Original Midwestern Roots Music

HOODANG

"One of the great Michigan Americana bands."
- The Ark

Founded in 2003, Ann Arbor-based, genre-busting Hoodang has been tapping into that gleaming vein of sonic gold that travels back into the early part of the last century.

Original songs are the lifeblood of this band. With two one-of-a-kind songcrafters contributing to an ever-widening repertoire, Hoodang's biggest challenge when planning a show is which songs to leave out.

Drawing inspiration from the tradition of English murder ballads, hardcore country music, and careful-you'll-cut-yourself acoustic blues, Hoodang plays a rich amalgam of strikingly original Midwestern roots music that is alternately pensive and seriously rocking.

Hoodang is David Rossiter, Sophia Hanifi, and Dave Keeney.

Book Hoodang

David Rossiter

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist David Rossiter is Hoodang's guiding light. He founded The Songs In You Songwriting School in 2021 to share his unique approach to the craft with others.

Sophia Hanifi

Sophia Hanifi joined Hoodang in 2013 contributing powerful lead and harmony vocals to the mix. Sophia previously played pivotal roles front and center for the bands Map of the World and FUBAR.

Dave Keeney

Long respected as a stellar multi-instrumental heavyweight, Dave Keeney joined Hoodang in 2011 and began writing and singing songs that time and again morph into audience favorites.

Still Life

Don't Follow Me Down (Live at The Ark)

She

Recordings

Three albums and counting. Track the Hoodang's evolution from where we've been to where we're headed.

Booking

Original Midwestern roots music live on your stage. We make it simple: Two guitars, three mics and monitors. That's all we need.

Reviews

"Rossiter is a storyteller first and foremost. If you like the parade of ornery hard-luck characters who have wound their way through Steve Earle's albums, or the tough, edgy romantic characterizations of the grassroots Ontario iconoclast Fred Eaglesmith, be aware that there's a local figure who can play in their league. And he's got a dry leather strap of a voice to go with his songs."

Tex M. Manheim, WCBN

"With excellent musicianship, thoughtful songwriting, and a natural aptitude for Americana, the quartet does justice to the genre. In a town where folk is a lot bigger than country, and at a time when the label 'country' itself refers primarily to an inauthentic corporate product, Hoodang's thoughtful, accomplished Americana is truly valuable. We're fortunate to have them this side of the Mason-Dixon Line."

Patrick Dunn, Ann Arbor Observer

"Sometimes all a country song needs is a plucky mandolin and a melancholy banjo, and this Ann Arbor trio makes the most of its simple, catchy ramblers. Frontman David Rossiter has a tinder-dry voice tailor-made for pensive road maxims; gleaming steel only adds to his authority."

Download.com

"Fine Morning is one of those so-good-they're-scary tunes that force you to hit the repeat button just to make sure that you really heard what you just heard. Then it lingers in your head for a long, long time."

W. Kim Heron, Metrotimes

"They're making some of the toughest, smartest country music anywhere in the Midwest."

The Ark

"One of the most skilled and smartest songwriters around these days. His lyrics really talk to me. His music is authentic. I have received lots of inspiration from it."

Christoph Mueller, Comic Artist

"Blissfield” is a sonic “Last Picture Show,” an aural Walker Evans photograph. It’s a remarkable record and it re-establishes Hoodang as the standard bearer for dignified Americana music in southeast Michigan."

Will Stewart, Rubber Soul Records

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