Elephant Revival: Creating the Soundscapes of Connection

Elephant Revival has always carried a certain mystique. Their music—often called “transcendental folk”—is a blend of Celtic reels, Americana grit, bluegrass tradition, and ethereal tones that drift into indie rock territory. This audience connection stems from the band members’ intention to create not just a set of songs, but an experience. As for the band name, the story begins not with a stage but with elephants in a zoo.

“Our bassist, Dango Rose, was busking at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago in front of the elephant cage,” said Bonnie Paine, the band’s voice and main soul. “He told me about two elephants that had lived together for 16 years. One of them was bought by the Salt Lake City Zoo, and sadly, it died during transport for unexplained reasons. The other elephant also died shortly after, and Dango’s theory was that it was from heartbreak. They’re tribal creatures, not meant to be kept in cages, and especially not separated once they bond.”

That story was followed by a simple text about an “elephant revival concept” with dates and venues. “I thought, that’s an interesting name, and we’ll just put it in as a temporary name for those shows. And then we never changed it.”

Finding the Fearless Sound

The official first show came at the Gold Hill Inn in Colorado in 2006, where everything clicked into place. “It was beautiful, exciting, and so different from anything I had ever played. I had just started singing more and really felt my place in the music with my voice. It felt fearless, which was such a change for someone who had always been pretty shy.”

Bonnie’s influences reached back to her family home. “I grew up playing music with my sisters. We used to back up this old fiddle wizard—people called him the Jimi Hendrix of the fiddle—Randy Crouch. He definitely influenced me. My dad also had this phenomenal record collection with Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell—anything I wanted to listen to. That was really inspiring.”

Those sounds mixed into the musical bouillabaisse, along with Radiohead, African drum troupes, and the Celtic tradition brought in by fiddler Bridget Law. “I love percussion instruments—it’s fun to sing with them. And the musical saw adds its own little effect on the music, of course.”

Songs as Ceremony

Elephant Revival’s concerts are famous for their atmosphere, which is a quality Bonnie likens to ritual. “We want to create an enveloping experience. I’ve played music at a few births and a few deaths, and it’s a similar feeling of setting a tone, having a little ceremony together, and letting music be the conduit. I try to stay open to how the music wants to move through the room. There’s this reciprocated energy between the audience and the band that can grow and grow throughout the evening, almost becoming tangible by the end of the night.”

That sense of fragility came into sharp focus after a near tragedy in 2016, when the band’s bus caught fire before a show. “I kept having this recurring dream on the bus while we were driving. So, then we’re driving along, and I hear this hissing sound from my bunk, and I realize it was fire at my feet in the bunk below me. It was an electrical fire. I woke up and we all ran off the bus. Most of our instruments burned because our driver wouldn’t let anyone go back on board.”

With the bus still smoking outside the Hickory, North Carolina venue, the band borrowed instruments from fans and even an antique store. “I found an old washboard in a shop since mine had burned, and somehow my musical saw survived. With that, we were able to play the show that night. We were a little shell-shocked, but we did it.”

Petals, Cello, and Storysongs

The band’s last album, Petals (2016), carried a deep vulnerability. “That album was a very different kind of opening up for me. It was the first time I performed on cello in front of anyone. Until then, I had only ever played it alone, and it felt almost impossible to imagine playing it in public. It was my first melodic instrument in the band, instead of percussion, and it gave me a new way to convey songs.”

Those songs, she says, were part of a much larger cycle she has been crafting since childhood. “I’ve been writing a story-song cycle since I was a little girl, and there are now 28 songs in it. Three of them ended up on Petals. The main character is Raven, and part of the story is about a selkie—a water spirit—who falls in love with a human. It’s a long saga that begins there.”

Rain at Red Rocks, and What Comes Next

Perhaps no show sums up Elephant Revival’s magic better than Red Rocks in 2017, played in a downpour. “It was so beautiful. One thing I love about the rain is that everything suddenly feels more connected, almost like an electrical current that runs through it all. There’s a palpable awareness of being in it together, and at Red Rocks, with water on the stones and that many people sharing the moment, it was just gorgeous.”

After a hiatus in 2018, the group reunited in 2022 with guitarist Daniel Sproul replacing Daniel Rodriguez. “The other bandmates’ enthusiasm for the music was so strong and sweet. When we got together, it just fit beautifully, and we remembered the love we had for playing together.”

The band has been back in the studio with producer Tucker Martine, a dream collaboration years in the making. “Recording with Tucker was seamless, playful, and very beautiful. We’d wanted to work with him for a long time, and it was such an honor.”

For Bonnie, the future feels wide open. “The most amazing things that have happened in my life weren’t things I could have dreamed of exactly as they turned out. You just never know. The new songs we started recording are going to be beautiful, and I’d love to expand on our collaborations with the Colorado Symphony. We played with them recently, and the sound was incredible—I’d love to have orchestrated recordings of that someday.”

Elephant Revival remains a band that turns stages into ceremonies, melodies into lifelines, and hardship into song. As Bonnie puts it, “I feel this effortless connection when we play live. It amplifies the music in a whole other way. The reciprocation between us and the audience is really beautiful.”