Kurt Rongey

Rongey has studied at the Royal College of Music in London, received degrees in composition and piano performance, been a founding member of what has been called "Perhaps the best current American progressive rock band..." and released two critically-acclaimed CD's as a solo artist.

Rongey's music education began at the piano at age 7 and he wrote his first tunes shortly thereafter. During his teen years, he became a dedicated rock drummer and performed (variously as keyboardist, singer or drummer) in a string of very active recording and performing bands, always demanding that the focus be on original music, and the more strikingly original the better.

Rongey’s conviction to realize rock’s full potential resulted in years of formal piano and composition studies, carrying out graduate and post-graduate work at TCU, The Royal College of Music and Keele University. While at the Royal College of Music, Rongey found time to complete his first solo album Book in Hand.

Book in Hand was released in 1991, at a time when the concept of educated rock was anathema to the music industry's conventions. Sonically redolent of the archaism of London and filled with deeply personal songwriting, it became a touchstone of keyboard-dominated progressive rock in the early nineties.

After Book in Hand, Rongey cultivated a career in classical music radio, eventually earning a position as program director for Dallas station WRR. During this time, he developed and recorded an elaborate concept album entitled That Was Propaganda., which observes the explosive clash between individualism and collectivism in Russia and Eastern Europe.

In addition to Rongey’s compositions and keyboard orchestrations, That Was Propaganda featured the playing of the stupendous virtuoso guitarist Bill Pohl. In 1994, Rongey and Pohl began a collaboration that culminated in the internationally-renowned band The Underground Railroad.