To describe Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country as something special is an understatement. Playing 87 shows so far in 2025, this band has flexed its muscle playing traditional country music and honky-tonk combined with its version of dub and high voltage electronic jam music.
Daniel Donato has described his band’s philosophy as, “country music's kind of like 3 chords and the truth. And the cosmic part of it is all the notes. And the truth? There's kind of a unification of simplicity with complexity.” This blend has launched DDCC to a whole new stratosphere.
In August 2025, the next plateau was achieved with the release of “Horizons”, their new album celebrated with a bucket list for Daniel release performance (first headlining appearance) at the Ryman Auditorium in his home city and musical muse Nashville, TN. “Horizons” tracks as a gripping narrative inspired by Joseph Campell’s Hero’s Journey. Daniel discussed this influence and his storytelling in a recent interview at NJ Stage.
Beginning on September 18, 2025, DDCC embarked on their fall ’25 “Horizons” tour with a 3-night run at the Ardmore Music Hall in Ardmore, PA. There is no better way to start a tour than a deep dive residency. This experience was enhanced by live video feeds by https://www.nugs.net/ of all three nights providing a connection to this experience for a deeply loyal fanbase across the country who could not be in attendance.
Night 1 featured a healthy dose of the band’s roots opening with Merle Haggard’s “Honky Tonk Night Time Man” and “Horizons” first track “Blame the Train”. DDCC also peaked behind their cosmic curtain with “Horizons” tracks “Translation” and “Down Bedford”. “Down Bedford” is also a great example of the perfect cosmic country blend, with melodic sweeps of farm life catapulted into late-night barn dance delight through the pocket Tron of drummer Will “Bronco” Clark.
Night 2 continued this theme with classic country nickelodeon and “Horizon” tracks “Broadside Ballad”> “Hangman’s Reel”. Broadside tells the tale of Davy Crockett rival, Mike Fink, “King of the Keelboaters” and Hangman’s provides a perfect juxtaposition through its jam chops. Another cosmic deep dive came to fruition thanks to lyrical ode “Vahalla” also from “Horizons”.
This Ardmore Music Hall experience served as a perfect vessel for the band to peel its musical onion and a large portion of fans in attendance were so thanks to the 3-night pass available for this run. I am a big fan of and believe in the power of energy transference between live music performances and the crowd that feeds this crescendo. For this run, sustained by the fans reveling in DDCC glory for the 1st 2 nights, the pump was primed for night 3 on September 20, 2025. I was only able attend this night, but what I experienced was a perfect combination of fan enthusiasm, imagination, and love for their music and art from the band creating a sonic multiplier powder keg that culminated in “Desert Fest”!
The crowd gathered in the square of the frontier town, Ardmore, PA. “A Horse with No Name” by America played as townsfolk eagerly awaited the arrival of their gunslingers. Unknown at this time was that the band had perfectly chosen their intro music as a background Nostradamus to the journey we were about to embark on tonight.
