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 Rosethis 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
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
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The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat Tracklist:
1. C’mon Armageddon
2. New Years Day
3. Nobody’s Coming To Get You
4. Wild & Free
5. Fiona
6. Amigo
7. The Gig
8. Ain’t This The Strangest Town
9. Lakewood
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10. Theme From Cat Fantastic
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.
"I tell everyone that I'm the last surviving original member of my band, however I had a 50/50 chance where some other guys didn't," laughed John Ford Coley as he reflected upon his former partnership with the late England Dan, current bands with no original members, his very loyal fan base and his fellow mellow rockers as they get ready to bring "Rock The Dock" to Englewood, NJ for a night of some of the greatest adult contemporary and easy listening tunes ever created.
(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) presents Broadway's Rock of Ages Band on Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 8:00pm. The Electrifying Band from the original Broadway smash hit! The only trademarked group from the original Broadway production recognized as Broadway's Rock of Ages Band®
(AUSTIN, TX) - Since the nation's inception nearly two and a half centuries ago, music has informed, interpreted, and inspired our national identity. To celebrate and explore this remarkable heritage, the LBJ Presidential Library and the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University announce the premiere of the exhibition Music America: Iconic Objects from America's Music History. Opening at the LBJ Presidential Library on Saturday, February 17, during Presidents' Day weekend, the exhibition will be on display through August 11, 2024.
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