Daniel Donato Pairs Bob Dylan Bust-Out With Full-Band "Drums" In Pittsburgh [Video]

While it’s been almost 40 years since the famed Dylan & The Dead tour of July 1987, the worlds of the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan collided yet again on Wednesday outside Pittsburgh. At the Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, PA, Daniel Donato paired his first cover of Bob Dylan classic “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with a full-band drum solo—or to use the Deadhead parlance, “Drums”.

Donato and his bandmates Nathan “Sugar Leg” Aronowitz (keyboards), Will “Mustang” McGee (bass), and Will “Bronco” Clark saved some of the best for last on Wednesday. Returning to the stage for the encore, the band dished out its first cover of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” since May 16th, 2024, a gap of 114 shows according to DanielBase. Donato took lead vocals on the amphetamine-driven motormouth Dylan cover from 1965’s groundbreaking Breaking it All Back Home while Sugar Leg supplied harmonica. Following a bit of Donato’s chicken pickin’, Bronco took the floor for a drum solo that must have looked like so much fun that it enticed the rest of the band to join on percussion.

The band still had one more trick up its sleeve, ending the show with its first-ever take on “Six Days on the Road”, made famous by David Dudley in 1963. Though the song left the charts over half a century ago, the Mr. Smalls crowd still gave it a warm reception from the opening line, “Well, I pulled outta Pittsburgh / A-rollin’ down that Eastern seaboard.” In addition to serving as a friendly cowboy hat-tip to the local yinzers, “Six Days on the Road” perfectly summed up Donato and company’s relentless dedication to touring—playing over 148 shows in 110 cities last year according to JamBase.

Watch Daniel Donato cover Bob Dylan and more outside Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The band’s tour continues this weekend with shows in Washington, D.C. and Raleigh, NC before Donato joins Grahame Lesh & Friends to play the opening weekend at the new Garcia’s Chicago. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates on Donato’s website.

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country — “Along The Trail” — 3/12/25

[Video: keaton6921]

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country — “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (Bob Dylan) > Full Drum Solo — 3/12/25

[Video: keaton6921]

Setlist: Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country | Mr. Smalls Theatre | Millvale, PA | 3/12/25

Set One: If I Lose (The Stanley Brothers), Love’s Gonna Live Here (Buck Owens), Fox On The Run (Tony Hazzard), Darlin’ Cory (Traditional), ‘Til The Daylight, Translation, Walkin’ The Dog (Rufus Thomas), Running Gun (Jim Glaser, Tompall Glaser) > Rose In A Garden, The Gold Rush (Tony Rice)
Set Two: Along The Trail, Gotta Get Southbound > Freedom Jazz Dance (Eddie Harris), Got My Mojo Workin’ (Preston Foster) [1], Lady Justice, Another Dimension, Free Wheelin’ [2], Lose Your Mind > Waymore’s Blues (Waylon Jennings) > Mystery Train (Junior Parker)
Encore: Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan) [3] [4] > Drums [5], Six Days on the Road (Earl Green, Carl Montgomery) [6]

[1] Nathan Aronowitz On Lead Vocals, Guitar, And Keys (Song)
[2] Will McGee On Lead Vocals (Song)
[3] Nathan Aronowitz On Harmonica And Keys (Song)
[4] LTP 5/16/24 (114 shows ago)
[5] All four members played drums, first time done
[6] FTP