The hoedown kicked up the dust with a funk fueled “Dance in the Desert” (Reprise) from the new “Horizons” album. This opening had our heroes arriving from separate points. From the North, Daniel Donato (guitar) echoed through the valley with his high electric strum. From the East, Nathan "Sugar Leg" Aronowitz (keys) laid the tone with each finger stroke. From the West, Will "Mustang" Mcgee (bass) set the groove starting off the night on his electric bass. From the South, with a crack of the whip (stick) on his kit, Will "Bronco" Clark (drums) kicked his haunches, back hoofs rising in the air as the band raced towards a harmonious dance vibe. The buildings swayed back and forth reminiscent of Disney’s “Silly Symphonies” classic 1930’s cartoons. The 4 amigos, now visible on the horizon flowed seamlessly into “Horizons” track and country turn “Sunshine in the Rain” off the trot of Mustang and the clap clap of Bronco. This song is laced in irony with the added title (Strange Presence). “In my time of dying, let me go the way I came. Thunder in the daylight, sunshine in the rain…”
The festivities tonight would serve a higher purpose, telling the tale of life and a journey of futility to escape what we cannot, “who’s afraid of destiny? Destiny…” Sugars Legs breaks into his first solo and his waterfall of sound cascades over the canyon walls emitting a 70’s soul train vibe from our country rooted launch pad. Riding down the switchbacks descending into the canyon, Daniel drops his high electric manipulation as we snake back into “Dance in the Desert” (Reprise). Our townsfolk know we have gathered here to jam, to groove, and celebrate the fragility of hope and life we cling to. The four find themselves riding “Along the Trail”, with them joining harmoniously for this country pop revelry about the journey home. The closer they get home the further this road will take them. Like Odysseus returning from Troy, our cowboys now “Ride On” into the unknown thanks to this song written and sung by Sugar Legs who also picks up his guitar for this one. The lights add to this experience, circular flashes peppering our optics with a reminder of this great cycle. Locked into this lighting strike, Sugar Legs jumps back to his key rig and the band spirals straight up the canyons walls riding them like skateboarders ascending the sides of a bowl back into “Dance in the Desert” (Reprise). Lifted, they now float high above, across the ocean in the sky led by Daniel’s vocals, performing a cover of “Everybody’s Talkin” originally performed by Harry Nisson as the title track from 1969’s Midnight Cowboy. This song was also later popularized by a version sung by Willie Nelson. Lost at sea (sailing across the desert sand), the band is now “Free Wheelin’”. This song, written by Mustang and Daniel, is soulfully crooned by Mustang. Then like the temptation of the sirens up next, a ballad, “Weathervane”, an anthem to uncertainty, “storm’s a coming, no time to be shy. Weathervane spinning with great heart and try. Storm’s a coming.” An exploration in space, time stretched like taffy, each note and beat a twinkle of light, Sugar Legs shines again through his ivory tickle. Where are we now, have our heroes found their way home? Nothing but Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies”. The prairie shines like a beacon and we are wrapped in the serenity of Daniel’s soft electric hug. We are not where we seemed, and the irony of fate opens a funky cyclone back into “Weathervane” (Reprise). Blue skies in the eye of the storm. Currents flash across the stage, bolts strike from instrument to instrument, engulfing the crowd as we happily seal our fate. “Ain’t Living Long Like This” by Waylon Jennings, “straight down the barrel of lawman’s gun, I tried to run, but don’t think I can. You make one move and you’re a dead man, friend.” Played with the ferocity of a speeding locomotion, the reaper has caught up and our heroes find themselves stretched at the gallows hanging from the end of a rope. “Dance in the Desert” (Reprise) as the curtain drops.
Act 2 begins as “Riders on the Storm” by the Doors fades as the house music. High hat kicks as Bronco bucks as we visit the band’s country roots through a “Half Moon Night”. Flowing into the “Cosmic Country Gardens” instrumental featuring showcase breakouts for each member characterized by the classic country genre. Sugar Legs goes old saloon player piano, Mustang thumps his chosen weapon for set 2, his upright bass, while Daniel delves back into his fast fingered high electric shock and hum. Racing up and down the scales, are we halfway there? With the snap of their necks our boys land without a care, ironic storytelling at its best, “and now she’s gone and I don’t worry… Lord I’m sittin’ on top of the world.” “Sittin’ On Top of the World”, by Doc Watson, played with all the joy and tragic relief of reaching the heavens. This song is the perfect vehicle for a righteous bass solo slap from Mustang and Bronco