Daniel Donato, identified for his distinctive “cosmic nation” model, is sort of content material along with his new album, Horizons.

“I’m as happy as I will be with it,” he says. “The satisfaction comes extra from what occurs within the second versus what will get crystallized on the album.”

Like his earlier efforts, Horizons incorporates his mix of guitar-driven originals in prolonged jam-style contexts, punctuated along with his “excessive lonesome” vocals, although numerous performances honor basic nation sounds of the previous.

He performs amplified and acoustic components along with his Cosmic Nation sidemen, sometimes assisted by Nashville metal guitarist Trent Resnick.

An early hit by one among Donato’s old-school heroes led him to write down the earthy honky-tonker “Higher Deal Blues.” The tune, he says, “…was just about impressed by Buck’s (1960) single ‘Excuse Me (I Assume I’ve Obtained A Heartache),’ a fantastic Buck tune.”

“Translation” displays Donato’s mastery of James Burton’s well-known chicken-pickin’ approach and accommodates overtones of two different legends.

“Once I first came upon (Burton) performed with Elvis, I questioned why he by no means performed with Bob Dylan.” He created the tune as “A mix of the 2. The rhythm is form of danceable in a Jerry Reed sense. Plenty of Reed’s songs about love had a fantastic backbeat to them.”

Donato’s exact selecting is impressed by Brent Mason.

“You gotta choose each single observe as a result of there’s not loads of legato taking place. That’s additionally a Hank Garland factor. I at all times liked that model. It jogged my memory of a pedal metal, Buddy Emmons, very staccato sound.”

He blazes his method by means of “Broadside Ballads.” With excessive register passages and double-stops, he’s fast to credit score the up to date Nashville guitarists who impressed him.

“Plenty of the double stops, excessive notes, and single observe concepts got here from (Nashville sideman) James Mitchell. He’s actually solely identified amongst guitar gamers, and he’s top-of-the-line ever taking part in Tele. One among my mentors once I was growin’ up.

“There’s loads of guys like James, Rod Riley, and Danny Muhammad – gamers who helped me once I was 15, 16, 17 years previous. Johnny Hiland, as nicely. These guys are unsung heroes of the Telecaster.”

Born in Florida, Donato’s household briefly lived in New Jersey earlier than shifting to Nashville. Guitar was round from the beginning.

“My grandfather performed folks music and my dad performed rock,” he says.

At 12, “Guitar Hero” additional impressed his curiosity, as did his dad’s rock heroes. Delving deeper, he gravitated to the long-lasting Robert’s Western World on Broadway in Nashville. The previous house of Sho-Bud Guitars, Robert’s grew to become an oasis for old-school sounds within the ’90s. He performed there with numerous teams together with the Don Kelly Band.

“Robert’s was the one place downtown that will rent bands that would play Western swing, conventional nation, honky-tonk, and bluegrass. It grew to become the house of conventional nation, so all of us performed the identical songs.”

One other Nashville hangout was a well-known bluegrass/Americana membership.

“I grew up on the Station Inn,” he says. “Plenty of guys who performed at Robert’s in the course of the day performed the Station at night time.” There, he says, he discovered “…that basic Doc Watson model, the Merle Travis model and the Clarence White model.”

Donato’s gear selections have developed.

“My first good electrical was my dad’s previous Strat. The primary good Telecaster I had was one among my dad and I made – a Danny Gatoon-style. Johnny Hiland gave me a fantastic Music Man Axis – that was my first humbucker guitar.”

His major electrical is his signature DGX Epoch, made in Connecticut by Dan Nealsey. He typically makes use of a Fender Customized Store Tele based mostly on an early-60s mannequin.

“I ended up utilizing my Tele for lots of tracks [on Horizon], however for the lead tracks I used the Epoch.” He recorded with an previous black-front Princeton Reverb.

“My pals at XTS do my pedalboards and my entire rig. They do Bob Weir, Keith City, every kind of massive names. “

Since age 18, Donato has endorsed Ernie Ball strings and makes use of a 1.5mm choose. His acoustics embody customized mannequin by a Birmingham luthier, his grandfather’s ’64 D-18, and a later HD-28.

Donato has completed an album of basic nation covers achieved within the cosmic model and has two dwell albums coming – one recorded on the Ryman, the opposite at Robert’s.

Does he really feel he’s come a good distance from “Guitar Hero?”

“Sure and No”, he laughs. – Wealthy Kienzle VG

This text initially appeared in VG’s October 2025 difficulty. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.