(BROOKLYN, NY) -- Critically acclaimed songwriter Anthony D'Amato released a video for his addictive new single, “Long Haul.” Shot entirely on Super 8 by filmmaker David Dibble, the epic video features a century old steam train, a 1929 Ford Model A, and a horse named Warrior joining D’Amato on a larger-than-life journey through San Juan Mountains outside Durango, Colorado.
“I’ve loved trains since I was a kid, and when I’m not on tour you can generally find me off on some railroad photography adventure,” D’Amato told PopMatters, “so to bring my passion for music and trains together was really special for me with this video. When the pandemic put touring on hold, I spent almost a year living right beside the tracks of the Durango & Silverton, which is one of the most scenic train routes in America, and I was like a kid in a candy store getting to have our own caboose on this shoot and film all throughout the gorgeous San Juan National Forest. We shot pretty much everything in this video in and around Durango, Colorado, and that town and all the wonderful people I’ve met there really mean a lot to me, so it really filled my heart getting to capture it on film."
At First There Was Nothing, D'Amato's first new full-length album in six years, is due out October 21st via Blue Rose. He announced the album with a “charming” animated video for “Ships In The Night,” a lush, pedal steel-laden song.
D’Amato headed west to record At First There Was Nothing, relocating to American Fork, Utah, for sessions in the autumn and winter with celebrated songwriter and producer Joshua James. Bristling with joyful energy and piercing insight, the record emerged from a period of intense change and renewal, and the growth is palpable, with sprawling, unpredictable arrangements accompanying some of D’Amato’s most gripping and incisive lyrical work yet. Drawing on everything from hazy ’60s soul to rootsy ’70s rock and roll, the songs are loose and playful here, even as they grapple with faith and trust, mortality and loss, resilience and regret, all set against sweeping sonic backdrops every bit as epic and rugged as the landscapes that inspired them.
Pre-Order At First There Was Nothing here
Born and raised in New Jersey, D’Amato first rose to international attention with the 2014 release of The Shipwreck From The Shore, his New West Records debut. Inspired in part by time spent studying with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon, the album garnered rave reviews on both sides of the pond, with NPR inviting D’Amato for a Tiny Desk Concert and lauding that “he writes in the tradition of Bruce Springsteen or Josh Ritter," and Uncut proclaiming that his songwriting "echoes with early Bob Dylan."
D’Amato followed it up in 2016 with the Mike Mogis-produced Cold Snap, which earned him his first national TV appearance along with an “Artist You Need To Know” nod from Rolling Stone, who hailed his writing as “folk music raised on New Jersey grit.” In 2017, D’Amato released a collaborative EP titled Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which raised more than $10,000 for refugee aid, and in 2019, he returned with Five Songs From New Orleans, a stripped-down acoustic collection that earned continued praise from Billboard to Rolling Stone. Along the way, D’Amato toured extensively across the US and Europe, sharing bills with the likes of Ben Folds, Valerie June, Keb’ Mo’, The Felice Brothers, American Aquarium, and many more.
D’Amato, who recently performed on CBS Saturday Morning “supergroup” side project Fantastic Cat, will be on tour in Europe in August and September supporting Keb’ Mo’ and will tape an episode of NPR’s Mountain Stage October 2. Stay tuned for more US dates to be announced soon.
UPCOMING SOLO TOUR DATES
10/2 – Charleston, WV @ Mountain Stage
10/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live (as Fantastic Cat)
10/22 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge [Album Release Show]
11/26 – Fall River, MA @ Narrows Center For The Arts (as Fantastic Cat)
12/17 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall (as Fantastic Cat)
