Daniel Donato and his band Cosmic Country took Pelham, TN’s underground venue, The Caverns, by sheer musical force on Friday and Saturday for his Camp Cosmic mini-festival. The Nashville-based psych-country firebrand turned in two nights of wild fretboard pyrotechnics, multiple debuts, and a couple special guests to boot over the weekend and under the surface.
Throughout his two nights underground, Donato bounced countless licks off the walls of the cave. Both nights featured nods to the setting itself, with tunes like “Working In A Coal Mine” by Lee Dorsey, “The Cave” by Johnny Paycheck, “I’m An Old Chunk Of Coal”, and “Diamond in the Rough”.
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country – “Workin’ Man Blues” (Merle Haggard), “Fox on the Run” (Tony Hazzard), “Blame the Train” – 4/11/25
Donato also honored outlaw country trailblazers like Johnny Cash (“Big River“), Waylon Jennings (“Where Corn Don’t Grow“), George Jones (“White Lightning”), and Merle Haggard (“Workin’ Man Blues”). A psychedelic version of “Ghost Riders In The Sky” by Stan Jones was one of the highlights of the weekend as well. That said, Donato and company found plenty of chances to share standout examples of their own growing catalog of originals.
Across four sets (and two encores), the band rarely took its foot off the gas. Whether it was for tunes like “Dance in the Desert” or the epic “Sugar Leg Rag”, drummer Will “Bronco” Clark pushed the pace with precision and determination. Bassist Will “Mustang” McGee had multiple jaw-dropping moments where he took the lead and sent powerful waves of low-end force and frequency through the crowd. Multi-instrumentalist Nathan “Sugar Legg” Aronowitz (keyboards, vocals, and guitar) was as astonishing and revelatory as ever. His leads weren’t just breathers for Donato; they nearly stole the show.
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country – Honky Tonk Night Time Man (Merle Haggard) > Broadside Ballad > Hangman’s Reel (Traditional) – 4/12/25
Donato also shared the spotlight with the weekend’s opening acts, bluegrass upstarts Mountain Grass Unit, who sat in with the band during Friday’s encore, and banjoist Willow Osborne, who helped close out Saturday’s show. And he joined Water Tower for late-night jams in the festival campgrounds.
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Check out a collection of photos and fan-shot videos from Camp Cosmic below. Scroll down to view the setlists from both nights.
Donato will return to the stage later this week at Shell Daze in Memphis, TN and has a number of upcoming tour dates including festival appearances at Bonnaroo, All Good Now, High Sierra Music Festival, and more, plus a run with Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band and a show with The String Cheese Incident at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
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Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country – Camp Cosmic 2025 [Video Playlist]
[Video: Lefty Rodriguez]
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country – “Pairie Spin” – 4/12/25
[Video: knockomatic]
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country — The Caverns — Pelham, TN — 4/11/25 — Full Video
Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country — The Caverns — Pelham, TN — 4/12/25 — Full Video
Setlist: Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country | The Caverns | Pelham, TN | 4/11/25
Set 1: Workin’ Man Blues (Merle Haggard), Fox on the Run (Tony Hazzard), Blame the Train, Translation, White Lightning (George Jones), The Cave (Johnny Paycheck) (FTP) > Going Down the Road Feeling Bad (Traditional), Down Bedford
Set 2: Working in the Coal Mine (Lee Dorsey) (FTP) > Sunshine in the Rain (Strange Presence), Ride On, See Through, Lose Your Mind > Waymore’s Blues (Waylon Jennings) > Mystery Train (Little Junior’s Blue Flames), Cosmic Girl (Jamiroquai) (FTP), Luck of the Draw > Sugar Leg Rag
Encore: Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms (traditional) (with The Mountain Grass Unit), Big River (Johnny Cash) (with The Mountain Grass Unit)
Setlist: Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country | The Caverns | Pelham, TN | 4/12/25
Set 1: Honky Tonk Night Time Man (Merle Haggard) > Broadside Ballad > Hangman’s Reel (Traditional) >’Til the Daylight > Half Moon Night, Cosmic Country Gardens, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, (Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys), Rose in a Garden, Doggone Cowboy (Marty Robbins) > Ghost Riders In The Sky (Instrumental), Prairie Spin
Set 2: Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident) (FTP), I’m An Old Chunk Of Coal (FTP), Diamond in the Rough, Boogie Man (Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant), Chore, Sugar Shack, Where Corn Don’t Grow (Waylon Jennings), Faded Lovin’, Lady Justice, Dance in the Desert
Encore: Riding That Midnight Train, (FTP) (with Willow Osborne), Foggy Mountain Top (Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs & The Foggy Mountain Boys) (with Willow Osborne)