Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country Welcomes Percussionist Jose Rivera For Nearly Entire Georgia Theatre Concert
Listen to the full show including a wild percussion intro to “Dance In The Desert.”
By Nate Todd Apr 29, 2025 • 9:30 am PDT
Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country brought their spring tour to the Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia on Saturday. The guitarist and his band welcomed percussionist Jose Rivera for the lion’s share of the concert.
Kicking things off with a cover of Neil Young’s “Are You Ready For The Country,” Donato and company followed with an expansive version of original “Forgotten Days” before heading into “Valhalla.”
Rivera — who plays in Atlanta-based bands Magnolia Express and Voodoo Visionary — then emerged to show off his copious skills on a wild percussion intro to “Dance In The Desert,” which the band stretched out to 17 minutes with multi-instrumentalist Nathan “Sugar Leg” Aronowitz toggling between keys and guitar. Cosmic Country would fit a cover of America’s “Horse With No Name” within “Dance In The Desert” before returning to the latter to cap off the first frame.
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With Rivera in tow, Donato launched the second set with “Rose In A Garden,” appearing on his 2023 album Reflector. Rivera would stay on for the entirety of set two, which continued with “The Gold Rush” co-written by the Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe and also included on bluegrass great Tony Rice’s 1983 album Church Street Blues. Cosmic Country put a modern spin on the tune by adding a full band beatbox sesh at the Georgia Theatre.
DD then broke out Billy Joe Shaver’s “Georgia On A Fast Train” for The Peach State audience, last played on April 13, 2024 for a 135-show gap, as per DanielBase. The Marty Robbins-recorded “Running Gun” followed ahead of another breakout cover of “I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water,” which had not been played in 141 shows.
The second set also saw bassist Will “Mustang” McGee stepping to the mic for his co-write with DD, “Ten Feet Of Rope” ahead of an exploratory rendition of Reflector cut “Double Exposure.” Sugar Leg then led his “Ride On” to wrap the second set.
Rivera also joined the band for the Georgia Theatre encore, beginning with another Marty Robbins-popularized song, “Doggone Cowboy,” before Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country sealed the show with “Riding That Midnight Train.”
Listen to the full concert below:
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country will be in Boca Raton, Florida tonight (April 29). Find the band’s full tour routing and ticket info below.
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