Daniel Donato Welcomes 18 Guests and Covers Bob Dylan’s ‘Nashville Skyline’ in Full at Cosmic Country Christmas Jam in Nashville

Photo Credit: ​​Dino Perrucci​​​​

With the holidays now just days away, Daniel Donato gifted his fans a festive year-ending series over the weekend with the highly-anticipated return of his Christmas Jam. For the latest installment of his beloved annual celebration, the cosmic country dynamo carried on his tradition of roping in a cast of Nashville, Tenn’s session stars for a heaping serving of covers and originals alike. Onstage at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville on Dec. 13 and 14, the guitar virtuoso brought his seasonal run to new heights with a total of 18 esteemed guest stars, an expansive tribute to Bob Dylan and more, ushering in the holidays Music City-style.

Donato set off his 2024 Christmas Jam with the recent fan favorite “Sunshine In The Rain (Strange Presence),” which he amplified with pedal steel from special guest Jordan Molacek. Molacek stayed on for the following “Lady Justice” and the entirety of the three-hour first show, and guitarist Guthrie Trapp and Widespread Panic drummer Duane Trucks joined the band’s ranks as Donato moved into a string of classic country covers, including “Sittin’ On Top of the Word” and the band’s longtime instrumental treatment of “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”

Trapp rotated out for vocalist and guitarist Dee White on “Long Black Veil” and “I Saw The Light,” then Trucks and Molacek bolstered the centerpiece of the first set, which slotted Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” into a ripping jam on “Weathervane.” When the dust had settled after this medley, the band and its guests closed out the first of four holiday sets with Mickey Newbury’s “Why You Been Gone So Long.”

When Donato, Trucks and the bandleader’s trusty backing trio of keyboardist Nathan “Sugar Legg” Aronowitz, bassist Will “Mustang” McGee and percussionist Will “Bronco” Clark returned to the stage, the ace axeman took a moment to introduce the surprising program for the rest of night one.  “There is a beautiful album that was cut in Nashville about 55 years ago by Bob Dylan, called Nashville Skyline,” Donato shared, “and we’ve decided to play that entire album here tonight.”

Through set two, the band flipped through the complete tracklist from the landmark album with even more guests, working in a fistful of other exciting covers along the way. The ensemble set out on this endeavor with debuts of “Nashville Skyline Rag” and “One More Night,” then turned to Tony Rice’s “The Gold Rush” (all three of which featured Shadowgrass member Kyser George). Next, Jon Radford joined on drums and storied singer-songwriter J.D. Simo signed on for Dylan’s “To Be Alone with You,” the live debut of “Peggy Day” and Rufus Thomas’ “Walking the Dog,” which gave the group a chance to stretch out and exhibit their funk chops on the Muscle Shoals essential before Johnny Cash’s classic “Big River.”

More guests and Dylan debuts continued through the end of night one, highlighted by appearances from Cris Jacobs and Caylee Hammack and first-time treatments of iconic tracks like “Girl from the North Country” and “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” which open and close Dylan’s 1969 album. To punctuate night one, Donato busted out his second-ever cover of The Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Runnin’” alongside Umphrey’s McGee drummer Kris Myers, delivering a thrilling finale that left the Nashville crowd wanting more.

While Donato did not present another closely-themed set for night two of his Cosmic Country Christmas Jam, the artist did raise the stakes with a litany of special guests that somehow surpassed the excitement of night one. Through two sets and 25 tracks, the band hosted a total of 10 sit-ins from distinguished artists of the Nashville circuit.

Donato and his Cosmic Country band opened the first set with live staples “Half Moon Night,” “Blame the Train” and “Gotta Get Southbound,” then switched gears by welcoming banjo virtuoso Willow Osborne for debut takes on the bluegrass traditional “Reuben’s Train” and Django Reinhardt’s “Minor Swing,” followed by the Grateful Dead’s essential “Dark Hollow.” Peerless harmonica expert Mickey Raphael–who recently staged his debut headline show at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville–sat-in next, complimenting treatments of “Drivin’ Nails in My Coffin” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” before appearing alongside bluegrass torchbearer Ronnie McCoury for first-time covers of “Long Lonesome Road,” “Foggy Mountain Top” and the Dead’s “Loser.”

The band brought the first set to a close by bridging original “Broadside Ballad” into the traditional “Hangman’s Reel” with some help from Trucks. For the second set, Donato and his ensemble performed almost exclusively covers, dropping classic renditions of Merle Haggard’s “Working Man Blues,” Marty Robbins’ “Big Iron” and the Allman Brothers Band’s “Southbound” next to debuts of Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis” and Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Snake Farm.” To bring the celebratory energy to new heights, the band continued to welcome sit-ins from McCoury, Trucks, Radford, Jesse Lee Jones and Tim McDonald.

The crowning achievement of night two was the penultimate song in the series, when Donato tapped Maggie Rose, Quinn Sullivan and Peter Levin for a towering take on the Allmans’ “Whipping Post.” After this ripping dream-team jam, Donato closed with a song of his own, staging an exuberant “Dance in the Desert” with Trucks and Radford.

In all, Donato’s 2024 Cosmic Country Christmas celebration was doubtlessly one of the artist’s most surprising and inventive shows to date. Fans who missed out on the in-person experience can get an inside look at the show with the professionally shot livestreams on nugs.fm, which are available to re-watch now.

Donato will return to the stage in February to kick off a winter/spring 2025 tour. For tickets and more information, visit danieldonato.com.

Find the full setlists from Cosmic Country Christmas 2024 at danielbase.com.