By Robert Duguay

The rising Nashville artist on genre-blending, spiritual energy onstage, and a full-circle live album.

It’s the summertime and, along with the heat and the humidity, there’s the welcome arrival of New England’s music festival season. A bunch of them have been taking place all over the region during the past few weekends. The Levitate Music & Arts Festival, a gathering curated by the local surf shop of the same name, is coming up on July 18 and 19 at the Marshfield Fairgrounds. This edition is stacked, once again, with the likes of Alanis Morissette, Ziggy Marley, Sammy Rae & The Friends, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Trombone Shorty & New Orleans Avenue, The Elovaters, Caamp, and many other notables. One performer in the lineup will be the Nashville-based musician Daniel Donato and his backing band, Cosmic Country. They will be performing on the Style Stage during Levitate’s second day, at 2:20 p.m.

I talked to Donato about how he crafted his particular sound, what his soon-to-be-released live record meant to him, and what it feels like to return to Levitate.

The Arts Fuse: You play a distinctive fusion of old-school country music and psychedelic rock. How did you go about creating this approach?

Nashville-based cosmic country singer-songwriter Daniel Donato. Photo: courtesy of Red Light Management

Daniel Donato: I’ve always gone with my gut and my intuition, and they have driven how I express myself through my music. Cosmic Country is really just an amalgamation of who I am, it’s who I am as a person, it’s what I’m influenced by, and it reflects my psychological tempo. I’m a very technical person, especially with how I speak, so I play guitar that way and sometimes I write songs that way. But I can also be very emotional, so my music is really just a reflection of who I am and the sensibilities in my band.

AF: You have just released a live video for the song “Blame the Train.” The track is on an upcoming live record, Ryman to Robert’s, which was recorded at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. What was it like performing at such a historic venue?

Donato: The experience felt really blessed. That particular evening of music was a goal of a dream I’ve had since I was 14 years old. It was a vision I had at a very young age: it came to me in a very succinct way. No one’s done that before, going to the Ryman Auditorium and then going back to the honky-tonks where it all started for them. An artist would have to be from Nashville to do that — after paying their dues. There are several artists who have paid their dues on Broadway in Nashville and they’ve gone on to the big stages across the country and across the world. But there isn’t a record that memorializes a full-circle moment, which is what this record does. If you have no history, then you have no destination. I wanted to memorialize the history that inspired the birth of Cosmic Country.

AF: What are the differences that come when performing for a live album and putting together a studio recording?

Donato: There’s a relativity that ties it all together, but they are very different. I prefer the live experience, and the reason I say that is because I feel more naturally expressive in that environment. I know a number of artists and musicians who are more naturally expressive in the studio environment, but, to me, I lean towards the former, probably because that’s what I started doing before I recorded any music. I really love playing to and with an audience — when there are more souls in the room you can get more soul into the music.

AF: The dynamic between the performer and the audience can be a beautiful thing to witness. Speaking of this relationship, what are your thoughts on being part of this year’s Levitate Music & Arts Festival?

Donato: I’m psyched to be playing Levitate again. It’s a great gathering and they have a diversified portfolio of different frequencies of music. Cosmic Country does very well in environments like that because it is a genre that is an amalgamation of several genres. The ethos that powers the Cosmic Country sound is similar to the ethos that powers the Levitate aesthetic, the way the festival is curated. I’m honored to be there.

AF: What should listeners expect from your live record Ryman to Robert’s, which is coming out on August 28?

Donato: I don’t think anybody should expect anything more than live Cosmic Country. It’s our first time releasing, officially, a live album. Our fans know what we sound like, but for people who aren’t our fans — particularly those who are checking us out for the first time — I hope they experience joy and enthusiasm. The latter comes from the word “enthuse” and the root of that word is “theos,” which comes from divinity. When music inspires enthusiasm, it has a heavenly overtone to it. I hope people hear and feel that energy.

Rob Duguay is an arts & entertainment journalist based in Providence who is originally from Shelton, CT. Outside of The Arts Fuse, he has also written for DigBoston, Aquarian Weekly, Providence Journal, Newport Daily News, Worcester Magazine, New Noise Magazine, Manchester Ink Link, and numerous other publications. While covering mostly music, he has also written about film, TV, comedy, theater, visual art, food, drink, sports, and cannabis.