By Sydney Leyerle

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

Cosmic country music will be making an appearance this year at the Black Swamp Arts Festival.

On Friday at 10 p.m. Daniel Donato will be performing with his band on the Main Stage during the art festival. Donato performs what he calls cosmic country, which is music that he said reflects life through truth and soul.

Donato plays guitar and has been doing so since he was only 12 years old. When he was just 14, he began playing for money on the streets of Nashville, which he said was encouraged by his father.

Since then, Donato said his interest and love for music has continued to grow and has helped him become who he is.

“It is the vehicle of me discovering myself and expressing myself on the adventure of my life,” Donato said.

Not only has Donato found himself through music, he said it has also allowed him to communicate with other people. Unlike words and languages, Donato said music is a form of communication that all cultures can understand.

“Music is another form of communication and it actually, in just notes alone, in rhythms alone, everybody understands that,” Donato said. “That’s actually the one unified language that all cultures share on this planet.”

Using music to communicate with others is how Donato said he hopes to make the world beautiful. To him, music is the talent that allows him to bring something good to the world.

“It is the means in which I can bring truth, beauty and goodness into this world, and where I can do the bidding of whatever it is that gave me the idea to even do that,” Donato said.

Along with bringing truth and goodness, Donato said he hopes people will leave his concerts feeling as if they have seen something that is real, challenging and worth remembering. He said people tend to see things such as music as unreal, and he wants them to instead see that his music and its meaning is real.

“I just want somebody to have an experience that challenges what they think is possible and that they can remember it forever in a truthful, beautiful way,” Donato said.

Donato performs all around the country and because of that gets to travel to many new places which he said allows him to learn more about the world and himself.

“You get to experience the nuance of how individualized a lot of places are, and then you get to reaffirm yourself of the meanings and values that are essentially transpersonal from place to place,” Donato said.

This year will be Donato’s first time performing at the Black Swamp Art Festival.

More information about Donato and his music can be found at danieldonato.com.

Daniel Donato

Daniel Donato will perform at the Black Swamp Arts Festival on Friday at 10 p.m. on the Main Stage.