Somebody must be excited about A Complete Unknown hitting theaters on Christmas. Last night, Daniel Donato led a guest-filled Bob Dylan celebration in Nashville featuring a complete performance of 1969’s Nashville Skyline. The show at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville included appearances by Duane Trucks (Widespread Panic), Kris Myers (Umphrey’s McGee), Cris Jacobs, and more, kicking off Donato’s two-night Cosmic Country Christmas Jam year-ending run.
Donato invited plenty of Nashville’s finest to this holiday gathering, including guitarists Kyser George (Shadowgrass), Guthrie Trapp, and Dee White; vocalist Caylee Hammack; drummer Jon Radford in addition to Trucks and Myers; and pedal steel guitarist Jordan Molacek who played the entire three-hour show with DDCC. Before diving into the Dylan set, Daniel and his bandmates Nathan “Sugar Leg” Aronowitz, Will “Mustang” McGee, and Will Clark loaded the first set with plenty of their psychedelic-infused twang.
Workhorse “Sunshine in the Rain (Strange Presence)” kicked off the show following a hat-tip from the band, setting off a mix of covers and originals. After “Lady Justice”, Donato perused the back pages of American folk music history with the traditional “Sittin’ On Top of the World”, his instrumental reading of “Ghost Riders in the Sky”, “Long Black Veil”, and Hank Williams‘ “I Saw the Light”. The focal point of the first set was a deep dive into reliable jam vehicle “Weathervanes” which segued into Irving Berlin‘s “Blue Skies” before a thrilling reprisal of “Weathervanes”.
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country — “Sunshine In The Rain (Strange Presence)” [Pro-Shot] — 12/13/24
As the band shuffled back onstage with Duane Trucks in tow and Vacation‘s “Holiday Road” blaring on the speakers, Donato addressed the crowd. “There is a beautiful album that was cut in Nashville about 55 years ago by Bob Dylan, called Nashville Skyline. And we’ve decided to play the entire album here tonight.” The soft-spoken Donato revealed he was inspired to honor Nashville Skyline after watching the man himself perform on the very same Brooklyn Bowl stage nine months ago on the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour.
Donato and company crisscrossed the album’s tracklist, starting with track #2 “Nashville Skyline Rag” followed by track #6 “One More Night” as they ticked off all ten songs one by one. Set two wasn’t Dylan exclusive either, as Tony Rice‘s “The Gold Rush”, Johnny Cash‘s “Big River”, and Rufus Thomas‘ “Walkin’ the Dog” found their way into the second half of the show, which concluded with a left-field cover of The Doobie Brothers‘ “Long Train Runnin'” sung by Kyris Myers. With such a deep roster of talented artists—many of them venerated session musicians—Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country was able to emulate the rich studio sound Dylan found at Columbia Studio A in the winter of 1969.
Related: How To Stream Daniel Donato’s Guest-Filled Cosmic Country Christmas Jam
It was a fitting choice that stylistic boundary pusher Donato covered Nashville Skyline. In 1969, the United States was enduring a period of intense social upheaval regarding race and the Vietnam War, and Bob Dylan—the begrudgingly crowned “voice of his generation”—adopted a style that, until that time, had been synonymous with conservative values. The decision was the latest unprecedented turn in Dylan’s long career of bucking expectations. Though a new country sound was already emanating from Bakersfield, CA with acts like The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Dylan went straight into the belly of the beast and reclaimed Nashville for the next generation of songwriters. Nashville Skyline raised the public consciousness of what “country music” could be, and that definition became even more flexible as the decades went on—leading all the way to Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country.
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Setlist: Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country | Brooklyn Bowl Nashville | Nashville, TN | 12/13/24
Set One: Sunshine In The Rain (Strange Presence) [1], Lady Justice [1], Sittin’ On Top Of The World (Traditional) [1] [2] [3], Ghost Riders In The Sky (Instrumental) (Stan Jones) [1] [2] [3], Long Black Veil (Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin) [1] [3] [4], I Saw The Light (Hank Williams) [1] [3] [4], Weathervane [1] [3] > Blue Skies (Irving Berlin) [1] [3] > Weathervane (Reprise) [1] [3], Why You Been Gone So Long [1] [3]
Set Two: Nashville Skyline Rag (Bob Dylan) (FTP) [1] [3] [5], One More Night (Bob Dylan) (FTP) [1] [3] [5] > The Gold Rush (Tony Rice) [1] [3] [5], To Be Alone With You (Bob Dylan) [1] [3] [6] [7], Peggy Day (Bob Dylan) (FTP) [1] [3] [6] [7] [8], Walkin’ The Dog (Rufus Thomas) [1] [3] [6] [7], Big River (Johnny Cash) [1] [3] [6] [7], Lay, Lady, Lay (Bob Dylan) [1] [6] [9], I Threw It All Away (Bob Dylan) (FTP) [1] [6] [9], Country Pie (Bob Dylan) [1] [6] [10], Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) (Bob Dylan) [1] [6] [10], Girl From The North Country (Bob Dylan) (FTP) [1] [6] [11], Tell Me That It Isn’t True (Bob Dylan) (FTP) [1] [6] [11], Tonight I’ll be Staying Here With You (Bob Dylan) (FTP) [1] [6] [12] [13], Long Train Runnin’ (The Doobie Brothers) [1] [6] [14], Happy Birthday (Traditional)
[1] Jordan Molacek On Pedal Steel (Song)
[2] Guthrie Trapp On Guitar (Song)
[3] Duane Truck On Drums (Song)
[4] Dee White On Vocals And Guitar (Song)
[5] Kyser George On Guitar (Song)
[6] Jon Radford On Drums (Song)
[7] JD Simo On Vocals And Guitar (Song)
[8] Nathan Aronowitz On Lead Vocals (Song)
[9] Will McGee On Lead Vocals (Song)
[10] Cris Jacobs On Lead Vocals And Guitar (Song)
[11] Caylee Hammack On Lead Vocals (Song)
[12] Will Clark On Vocals (Song)
[13] Kris Myers On Drums (Song)
[14] Kris Myers On Vocals And Drums (Song)
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