Daring Greatly

Winner of the 2023 Song of the Year award at the San Diego Music Awards, "Daring Greatly" joined us live in the studio. - CBS 8 San Diego

CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Thursday, March 9, 2017 10:52PM EST

They gave up everything to make music. Now, having just returned from Las Vegas where they opened for New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi, they’re still Daring Greatly.

Daring Greatly is a Calgary-based band fronted by bassist Dail Croome and his adult sons, acoustic guitarist Patrick Croome and keyboardist Liam Croome. Together, they write and sing, forming a three-part “blood harmony” that’s rounded out by drummer Brayden Tario and guitarist Brandon Haddow.

Years ago, Dail chased his music dream in Nashville, only to return to Calgary to settle down and start a job in the energy industry -- a gig that just never felt right.

"I'm sitting in my corner office of one of the fastest growing companies in Canada, and I'm still wondering why I'm not super happy or fulfilled,” he told CTV Calgary.

Croome didn’t want his sons to feel that same ennui, so, when the economy in Calgary started to slip, he saw the perfect opportunity. The family, which has been playing music together since Patrick and Liam were children, packed their bags and hit the road.

“It was time to get out of Calgary,” Dail’s younger son, Liam, said. “There were a few relationships that we had to leave behind, but it kind of turned into some awesome inspiration and we wrote a lot of songs about it."

The band was on tour when they heard about a contest to open for Bon Jovi.

"We saw that the Las Vegas date was February 25th, and that was right at the end of our tour,” Tario added.

They entered the music video for their song “Shine” and were thrilled to learn that frontman Jon Bon Jovi had personally picked them from more than 4,000 entries.

Daring Greatly even had a chance to meet with Bon Jovi.

"They were actually really receptive and appreciative of the music,” Patrick said.

The band, about to kick off a tour, will be playing a hometown show Friday night at Calgary’s National Music Centre. - CTVNews.ca Staff

The album opens with “Black and White” and subtle nods to Carlos Santana from lead guitarist Brandon Haddow – nothing overly hurried or rushed and a certain amount of restraint is displayed. This proves to be a recurring theme throughout. We’re served up something of a manifesto and something keeping completely in line with the Teddy Roosevelt speech when the band’s three vocalists, Dail, Patrick, and Liam Croome tell us:
‘Looking back on everything we’ve said and done It’s never been a choice to run’
…the album’s second track, “Shotgun,” is another exercise is subtly and musical restraint – these guys aren’t interested in showing off, though they do possess the talent to do just that. It’s as if each member of the band, to a man, understands the value of the band as a whole, and that no one singular entity is bigger than that. These fellas are sticking to their guns and proudly carrying forward that Summer of Love mentality.
these guys aren’t interested in showing off, though they do possess the talent to do just that. It’s as if each member of the band, to a man, understands the value of the band as a whole, and that no one singular entity is bigger than that. These fellas are sticking to their guns and proudly carrying forward that Summer of Love mentality.” –

Jason Thompson of The Ear Candy Update. - Ear Candy Update // Boogie Magazine

by Nelson Daily Staff on Thursday March 02 2017

It wasn’t that long ago that Patrick Croome was knocking opposing players off their rocker in front of the Nelson Leaf nets during his two years of Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Junior B time as a defenceman in the Green and White.

With a 6-foot something frame, Croome made it look easy as his physical style of play kept opposing forwards looking for the Leaf defenceman anytime they entered the offensive zone.

Two years later, Croome has turned to his cultural roots, joining father Dail and younger brother Liam with the band Daring Greatly to open for Jon Bon Jovi as part of the band Daring Greatly, at the Nevada show of the 2017 This House is Not For Sale tour.

The band, selected from thousands of YouTube entries, opened in front of the 12,000-person crowd after wining and online contest.

In an interview with CBC’s The Homestretch, Dail said he had been playing music on weekends for years when things didn’t work out in Nashville during his 20s.

The boys, Patrick and Liam, were always on stage with their father since they were three and four.

In 2015 they decided to give it another go with Daring Greatly, this time with Liam, 20, and Patrick, 22 respectively and after Patrick had complete his Junior B eligibility with the Leafs.

The Calgary native, Patrick Croome played 80 games with the Leafs during two seasons, finishing with 33 points.

However, ever since Patrick can remember, father Dail treated the kids as equals.

"You don't really feel the pressures most kids would with a parent — 'Get good marks, do this,'" Patrick said in the CBC interview.

