Singer-Guitarist Daniel Donato Teams Up with Cosmic Country Pioneer Marty Stuart for Summer Tour

Last year, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country returned with Horizons, another album that incorporates elements of country, rock, bluegrass, funk and psychedelia. Given the “cosmic” nature of the recording, it only makes sense that Donato would hit the road this summer with country great Marty Stuart and his band the Fabulous Superlatives. The two acts will play separate sets and then perform some songs together. Donato spoke about Horizons and the upcoming tour via Zoom from his Nashville area home.

Talk about how the tour with Marty Stuart came about?

Cosmic country is a form of music that takes place in all points of time. When you come to our show, you hear songs and traditions from the past and new things that are very modern and show what music can do. Marty Stuart in his career has been self-proclaimed as a cosmic country artist as well. It’s like a real live museum. You get to see legends from the past come and play with us, who are bringing this proprietary form of American music into the future.

Playing alongside a guy whose backing band is known as the Superlatives must be daunting.

It’s not too daunting. That’s one of the funny things. The concept of humility is very advanced. It’s not simple as a soft-spoken, low shouldered, humble state. There’s an element of receiving and strength that comes from humility. I was very humbled to find out that Marty was wanting to play with us, but I also know that he wants us to bring it. I think it’ll be exciting for him. I think at this stage, he only wants to do events and endeavors that are inspiring to him.

You draw from so many different musical styles. How’d you come to embrace such a wide range of music?

Um, well, there is so much truth to be found in so many styles. There’s truth to be found in Jimmie Rodgers songwriting and singing and in Cannonball Adderley’s improvisations, and the same thing goes for the reverb-heavy honky-tonk swing found on Buck Owens’s records and the really heavy four-on-the floor dance music that Daft Punk plays. I try to find that true thread that ties all that together. It just comes out in cosmic country in a unique way.

You started as a street musician. What was it like to busk on the streets of Nashville?

For three years I did that. That experience was a blessing. It was not obvious at the time, like most blessings. It was one of those deals. I would be lying if I said that every time I step on stage I don’t think about it. It was a blessing in how it crafted my musicianship and how it crafted my perspective now. I think of this as my career. I have that relative framework of where I started and where I came from and the sense of urgency and organization in terms of my team and my business and my vision.

You put out your first solo record, Starlight, in 2019. Was it a difficult album to make?

The first time in a studio in Nashville costs a lot of money. If you can get a studio session in the books, they’ve cleared that calendar, and there are five other accounts they could have made more money and received more attention than mine did. I think I get less nervous the more we do it, but at that time, I was pretty nervous and I got in my way a lot.

Going into your new album, Horizons, you had already played these songs live. So how different was the studio experience for Horizons?

My main value is within a live performance. I wasn’t aware of that when I was much younger. The primary arena is live. I’m way less nervous now. I’m more accepting of what naturally comes out of me now. It’s one of the natural dividends of time and getting older and having more experience and potential wisdom. I feel way more expressive and free when we go to record.

“Blame the Train” sounds like Bob Dylan but sped up. Is he an influence?

I love Bob Dylan. When I think about the concept of 250 years ago when this country started, I don’t think anyone could have realized what kind of music could have come out of this country. There never could have been a Bob Dylan anywhere else. He’s such a great reflection of the values of this country in that way. He’s uniquely unapologetic. There’s a freedom within him that he sings with and writes with and performs from that can only come from a person living in the land as free as it could be. I can’t qualify him with words. That way that I do qualify my love for Bob Dylan is in the fact that people hear his influence in me. I love him, and I love train songs. I’m a big Jimmie Rodgers and Merle Haggard fan. There was a record when I was very young called Same Train, a Different Time. That was a Jimmie Rodgers tribute album and an inspiration. I thought we just needed a train song.

I love how funky “Hangman’s Reel” is. How did that song come about?

It’s an old-time fiddle song. We put it through a cosmic country filter. I curate music for cosmic country listeners that wouldn’t be obvious. I listened to old Alan Lomax recordings from Wester Appalachia. That was a tune I had always loved, and I loved the story behind it. That’s really it. And we play it in the way that we love it.

I know you typically play for three hours. Will you pare the set down for these shows with Marty Stuart?

We will, which is great. It’s a different format.

Do you know what will be on the set?

No. But I do have a couple of different ideas about how I want to collaborate with Marty. I think Marty and I will play together and even multiple members of our band, which is very rare.

Have you figured out what you’ll wear?

I have. Marty is also a fantastic photographer. The amount of ephemera and collectibles that Marty has in unparalleled. I think he has the boot that Patsy was wearing the night she died. He has old notepads from Hank Williams and absolutely everything.

Photo credit: Jason Stoltzfus