Reflecting On A Cosmic Hootenanny: Daniel Donato At Ardmore Music Hall

This weekend, Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country continued their seemingly endless run of amazing live performances by delivering two nights of otherworldly western-ish jams to sold-out crowds at Philadelphia’s Ardmore Music Hall.

Even with two full sets and hours of music over two nights, there remained corners left unexamined in their ever-growing repertoire of original and cover tunes, which speaks both to Donato’s engaging songwriting, as well as the band’s ability to deliver remarkable performances that consistently keep fans coming back. And those who chose to attend last night’s show were treated to a masterclass in cosmic country.

The band took the stage to Willy Wonka’s “Pure Imagination,” a nod to their upcoming Wonka-themed Halloween show at Milwaukee’s Turner Hall Ballroom, and dove into a high-energy cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Honky Tonk Night Time Man.” Donato and the band kicked into some jamgrass improv, the first jam of many where drummer Will “Bronco” Clark explored the cosmic side of the band’s genre, playing a more active role in the jam than the average jamgrass drummer.

They moved through Donato’s “Locomotive #9” into “Rose in a Garden,” another original from the band’s most recent album Reflector, providing another opportunity for everyone in the band to take leads. The group transitioned into “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” from Donato’s breakthrough 2021 release, Cosmic Country & Western Songs, which in turn led to a cover of Hank Williams’ “I Saw The Light.” Bassist Will “Mustang” McGee sang lead vocals on “Driftin’,” a slower classic country ballad with backing harmonies that would make The Jordanaires proud.

Much of the first set continued in this fashion until Donato and Clark commenced a new upbeat jam that stretched about 10 minutes, the first time in the night that the band presented what resembled a Phish-like jam, a la cosmic country. McGee took lead vocal duties again for a cover of “Lay It On The Line,” another original, and keyboardist Nathan “Sugar Leg” Aronowitz led the Clavinet-heavy “Boogie Man,” perhaps better described as cosmic funk than cosmic country, and the band closed the set with “Ain’t Living Long Like This.”

As the band returned to the stage to Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow,” nobody knew that they were about to prove the old saying about Sunday shows. The set opened with “See Through,” a newer tune with a groove that sits at the intersection of The Allman Brothers Band and Derek & the Dominoes. In true country style, the band delivered spot-on four-part harmonies, and after about seven minutes, they left major key territory for a spacier, more exploratory space.

In a night two highlight, Donato and Clark demonstrated their developing mindmeld, driving a 20-minute guitar and drum-led jam a la the legendary Trey Anastasio/Jon Fishman mindmeld, with Mustang and Sugar Leg creating space and adding texture. It will be interesting to see if Donato and his band continue exploring this less structured territory, which surely will lead to interesting musical moments but definitely can change the energy level in the room.

The rest of the set included a variety of older and newer tunes from Donato’s discography, including “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah,” where Sugar Leg took lead vocals, and a pass through the chorus of “Paradise City,” which sounds transcendent in cosmic four-part harmony. The band closed the second set with a cover of The Allmans’ “Jessica,” before returning for a two-song encore.

Donato delivered completely exquisite guitar playing, evoking classic country players, as well as more modern legends like Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier of moe.,who took Donato on tour this summer, and Anastasio. He fiddles with his pedals and pickups constantly, whether he’s dialing in his tone or syncing the length of his delays with the pace of the song. (It’s remarkable to see Donato’s tap tempo beat in perfect sync with Clark’s beat.)

The band’s jams aren’t just impressive displays of musicianship: they’re journeys that ebb and flow organically through distinct sections and moods that reveal themselves as they evolve. And as Donato sings on 2021’s “Waymore’s Blues,” he “ain’t no ordinary dude,” which may be the very reason his legion of die-hard fans keeps growing.

Any attempt to describe Donato’s “cosmic country” style is an exercise in oxymorons. The word “cosmos,” Greek in origin, implies vastness and order, which somehow runs counter to the traditional conception of the universe as inherently entropic. And yet this ostensible contradiction somehow is consistent with the nature of a Daniel Donato show, where the band stays true to a broad view of the “country” part of their name, alternating high-energy, danceable songs, individual and group jams, and the occasional vibe out where they just let things breathe. His audience includes fans of jam band music, as well as progressive bluegrass and country, and his shows provide something for all of them to enjoy.

Donato will join Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s three-night “Mahalo Dead” run from November 22-24 in Kauai, where he band also will feature guitarist Jake Brownstein (Eggy), bassist Reed Mathis, keyboardist Adam MacDougall (Circles Around The Sun) and percussionist Jason Hann (The String Cheese Incident).

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