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Fantastic Cat's National Television Debut

originally published: 08/15/2022

After packing out NYC's Bowery Ballroom for a wild album release show, Fantastic Cat made their national TV debut on CBS Saturday Morning on August 13th, swapping instruments and trading vocals as they performed three songs from their widely acclaimed debut, The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat (out now via Nashville indie Blue Rose).

CBS dubbed Fantastic Cat a "supergroup" — the NYC-based quartet includes acclaimed songwriters Anthony D'Amato (look for a new studio album on Blue Rose this fall), Don DiLego, Brian Dunne and Mike Montali. The album is currently "bubbling up" on the Americana radio charts and the band has taped a session to air on August 21 at WFUV radio.

They said it couldn’t be done. Four different songwriters joining forces to form a single band? There was simply no precedent (outside of CSNY, The Beatles, The Traveling Wilburys, The Highwaymen, Monsters of Folk, etc). And yet Fantastic Cat did it anyway, defying the odds and teaming up to record their highly unanticipated debut, The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat, on Blue Rose. Captured in the wilds of the Pocono Mountains, the album gleefully careens between genres and decades, mixing electrified 60’s folk and 70’s AM radio gold as it balances careful craftsmanship and ecstatic abandon in equal measure.

Individually, each member of Fantastic Cat boasts their own impressive resume along with a litany of critical acclaim. NPR said Anthony D’Amato “sings and writes in the tradition of Bruce Springsteen or Josh Ritter.” No Depression dubbed Don DiLego’s latest album “a masterpiece.” Rolling Stone called Brian Dunne’s latest single a “stunner” and praised Mike Montali’s band, Hollis Brown, as “the soundtrack for a late-night drive through the American heartland.”

Collectively, though, the four transcend their respective roots, emerging as an instrument-swapping, harmony-trading, tear-jerking, wise-cracking rock and roll cooperative far greater than the sum of its parts. That collaborative spirit made the band a perfect fit for artist collective Blue Rose Music, who fell in love with the group after hearing their music on Sirius XM’s The Spectrum.

 

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Hailed for its “cathartic, life-affirming fervor” by No Depression, the collection has earned raves everywhere from American Songwriter, who called the tunes "harmony-swapping heartbreakers," to Atwood Magazine, who declared the music “fun, freewheeling, achingly intimate, and beautifully honest." In addition, the record has also garnered early airplay from the likes of KEXP and WFUV, which will broadcast a live session with the band on August 21st.

Photo by Vivian Wang

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Fantastic Cat just wrapped up their first US headlining tour and has announced a handful of additional dates on sale now for later this summer and fall.  

Fantastic Cat Upcoming Dates:

8/24 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Danny Clinch Transparent Gallery [EARLY SHOW] SOLD OUT

8/24 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Danny Clinch Transparent Gallery [LATE SHOW] SOLD OUT

10/14 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live 

11/19 - New York, NY @ Underwater Sunshine Festival 

The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat Tracklist:

1. C’mon Armageddon

2. New Years Day

3. Nobody’s Coming To Get You

 

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4. Wild & Free

5. Fiona

6. Amigo

7. The Gig

8. Ain’t This The Strangest Town

9. Lakewood

10. Theme From Cat Fantastic

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An artist collective founded by media and technology entrepreneur Joe Poletto, Blue Rose Music assists in the business and creative development of select musicians and projects and strives to help their artists and storytellers reach today’s audiences. A portion of all revenue is donated to The Blue Rose Foundation, which provides pre-school scholarships to financially disadvantaged children.