Song Review: Grahame Lesh and Daniel Donato - “Cumberland Blues” -> “Jack-A-Roe” -> “Cumberland Blues”

As side projects go, Grahame Lesh and Daniel Donato’s could easily be front-and-center if their first release is any indication.

The former Phil Lesh & Friends bandmates previewed their new setup with an informal, back-patio, duo-acoustic Grateful Dead sandwich that shows their ability to simultaneously look back and move forward.

The songs are played and sung as close to their traditional arrangements as possible with two guitars and two voices. Lesh and Donato have a blend musically and vocally and their mental blend makes itself apparent on the flawless first transition when “Jack-A-Roe” appears, via Lesh, so slickly a listener might think, “I thought this was ‘Cumberland Blues.’”

It was. And soon would be again. But first, Donato plays an insanely fluid solo that would’ve made the elder Lesh beam.

And while the transition back to “Cumberland” is a little bumpy - these two haven’t played an actual gig yet; their first is June 19 in New York - their willingness to release this warts and all bodes well for what’s to come.

Grade card: Grahame Lesh and Daniel Donato - “Cumberland Blues” -> “Jack-A-Roe” -> “Cumberland Blues” - A-

“Cosmic Country” is not only the name of Daniel Donato's band, but also the musical philosophy that drives it —a sonic wanderlust that sees the band effortlessly bounce between classic country, Southern rock, psychedelic jam, and Americana, sometimes within the same song. This new style of country music emerged in Donato's last album, Reflector, and has been further refined on his new release, Horizons.

Co-produced by Donato and Vance Powell (White Stripes, Chris Stapleton), Horizons sets the bar high right out of the gate. Every good country album needs a train song, and Donato delivers with the album's first track, “Blame the Train.” It's one of the more straightforward classic country tracks on the album, and a reminder when he gets experimental later in the album that he has a firm grounding in the classics.

For fans of jam-oriented fare, Donato has plenty for them, too. Clocking in at over 11 and 10 minutes respectively, “Chore” and “Down Bedford” bring the kind of instrumental improvisational skills that will appeal to fans of Phish and Umphrey's McGee. Of the two, “Chore” is the heavier rock track, with its middle third a rock guitar clinic full of fat licks and chops galore. “Down Bedford”, Horizons' closer, is more oriented toward fans of The Grateful Dead, with a blend of folk, rock, and country rhythms. Both are sure to be live favorites in the band's playlist for years to come.

“Better Deal Blues” is a pedal steel-heavy (courtesy of guest Brett Resnick) Laurel Canyon-esque meditation with some of the album's smartest lyrics. “Along the Trail” is a Southern rocker in the style of Little Feat. “Prairie Spin” is a psychedelic slice of rock with some seriously funky bass.

But the album's highlight track is its sole instrumental, “Hangman's Reel.” While clocking in at a comparatively brief five minutes, “Hangman's Reel” holds its own with the lengthier jams. Here, guest fiddler Lillie Mae Rische gets a chance to shine on what is, as the title suggests, the album's most danceable track. Rische's fiddle trades solos with Donato's guitar and Nathanael Aronowitz's piano, passing off leads like they'd been playing together for decades.

Song Review: The String Cheese Incident feat. Daniel Donato - “Blue Sky” (Live, July 19, 2025)

Daniel Donato and Michael Kang sounded like old playing partners when they locked into the twin-guitar riff of “Blue Sky” and took the instrumental section to new heights before laying out the runway for Bill Nershi’s final verse.

Donato on July 19 joined the String Cheese Incident at Red Rocks for the Allman Brothers Band cover. And while the Cheeses are perfectly capable of handling this on their own, thank you very much, Donato brought a lot to the stage.

In addition to his lead, rhythm and harmony guitar work, Donato sung a few lines and his voice proved closer to Dickey Betts’ timbre than Nershi’s. But SCI isn’t Donato’s band so he has to take what he can get and give it to the audience.

Grade card: The String Cheese Incident feat. Daniel Donato - “Blue Sky” (Live - 7/19/25) - A-

Song Review: Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country - “Better Deal Blues”

Gram Parsons would love it.

It is Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country’s “Better Deal Blues,” a song that channels Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds/the Flying Burrito Brothers and brings them into the present with crystal-clear sound that allows the steel to ring, the piano to shine and the rhythm section to pull the old-school music into contemporary times.

The uptempo second single from Horizons (Aug. 22) soundtracks a piece of advice from the singer/guitarist:

Don’t let that bell become your weather/gotta get your love a better deal/there’s only one way to feel better/gotta get your love a better deal, Donato sings.

Following “Broadside Ballad,” “Better Deal Blues” is the sign of an artist growing into his chosen genre, emulating his heroes and setting himself up to eventually expand upon cosmic country music.

Grade card: Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country - “Better Deal Blues” - B

Song Review: Leftover Salmon ft. Daniel Donato - “New Speedway Boogie” (Live, Aug. 2, 2024)

Vince Herman asked the crowd to sing a verse; they responded with the refrain. But perhaps they were just following the Leftover Salmon leader who had troubles of his own with the lyrics.

With electric guitarist Daniel Donato in tow, Salmon on Aug. 2, 2024, was offering its take on Grateful Dead’s “New Speedway Boogie” in New York. Lyrical lapses be damned, the rendition is a musical melting pot of cosmic country and progressive bluegrass as the electric is woven into the acoustic over nine minutes of improvising and simultaneously following the template as Jerry Garcia composed it.

The results, which betray a few in-house mixing issues, have just been released on professional video - a worthwhile diversion despite the glitches therein.

Grade card: Leftover Salmon ft. Daniel Donato - “New Speedway Boogie” (Live - 8/2/24) - B