Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country’s Next Album Explores New ‘Horizons’

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country will release their third album, Horizons on August 22 through Retrace Music. The band led by guitarist shared the record’s lead single, “Broadside Ballad.”

Like his previous album, 2023’s Reflector, Donato worked with producer Vance Powell on Horizons. The pending LP comprises 15 tracks recorded by Donato, keyboardist Nathan “Sugar Legg” Aronowitz, bassist Will “Mustang” McGee and drummer William “Bronco” Clark Nashville’s Sputnik Sound studio. Guests parts were played by fiddler Lillie Mae Rische and pedal steel guitarist Brett Resnick.

“Our community really changes the songs, just by us playing them and (the fans) being able to partake in the same room as us as when we’re playing the song,” Donato explained “We’ve played every song on this record live dozens upon dozens, sometimes 50 times live, before we recorded them… in rooms filled with humans… so they can feel human before we bring them into the studio. When you bring it to people, it changes. It truly does. They help us provide a curvature for the song and really influence how they go before we ever hit the red light in the studio.”

“Broadside Ballad” made its live debut in 2023. The original song remained in regular rotation, garnering over 100 performances since its premiere.

Donato further expressed his thoughts on Horizons, stating:

“I wanted the lyrics to be easy to understand, not abstract. There are many layers to the meanings and you think about it, but it’s not rocket science to understand them.

“Trying to maintain a human sound and faith in what humans can do really inform the actual sonics and production of the record, too … I want there to be a Cosmic Country sound where you can hear it right away, you can hear the first eight bars of any song and say, ‘That’s it!.’

“Some of it is technical, like using the same microphones and the same studio as the last record. And some of it’s just in the way we approach it — and that’s something we get better at every time.”

Horizons will arrive the same day Donato makes his headlining debut at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium. Stream the single version of “Broadside Ballad”: