Artist Bio

Dawn Riding is the musical project of singer-songwriter Sarah Rose Janko, who was born and raised in Northern California and currently lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Janko spent her childhood watching blues and rock n’ roll bands in her dad’s west coast bar. Setting out on her own as soon as she could – she traveled around for years, making friends & musical connections at punk shows and back yard fires around the country. Dawn Riding’s songs of love, loss, and friendship present characters chiseled out of Janko’s own experience & memories, and you can feel it in her intimate, tough-as-nails depictions of American life. Invoking the dark honesty of Lucinda Williams, and influenced by the story songs of Townes Van Zandt and Leonard Cohen, Janko’s songs feel more southern gothic than country, seasoned with a derelict grit and the tenderness of a weary heart. Dawn Riding’s debut and sophomore records (“Last Spring”, “The Light”) were recorded while Janko was living in Oakland, California, and released by The Long Road Society in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Her newest release, “You’re Still Here,” was recorded on an Otari 8-track during the 2021 pandemic lockdown with Producer Alicia Vanden Heuvel (Aislers Set), and was co-released by Speakeasy Studios SF and The Long Road Society in November 2022.