Dusty Rose Gang – A-One From Day One

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · Published June 9, 2025 · Updated June 9, 2025

Dusty Rose Gang is a hard retro rocking band from Detroit, Michigan. The quartet features Dusty Rose on guitar and vocals, Brett Donlon on bass, Blake Hill on drums, and Josh Budiongan on guitar. They just recently released their debut full length album called A-One From Day One on May 16th 2025, on RidingEasy Records. It contains eight tracks at around thirty one minutes long.

“Love Bug” starts the record off with a hot rocking number that sounds like it came right out of the seventies. The guitar sound is baked in that warm overdriven fuzz tone that classic rock was created from. The mid tempo drum walloping beats commands the rhythm as the vocals wail in vintage rock fashion. “Sticker” carries the retro rocking torch further along and the slick guitar leads are splattered all over this recording. I swear so many proto-metal bands nowadays sound more seventies rock than the artists that actually played back then. Dusty Rose Gang is no exception to that, because they own that sound. The third track, “Person Of Light” has such a familiar and authentic sound that I wasn’t sure if it was an original or cover song. At any rate, it’s fantastic! The lineup that actually played on this recording is different from the current roster. Along with Dusty Rose, Brett Donlon played bass, J. Rowe played drums and percussion, Kara Meister provided backing vocals, and Warren Defever played mellotron, organ.

“Cavulara (Interlude)” is a forty three second interlude that sets into the crazy drum solo introduction to the rocking, “Party Back Jack”. This is another cool song that has such a familiar sound and essence that I would have sworn that I’ve heard it before. The gonzo drumming reappears at the end of the track which closes out nicely. “Leave It Alone” is another hard rocker that has a fun vibe floating around as the band is cranking out the grooves. Dusty Rose Gang hail from the southwest side of Detroit that birthed MC5 and The Stooges and their sound tracks that same rawness and trajectory that those heavy hitters had. “Feel Me” is a dazzling classic rocker that has that early seventies swagger of the fore mentioned bands. It’s excellent music through and through!

The final cut on A-One From Day One is kind of a title track interlude/ outro called “A1 Since Day 1 (Interlude)”. It’s just a mellow, psychedelic and twangy acoustic guitar rhythm that lasts just over a minute or so. Overall, this is a superb album that despite just clearing thirty minutes, packs a lot of heat in its six or so real songs. Dusty Rose Gang could easily fool anyone thinking that this came out over fifty years ago. It has all the right ingredients to make us believe that it was from that classic era. A-One From Day One is a terrific album and a complete joy to listen to.