Daniel Donato Debuts Peter Rowan Cover In Colorado

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country completed a run through Colorado with a concert Sunday night at The Arts Campus at Willits in Basalt. Donato led his band through their first public performance of “Sweet Melinda” by Peter Rowan.

Sunday’s concert ended a run through Colorado that included stops in Buena Vista, Boulder and at the WinterWonderGrass festival in Steamboat Springs. DDCC was joined by Vince Herman, Kyser George, Kyle Tuttle, Jon Stickley and Lindsay Lou across his two sets at Winter Wondergrass.

Donato looked to the end of Sunday’s first set for placement of “Sweet Melinda,” which arrived out of his instrumental arrangement of “Ghost Riders In The Sky.” Written by Rowan, “Sweet Melinda” originally appeared on his 1981 album, Texican Badman, that featured contributions from members of the Grateful Dead.

DDCC followed the Rowan cover debut with a second set that opened with “Prairie Spin” encapsulating the band’s second offering of the recently debuted J.J. Cale cover, “Travelin’ Light.” Set two also saw Donato perform Phish’s “Back On The Train,” which he recorded for JamBase’s Cluster Flies album, for its first appearance of 2025.

Watch Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country salute Peter Rowan by covering “Sweet Melinda” last night in Colorado:

Setlist (via DanielBase)

Set One: Drivin’ Nails In My Coffin, Workin’ Man Blues, Translation > Dark Hollow, About The Angels, Cosmic Country Gardens, Running Gun, Ghost Riders In The Sky (Instrumental) > Sweet Melinda (FTP)

Set Two: Prairie Spin > Travelin’ Light > Prairie Spin, Sunshine In The Rain (Strange Presence), Down Bedford, Got My Mojo Workin’, Justice > Back On The Train, Playing Your Game, East Bound And Down > Edge Of The Mountain

Encore: Respect, Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)