We The Ravine was formed in 2012 from the music driven friendship of Iowa City locals Liberty Hayward, Nate Montgomery, and Levi Dalnodar. The band’s early songs, which were never written down and never played just the same twice, chronicled the trio’s deep relationships with existence and with each other. Their uncanny ability to play those songs to the heart of whatever room they entered - affirming their audience’s own struggles and inviting them to sing along - gained them a modest following in the Iowa City music scene as well as several other rotating band members. After just a few years the group disbanded when Hayward and Dalnodar left their hometown.

In 2015 Hayward, Montgomery, and Dalnodar lost a close friend at the hands of the Boulder Police Department. It was at this point that Dalnodar’s lyrics began to evolve into a commentary of the anger and distrust he felt towards the system that took the life of his friend. He played during this time as a solo artist in Denver, Colorado, but with all the same ardor. It was here that many of We The Ravine’s original songs were recorded and finally written down, though the improvisational beauty of Dalnodar’s lyricism still shone in live performances. 

In 2022 after the tragic and unexpected death of Nate Montgomery, Hayward and Dalnodar met in Iowa City to play their music once more at a creek under the train overpass known as Dead Man’s Cave. It was then that We The Ravine reformed in Montgomery’s memory.

eternal romantic wandering into the beauty and ugliness of this world.

songwriting inspired by and destined for traveling, experimentation and spiritual wandering.
ISTANBUL / BELGIUM

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