"He kind of just gave us some skills and then said, 'Give'er.' Left the door kinda open and said, 'You guys choose.' Music is what we all kinda gravitated towards."

Croome is just one of the many graduates of the Nelson Leafs who have honed their skills with the hockey club and gone on to achieve a great future.

Back on the ice, the Leafs are in Castlegar Thursday for Game five of the best-of-seven Murdoch Semi Final.

The series is tied 2-2 with Game six Friday at 7 p.m. in the NDCC Arena. - Nelson Daily Staff

It’s a testament to the never-say-die spirit of Daring Greatly that they would see the visa snafu that forced them to leave the U.S. as a blessing in disguise.

Led by Calgary bassist-vocalist Dail Croome and his two sons, guitarist-vocalist Patrick and keyboardist-vocalist Liam, the band moved to America last year to pursue music full-time. But after going through what they thought were proper channels to be granted visas, the five-piece act were denied and found their California dreamin’ cut short. The six months they were allowed to stay expired and, without a visa, they were forced to head back home to Canada.

But Croome says everything happens for a reason.

“We did get turned down for our visa, we also know we could get one easily now that we know what mistakes we made,” says Croome, on a cellphone from the road heading home to Calgary last week. “So if we wanted to stay we absolutely could. But I think this was a good sign for us. Change helps the whole growth thing. Things were getting comfortable there. As much as we don’t want to say goodbye to a lot of people down there, we still want constant change. It’s time to leave and see other parts of the world and introduce ourselves to new people.”

From the seize-the-day message found in their anthemic, harmony-fuelled songs, to a band name that sounds like the title of an inspirational book (actually it is the title of an inspirational book that the band have all read, but Croome says the name originally came from a 1910 Theodore Roosevelt speech), to Daring Greatly’s feel-good tag line “Dare to dream greatly,” it’s clear this act is not about to let a little thing like U.S. bureaucracy harsh its positive vibes.


Besides, the band left the U.S. on a high note. They recorded their debut album there, Cornerstones, attracted a strong fan base and recently opened for Bon Jovi at the Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena. Daring Greatly nabbed the gig after winning a video competition that found thousands of bands vying for the spot.

“It was a great experience,” Croome says. “As big as it was, it felt really comfortable. Yeah, I think that’s the stage we’d like to be on and could be on coming up. You can’t win the lottery without buying a ticket, so we just threw our name in the hat. We heard when we were backstage that they took the thousands of entries and narrowed it down to five and Jon Bon Jovi picked the winner out of the five.”

Croome was an oil and gas executive who played weekend gigs in Calgary and shared a passion for music with his sons. By the time Patrick, 22, and Liam, 20, were toddlers, their dad had them on stage performing.

“They grew up playing piano,” he says. “After 10 years of piano, they were pretty good musicians and can play most instruments. We started to build a band around nurturing that. A beautiful thing started happening when they started to write songs. There is a lot more relevance coming out of the 20-year-old mind right now that I think it’s important to spread around.”

In 2014, the band organized a fundraiser in Calgary to pay for a trip down to Nashville to record with Lynyrd Skynyrd/George Clinton keyboardist Peter Keys and members of Kid Rock’s backing band. Daring Greatly recorded three songs in Music City and decided the time was right to throw caution to the wind a turn to music full-time.

So Croome left Calgary’s corporate world and took his sons — and lead guitarist Brandon Haddow and drummer Brayden Tario — on the road to California.

Despite the generational gap between Croome and his bandmates, he says everyone is on the same page musically. They all take their musical cues from acts like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and other bands from the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, the act refers to themselves as “hometown hippies.”

That musical connection is just one of the joys that comes from performing with his sons, Croome says.

“There’s so many dimensions that are so cool about this experience,” he says. “I got to be on stage opening up for Bon Jovi, so I got to feel what that’s like individually. Then there’s a greater joy of looking over and seeing your boys and enjoy it for them. Then we get to do it all together and co-create everything that we’re doing. That’s pretty magical as well.”

The band is now “regrouping” in Calgary and will play Studio Bell’s National Music Centre on Friday, March 10. Beyond that, Daring Greatly has an “empty slate” to fill. This might include recording a new album in Calgary.

“We’re thinking about Europe, we’re thinking about doing a little bit of a western tour before Stampede and then coming back down to California — we’re opening for the Doobie Brothers in San Diego on Aug. 20,” Croome says. “So we have some flexibility right now.”

Daring Greatly play Studio Bell’s National Music Centre on March 10 at 6:30 p.m. - ERIC VOLMERS, CALGARY HERALD