Daniel Donato Covers the Grateful Dead with Members of Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, photo by Bill Kelly

Last night, July 8, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country cruised into Manteo, N.C., for the second performance in their highly anticipated co-headline Summer Tour with Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band. After setting off the 14-stop series in King of Prussia, Pa., on Sunday, the three-band caravan raced down the coast to a follow-up at Roanoke Island Festival Park, where Donato’s tried and true band of kaleidoscopic country-jam masters welcomed the first live collaborations of the run. With a cast of three adventurous, genre-bending and virtuosic outfits on the road together, on-stage crossings were bound to happen, and Tuesday’s sit-ins were a promising sample of jams to come. 

Donato and his band tore into the main portion of their performance with the Reflector favorite “Faded Lovin’,” which primed the performers for their live debut of the new original “Guilty Jubilee.” After this pleasant surprise, the bandleader handed over the spotlight to keyboardist Nathan “Sugar Leg” Aronowitz, who helmed “Dance in the Desert” before a segued combo of “Rose in a Garden” and “Cosmic Country Gardens.” A red-hot treatment of George Jones’ “White Lightning” built speed into an electifying sequence of “Broadside Ballad” and the traditional “Hangman’s Reel” to close out the concise but action-packed set.

To cap off the evening, Donato and his backing trio returned to the stage for an encore supported by Yonder Mountain String Band mandolinist Nick Piccininni and Railroad Earth pedal steel pro Mike Robinson. Together, the impromptu supergroup lit up Donato’s seventh all-time cover of Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” in the style of The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, a noted North Star for the Nashville axeman’s distinctive sound. As a final thank you to the fans, Donato and his collaborators set into a series of two Grateful Dead classics, shutting down the show on a high note with “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” and “Jack-A-Roe.”

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth will return to the stage tomorrow, July 10 at Atlanta’s Tabernacle, then proceed through ten further shared bills across the country before a July 26 finale in Eugene, Ore. Find tickets and more information at danieldonato.com/tour.