Duane Betts, Holly Bowling, Mountain Grass Unit & Shadowgrass Members Join Daniel Donato At Grand Targhee Music Fest

Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country offered a guest-filled set at the Grand Targhee Music Fest in Alta, Wyoming. Duane Betts, Holly Bowling, Luke Black of Mountain Grass Unit and more joined the guitarist and his band on Saturday.

The first half of Daniel Donato and company’s set saw the band performing songs from their upcoming studio album, Horizons, including opener “Blame The Train,” “Broadside Ballad,” and “Hangman’s Reel.” DDCC also took “Fortunate Sparrow” deep with a version that came just shy of 18 minutes.

For the first sit-in, DDCC welcomed guitarist Duane Betts for the Rodney Crowell-written, Waylon Jennings-recorded “Ain’t Living Long Like This.” Duane also stuck around for a rendition of J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High,” which is also a staple cover of Widespread Panic. Check out a clip of “Ride Me High” below:

Keyboardist Holly Bowling then emerged for a rendition of the Grateful Dead‘s retelling of the biblical tale “Samson & Delilah.” Bowling presided over a rousing piano solo on the Dead favorite. Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country — Donato on guitar, drummer Will “Bronco” Clark, bassist Will “Mustang” McGee and multi-instrumentalist Nathan “Sugar Leg” Aronowitz — went it alone for a pairing of “Luck Of The Draw” and “Sugar Leg Rag.”

DDCC then welcomed Mountain Grass Unit guitarist Luke Black and Shadowgrass guitarist Kyser George for a rollicking rendition of Johnny Cash‘s “Big River” to close the set. While Luke experienced some technical difficulties with his acoustic guitar, Donato switched axes with him so he could rip a solo, which also made for a cool moment when Daniel played his guitar while Luke was holding it.

Check out “Big River” below:

Audio (Taped by G-Man)

Next up for Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country is a hometown concert at the Ryman in Nashville on August 22 to celebrate the release of Horizons. Scroll down for DDCC’s full itinerary and ticket info.