KGNU’s Indra Raj joined Bridget and Bonnie from Elephant Revival for an exciting session. They share insights about their upcoming show at the Mission Ballroom on April 11th, featuring special guests Rising Appalachia and Father Time Drumline. The session kicks off with a beautiful live performance of “Falls Rain,” inspired by the 2013 flood in Lyons. (Interview date: 4/2/2025)
Indra Raj: And you’re tuned into KGNU Community Radio, and my name is Indra. I’m very excited to have Bridget and Bonnie from Elephant Revival here in the studio with me. Hello. It’s great to have you all in here. We’re gonna talk more about your show happening next week at the Mission Ballroom. But before we do that, why don’t we just hear some music?
[Elephant Revival play Falls Rain]
Indra Raj: Elephant Revival live in the studio. That was beautiful. Tell me a little bit about that tune.
Bonnie: Thank you. I wrote that whenever we had the big flood in 2013 in Lyons. It started out as I climbed up this mountain and watched that storm roll in and I was thinking, oh, how beautiful and romantic this exchange from the sky and the earth. And then it just like downward into a flood and became this opportunity to rebuild the town. And Rising Appalachia had reached out to me recently, who are gonna be doing the show with us next week, and they were putting together a compilation album to help raise money for people who were affected by the hurricane over in near Asheville. Hurricane Helene. And so yeah, I contributed that song to the album and they put their beautiful voices on it. There’s Ben Solis playing cello.
Indra Raj: Nice. So let’s talk about the show ’cause Rising Appalachia is gonna be there. You all are obviously headlining the show at the Mission Ballroom on April 11th, and it sounds like it’s gonna be special in terms of who’s there in the lineup and background and everything. So tell us a little bit about that.
Bonnie: There’s gonna be a lot of fun guests. We love Rising Appalachia, we’ve been friends for a long time and so it’s fun to get to share the stage with those guys. So that’ll be fun. Love the Mission Ballroom. We’ll have some aerialists dancing that we’re excited about. And Father Time Drumline is gonna join us too.
Indra Raj: So what is that gonna be like? Tell us about Father Time Drumline. I don’t really know anything about them.
Bonnie: The lead drummer actually lives, or he works right across from here at Coop Studios. And he is, I think a lot of them drum for the Nuggets and the Broncos and they come together. He put this team together and they’re amazing. They’re so fun to play with. My sisters are drummers, so I grew up playing with a whole lot of drums and so it strikes that chord and it just feels super powerful. Bridget: Yeah, we invited them to play with us in 2023 when we played the Mission Ballroom. We had some cool opportunities for the drum line, and it was so fun and synergistic that we’ve had them back at a couple of shows now and we are always building on the repertoire, and it’s a really neat extension of the band that we always celebrate.
Indra Raj: How many of them are there?
Bonnie: There’s gonna be five this time.
Indra Raj: Okay. It’s such a cool combination. Maybe not something that would immediately come to mind, but makes sense when you think about it. And so, you said you’ve been building repertoire with them. Will they be joining you guys for most of the performance or just part of it? \
Bonnie: Just a select few parts. Yeah. It’ll be fun.
Bridget: Cool. The rest of the time you get to listen to Darren Garvey play the drums. Which is pretty sweet.
Indra Raj: Also good things. Okay, great. Let’s hear another piece of music.
Bonnie: Yeah. We might be having them join us on this. This is our pirate song. This might be their entrance. You can imagine it. So when I’m banging on the cello, imagine it’s a full on drum line.
[Elephant Revival play another song]
Indra Raj: Elephant Revival here in the KGNU studio during the Afternoon Sound Alternative Live. Also great. I could definitely picture the drum line.
Bonnie: Yeah. The other four members still help a whole lot too. Yes, absolutely. We’re pretty naked over here.
Indra Raj: Yeah, we should say that it’s just Bridget and Bonnie in the studio today. But I have to say you two are such an important part of the band. You bring so much in terms of instrumentation and all the different vocal things and stuff, and I mean you guys have been together now for almost 20 years this band has been going. How does that feel ? Tell me about the evolution of the band over time and maybe some things you’ve seen from like 2006 to now.
Bonnie: Yeah. So much. When I first met Bridget, I wanted to be an ethnomusicologist, so I traveled around with this little minidisc recorder in my bag all the time. And I was at the Winfield Bluegrass Festival and, anyways, I heard Dango playing bass from far away, and so I followed that bass line until I found him. And then apparently my recorder actually turned on and I have our first. Introduction recorded, where you hear Bridget go, “hi, I’m Bridget.” I listened back to it years later and I was like, oh my God.
Indra Raj: That is actually wild that you have that. That’s amazing.
Bridget: Yeah. I would say that over the years that the layers of our friendship have always struck me so strongly. Just like how synergistic and just that divinely placed, it feels, and it’s all around this gorgeous music. And even just being in here playing music with Bonnie this morning is like calling in this, just a really special spirit energy that I appreciate that has evolved and spoken through our friendship for 20 years and we’ve known each other longer than we’ve not known each other in this lifetime.
Indra Raj: Yeah. That’s amazing when you cross that threshold. And the last time Elephant Revival released music, I believe was in 2019. Is that true? Pre-pandemic?
Bonnie: I think it’s actually 2016. I think Petals came out in 2016. It’s been a while. And we put out some videos. There’s plenty to look at on YouTube and our website from the current lineup. And we look forward to recording some more music soon.
Indra Raj: Yeah. And can you just tell us even though they’re not here the rest of the current Elephant Revival lineup, just so our listeners know.
Bridget: Yeah. We Dango Rose on bass. And Darren Garvey on drums, like we said. And Charlie Rose on pedal steel, mandolin, banjo, sometimes cello. And then Daniel Sproul is playing guitar.
Indra Raj: And Daniel’s from Rose Hill Drive, I believe. Such a great group of people. So many different things. And the music is always bringing something surprising and new, which is amazing for us as listeners. And again, Elephant Revival will be performing on April 11th at the Mission Ballroom. Rising Appalachia will be opening for you all. Are you guys gonna maybe do some stuff together or is that a surprise?
Bonnie: We might get to collaborate on something.
Bridget: That song that Bonnie sang first, Falls Rain. You can actually find that in the album that they put out to raise money for hurricane relief. That album is Drenched In Place. It’s only on bands in town though, so that they could have all the money raised to go to help people who lost their homes. Yeah, so look it up on bands in town, but that’s a really lovely example of the collaboration. They might hop up for that one.
Indra Raj: Yeah, for sure. That makes a lot of sense. All right, why don’t we hear some more music and then we’ll close things out.
[Elephant Revival plays another song]
Indra Raj: That’s Elephant Revival live in the KGNU studio. Bridget and Bonnie, thank you so much for coming in today.
Bridget: Yeah. Thanks for having us.
Indra Raj: Can you tell our listeners how they can keep up with what y’all are doing in terms of your live shows, new music, all of that sort of stuff?
Bonnie: Yeah, Bridget’s good.
Bridget: You could certainly go to our website and sign up on our email list. And follow us on social media. I think we’re most active on Instagram, I would say at the moment and the ever changing interwebs world. But yeah, we’re around. Every once in a while we throw a really fun show.
Indra Raj: Yes. And including next Friday at the Mission Ballroom. Friday, April 11th at the Mission Ballroom. Friday night plans. Rising Appalachia will be with them. What a great lineup. It’s gonna be awesome. And yeah, we talked earlier before we got on about how many songs we’re gonna do, and I would just love to hear this vocal thing from YouTube, just to take us out with, is that possible? So, Elephant Revival is gonna take us out with music today. Again, thank you so much for being here today.
[Elephant Revival sing another song]
Indra Raj: Beautiful. Thank you so much. And we can’t wait to have you back in the studio again sometime soon.
Bonnie: Thank you so much. We love KGNU.
