subscribe button in the top right corner of our homepage. You can also find our archive of all of our podcast episodes by heading to the Mountain Air Media section of our homepage. There you'll also find our Facebook, our Instagram at mtn.ear and our YouTube channel. Finally, if you have any questions or suggestions for the podcast or the paper, be sure to reach out to myself at mediamountainair.com, my co-host, Tyler Hickman, at pyle at the mountainair.com, our editor and case, Tyler Hart, at infotemountainair.com and general inquiries at front desk at themountain.com. We'll see you guys next time. Have a great rest of your day.