nearly busted the skin of his drums. In the Hero’s Journey there is a marker, the place where the conflict/adversity faced is overcome and resolved and the hero journeys back to the place of origin with the knowledge gained from their plight. Tonight’s tale arrives at this point with “Fortunate Sparrow”, also on the “Horizons” album. This jam monster elevates DDCC to its cosmic heights. With Mustang on the upright, I thought this was a sign of more country, but this becomes the opposite as the cosmic switch is flipped as we enter a world like that of Carlos Castaneda’s “Journey to Ixthan” This is a story of rebirth, “three sparrows, each found a different way.” This song also features a section that nods to Phish’s “Stash”. In theory, the theme of tonight’s show, “Desert Fest” also nods to Phish’s recent “Tweezer Reprise” show at SPAC in Saratoga Spring, NY on 7/27/25, when Phish played “Tweezer Reprise” 6 times throughout 2 sets. Sugar Legs, once again silky smooth as this song chases upwards, the sparrows take flight towards their new lives. Where do these sparrows land? The first 2 into a “Cowpile”, a new song played for the first time this night. This is a prairie song, great for the chuckwagon campfire. A yodel-la-he-ho for the open range. Leaving a sparrow or our heroes as “Ghost Riders in the Sky”. This instrumental featuring chord structure straight from the wild west. Showdown at the OK Corral, our magnificent four stare down their adversary, eyes locked, fingers hovering over their triggers ready to draw at the chime of the clocktower to strike down the inevitable, but this is a fate they cannot escape, they will be forever trapped in the “Dance in the Desert” (Reprise). Immortal souls trapped in a never-ending quest for salvation filled with an escape only achieved through loss and regret. It makes them want to “Lose Their Minds”, another DDCC anthem that reminds the townsfolk that “It's a long, gone stretch of time to an everlasting smile. The first steps down the line begins a trail. So, lose your mind in the song and find yourself in all that's wrong. It's a long gone stretch of time to lose your mind.” Our path is a relentless train hurtling down the tracks giving us the “Waymore’s Blues”, a classic tune by Waylon Jennings. Like the skeletons surrounding them our heroes have no choice but to take off their skins and dance around in their bones, because tonight once again we will “Dance In the Desert” (Reprise).
To the delight of the crowd, our heroes emerge again on stage for an encore. The “Dance in the Desert” resumes and our frontier minds are blown away by deep drops and Bronco explodes with surgical precision. Fireworks from stage, this is a high-octane dance party, an escape to “lose yourself forever. Ain’t nothing better than dancing the desert away.” Mustang flutters as his whomp gets it cosmic to the max. This story is not over yet, how could it end without moral? Our lesson tonight, “this spell I’m under rolls like thunder. Life by the luck of the draw.” “Luck of the Draw” teaches us about fortune’s hand. No matter how we struggle to determine our course we are ruled by the cards delt. We may chase the river, but we cannot escape its flow. This song opens into a funk fest, perhaps the funkiest part of the night and our gunmen fire off all chambers. This jam coasts into the fist pumping “Sugar Leg Rag”, the speed of Sugar on the keys matched by the band and even blow-up horse Cosmo, who hovered above us all night bucks and whinnies in triumph. The dynamic between Daniel and Sugar Leg is riveting, locked together by the force their sound creates. The Earth itself shakes in rhythm on its axis! Daniel loses his cowboy hat, shaking it off with a grin on his face. The fabric of time and space has been ripped apart and now everyone, stripped to their primordial bones, grooves like Silly Symphonies’ skeletons to the final “Dance in Desert” (Reprise). Where do we and this band get all this energy? It is from them and vice versa. We are all bonded in community, love, and music!
More information about fall ’25 “Horizons” tour and the inspiring record release, along with information about DDCC can be found at https://danieldonato.com
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country at the Ardmore Music Hall (Ardmore, PA) 9/20/25
Set 1: Dance in the Desert (Reprise)> Sunshine in the Rain (Strange Presence)> Dance in the Desert (Reprise)> Along the Trail> Ride On> Dance in the Desert (Reprise)> Everybody’s Talkin’> Free Wheelin’> Weathervane> Blue Skies> Weathervane (Reprise)> Ain’t Living Long Like This> Dance in the Desert (Reprise)
Set 2: Half Moon Night> Cosmic Country Gardens> Sittin’ On Top of the World, Fortunate Sparrow, Cowpile> Ghost Riders in the Sky> Dance in the Desert (Reprise), Lose Your Mind> Waymores Blues> Dance in the Desert (Reprise)
Encore: Dance in the Desert> Luck of the Draw> Sugar Leg Rag> Dance in the Desert (Reprise)
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