Elephant Revival

Transcendental folk

Elephant Revival began in summer 2006, when members started playing together in Oklahoma and Colorado, with roots in Nederland, Colorado and in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Bonnie Paine's hometown. Their first five-member show, in October 2006 at the Gold Hill Inn in Colorado, was billed as Elephant Revival Concept, and the word Concept was later dropped. They describe their sound as transcendental folk, blending Scottish and Celtic fiddle tunes, original folk, traditional ballads, bluegrass and indie rock. A debut album came in 2008, produced by David Tiller of Taarka, and in summer 2010 they signed to an independent label started by Chad Stokes of State Radio and Dispatch, spelled Ruff Shod or Rough Shod in different places. Break in the Clouds followed on November 22, 2010, and the It's Alive EP in 2012.

These Changing Skies (September 3, 2013) was produced by Ryan Hadlock, who had just produced the Lumineers' debut, at Bear Creek Studio near Seattle, where the band lived and recorded for three and a half weeks; Dango Rose called it a perfect retreat with magic in the walls of that barn. The live CD and DVD Sands of Now, from the Boulder Theater, came in 2015 and Petals in 2016. On June 17, 2016 a tour bus fire the morning before a show at Music at the Mill in Hickory, North Carolina destroyed instruments and belongings; the members were unharmed and played with borrowed instruments. On February 9, 2018 the band announced an indefinite hiatus after Red Rocks on May 20, 2018; JamBase counted 11 years, six albums, over a thousand performances and their Trail Revival public-lands clean-up project. Rodriguez went solo, with the album Sojourn of a Burning Sun.

They reunited on August 20, 2022 at Planet Bluegrass Ranch in Lyons, Colorado, their first full-group show since 2018, and Wikipedia says without Rodriguez. Setlist.fm lists 134 setlists, with 2016 the busiest year at 29. The current site lists Paine, Law, Rose and Garvey.