Horizons (Retrace Music) is another vast experiment in warm-hearted all-inclusiveness from Daniel Donato and his Cosmic Country compadres. This one claims classic C&W as its stylistic foundation, layering on elements of bluegrass, rock, jammy psychedelia and even funk. The intertwined DayGlo bungee holding it all together is Donato’s spiritual curiosity and his guitar—as versatile and fluid as ever. All 15 tracks on Horizons were fleshed out on stages around the country before the New Jersey-born, Nashville-raised artist headed into the studio with producer Vance Powell (White Stripes, Chris Stapleton). This is his second go with Powell, who also recorded 2023’s Reflector.
A fixture on the Nashville scene since his mid-teens, Donato is never at a loss for words when it comes to his passion for music of all kinds—especially when it comes from the true country legends. Here’s his take on Horizons.
—Hobart Rowland
1) “Blame The Train”
“No one had train songs like Jimmie Rodgers. It also seems to me that several women broke his heart, and he took this shadow and turned it into a light that shines decades later. I love trains—and I love Jimmie Rodgers. His spirit is in this song.”
2) “Sunshine In The Rain”
“In the strangest of places, if seen right, something is waiting to reveal itself to you. What you’re seeking is seeking you and has likely already found you—even if you don’t know yet. Amid all these dualities, keep faith and keep seeing while seeking.”
3) “Better Deal Blues”
“This one is inspired by the great Buck Owens … He’s late, but his music is always right on time. I love that the socks don’t match with his music. It sounds so cheerful, happy and hopeful. But on the lyrical side of the story, there’s a woman doing him wrong by lying, cheating and then some. For the times this has happened to me, it’s nice to lean on the Buckaroos’ style to tell my own story.”
4) “Along The Trail”
“No one mortal knows the future … the panorama of potentials throughout space and time. The only way to reconcile this is to take the adventure of life, hit the ground runnin’ and follow the signs. There’s a duality to which any one person will venture along this trail back home—and that’s either faithfully or unfaithfully. For those seeking and adventuring faithfully, the lyrics in this song are for you. I’m with you as a friend, in spirit, along the trail back home.”
5) “About The Angels”
“The idea for this song came from my father, a very spiritual man. Throughout every moment of my life, he’s served as the mortal vessel for the values that exist outside space and time, those accessible through service and faith. He and I were talking about a rather heavy topic, and he said, ‘If what they say about the angels is true … ’ I instantly had the music and story for this piece of music deposit itself into my mind. I’m most grateful to my father and whichever angel helped me pen this.”
6) “Yonder”
“All the greats allude to the high desire of going to Yonder. Marty Robbins, Woody Guthrie, John Steinbeck and one notable boatbuilder from a few thousand years ago passed through this land spreading the best news I’ve ever heard with my two ears. They all relate, sing and speak of this place. I love the idea of a place that we all collectively believe in, want to go to and isn’t geographically accessible. That doesn’t mean it isn’t real. It means the material might not be the reality that’s most primarily real. I hope I can get there.”
7) “Translation”
“The road is long, and the universe is even longer. A lot of words we say in certain episodes of life might be transient, but the glistening gold throughline that’s love must be maintained. There’s nothing more real to convey than authentic, living love. A lot of words are said—and a lot gets lost in translation—but love is in every step and every breath, even if it can’t be conveyed with words.”
8) “Broadside Ballad”
“(Infamous river boatman) Mike Fink was a real man. Through the persistent honky-tonkin’ beat of this song, there’s a cautionary tale to his story. Just like all the other bullies and braggarts, Mike had little—and even that was taken away from him. All is revealed.”
9) “Hangman’s Reel”
“This is a traditional Irish fiddle tune. The luck and the jigs of the Irish run through my blood, and I wanted to present something that’s more than 100 years old in a form that can excite a sold-out Red Rocks Amphitheatre enough to dance and celebrate—because even the hangman needs to get his due.”
10) “Prairie Spin”
“Way back when along the old Chisholm Trail, cowhands had long days and long nights of work and adventure for months on end. A common sight amid the chaos of nature were electrical micro-storms—and some of the bulls in the herd would actually glow from their horns. When these cowpokes would see this phenomenon, they’d assign some sort of spiritual symbolic value to it. I empathize with their perspective.”
11) “See Through”
“Another song inspired by my father, who was recounting words of prayer he heard from his own father. My grandfather was a reserved and strange man who was very creative and imaginative in engaging with the potentials that lay in front of us in space and time. He’d say, “See through my eyes with me,” and I took that and ran. Where to, I’m unsure. Society needs tangible evidence to qualify anything as real. I agree with this partially—not asymmetrically. Rationally thinking, the realest variables in life are primarily invisible—or see-through—and their effects and secondary fruits are then seen and revealed materially.”
12) “Chore”
“Good reasons are good, but they may crumble to the sea before long. Life itself is indeed unfair. It’s corrupt, with a panorama of misery, mortality and kinetic, ever-changing chaos that will return us to the dust from which we came. That’s also unfair. An eternal miracle is the indwelling, static, never-beginning, never-ending spirit that cosmically consults us personally through each transient episode of living. It can transform us into the phoenix that rises from this dust. The seasons will change the score, but you still must travel the rocky, high waters to the shining shores of Yonder.”
13) “Another Dimension”
“I’ve heard it said that death is simply another moment for the soul. The only way to reconcile this inevitability, for me, is faith in the reciprocity that good seeds, when sowed, deliver the reaping of good fruits. It may be a long while, but life and death surely do know how to take their time.”
14) “Valhalla”
“At one point in my imagination, I started empathizing with the Vikings. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but some of these Vikings truly believed they were aiming at the highest goal possible amid their practice of war, murder and tyranny. That’s confusing to me, and it renders me humble when I wonder whether my aim is in the right place. Along this long, lost highway of playing music in many places very often with little time in between, I also feel like a Viking sometimes.”
15) “Down Bedford”
“‘Been sometimes tragic, been always true/Time works a magic, it shines right through.’” I pray that this lyric can stay with someone for years—and that in the middle of an ordinary or tragic moment of their life, it comes to them and delivers them the fuel to follow the Cosmic Sign. This is the signpost available at every junction and every step in life. It points to sacrifice, service and truth, no matter how confrontational or uncomfortable it may be. It always works a magic, and it shines right through. All is revealed.”
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