WXPN has just crowned Daniel Donato as our Artist to Watch for the month of May. Hailing from Nashville, the singer-songwriter is a musically adventurous rising star who makes “cosmic country.” The term first stems from the So-Cal scene of the 60’s, which birthed Gram Parsons and The Byrds. It’s also the perfect description of Donato’s signature blend of psychedelic jams, southern rock swagger, and folk lyricism. In Donato’s own words: “It’s yin and yang in a musical form. It’s three chords and the truth, and then on the other side it’s exploration and bravery.” He says the sound is a “vehicle for my personality, and the personality is a vehicle for my soul.”
Donato grew up in Nashville, playing Guitar Hero and idolizing iconic players: Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton. He began busking outside – often for eight straight hours – fine tuning his skills and gradually learning the country songbook of classic artists such as Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Sr., and Merle Haggard. Then Donato found the Grateful Dead, then Bob Dylan, and slowly but surely began to shape his intoxicating individual sound. You can hear it all on his three studio records: A Young Man’s Country, Cosmic Country & Western Songs, and last year’s Reflector.
Donato just embarked on a “Cosmic Country” tour across the country – including a performance at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park, New Jersey on July 4th. On July 10th, he’ll perform at the Levitt Pavilion Steelstacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with Moe and on July 26th, he heads to the Flood City Music Festival in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.