DANIEL DONATO IS one of the freshest, most exciting young roots guitarists of recent years. He has played hundreds of shows with his Cosmic Country, while also performing the Allman Brothers Band repertoire with Trouble No More, alongside fellow young gun Brandon “Taz” Niederauer. Donato’s growing acclaim has led to sit-ins with luminaries that include Billy Strings, Widespread Panic and, individually, the Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir.
On his new album, (Retrace Music), the 28-year-old Nashville-based guitarist stretches beyond his first two releases, and , with his first full collection of original material. His songs glide effortlesslymusician to be a regular member of the Don Kelley Band at the iconic Nashville honkytonk Robert’s Western World, at age 16. There he mastered playing “super-fast, hard, clean” covers of a wide range of music, performing four hours a night, four nights week. It was a kind of basic training that prepared him to be the road warrior he is today. We caught up with Donato in the midst of his endless tour.
