Daniel Donato – An Xperience Interview

Daniel Donato – An Xperience Interview – by Rob Smittix.

RRX: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. I appreciate that.

DD: Oh, likewise.

RRX: And how’s life been treating you? What’s been going on?

DD: Everything all at once.

RRX: That’s usually how it works.

DD: Yup.

RRX: Are you currently on tour?

DD: No, I’m home for the time being, which is really a blessing.

RRX: You’ve got a few more days left, I think, before you hit the road, right?

DD: Yeah, but I still do something every day, you know?

RRX: Mhm. So when you’re not on the road and you get a chance to stay at home, how do you fill your days?

DD: I reflect. I read. And I try to create. When I reflect, I spend time with my family, or I’ll spend time with my friends, and I journal. And when I read, I try to do that on the road. But reading has always been something that I’ve loved doing since I was about in the first grade. I try to read every day, and I love doing it here at my house to start my days off. And then I try to create. I try to write songs either by myself here at the cabin, or I go into town and I’ll co-write songs. There are so many great writers that are here in Nashville.

RRX: Oh, for sure.

DD: And I create demos for Cosmic Country or write songs to get pitched to other artists to record on their albums. Things like that. I’m recording a song right now that’s gonna be on the new album, so all kinds of activities.

RRX: Excellent. So I was stalking you online. Were you born and raised in Atlantic City?

DD: Well, I was born in Florida. Humans will say by accident, I guess the spiritual mind will say it’s by design. And then I moved to Jersey when I was a few weeks old, back with my mom, and then a few years later, my whole family moved to Spring Hill.

RRX: Got you, I love Tennessee. I got family down there, but I’m in the Northeast, so I hit Atlantic City way more. Atlantic City is good for musicians, I think, if you’re playing cover shows or you’re doing a tribute to Elvis or something.

DD: Oh yeah, absolutely. The Atlantic City culture really … it imbues my life, really just through my mother, because that’s where she was raised.

RRX: But Nashville seemed like the perfect move for you, and it seemed to have worked out. I know a lot of musicians whose careers were going just fine at home. They moved down to Nashville and were living in their cars and asking their parents for money. So, I mean … it’s probably a cutthroat city when it comes to the talent down there.

DD: Oh, it really is. If you’re in a certain field of work and you live in a hub for that field, that place becomes a reflection of what you put out.

RRX: That makes sense. It seems like you’re really living the life, man, right now. You got a lot going on. You’re still a young man and still got a lot ahead of you, but you’ve accomplished a lot. What do you think in this short lifetime so far, as far as music goes… what do you think (not necessarily accolades) is your biggest accomplishment so far?

DD: I think the biggest one is that I’ve been able to be a part in creating music that has brought truth to people’s lives, and it’s brought authentic experience. It’s allowed them to find a community where they can find genuine friendship. That’s really the biggest thing. I mean … I think that’s probably the most enduring thing that I’ve had an opportunity to be a part of.

RRX: I can definitely respect that. How does one measure success? It’s not always measured in money. And I think from your answer there, you get that.

DD: Yeah, you gotta render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, you know? The money is definitely a real thing. You also gotta render unto God that which is God’s, and the thing with me is … I’ve never really understood why I had such a great drive to play music, but I’ve always been in the music business. I’ve never … knock on wood, I’ve never made money doing anything else. If I wanted to, I guess I could have. I did great in high school. I got into all the colleges I wanted to get into, but there’s just always been the spiritual urge for what I do. Music has always been the greatest stakeholder in my decision-making, but I’ve always had to make money. I started busking on the street initially, and I saw each dollar come in. It wasn’t unlike a direct deposit into my account.

RRX: Exactly.

DD: I’ve always had a very persistent financial discipline with what I do. Just because I’ve had to work for every single penny I’ve ever earned, you know?

RRX: Oh, I do. I mean … it’s the same thing with what I do here. We’re not aligned with any of the corporate conglomerates. We all worked for them before, so we know how easy it is for them. But when I leave at night, I double and triple check the locks because I gotta make sure, man, if we get robbed … We’re not iHeartRadio, we’re not gonna be able to just start over again tomorrow.

DD: Yeah, brother, we’ve been robbed too, several times.

RRX: Unfortunately, that’s part of the life, man. It’s a crazy world out there. But I love the whole cosmic element that you’re adding into everything; the music takes you on a journey. That means a lot.

DD: It really should mean a lot. I think that’s the idea. It’s not really up for any one person to say what that could mean to somebody else. But the thing that I find that’s really significant is that it means something to a lot of people individually, subjectively. But when we all objectively and collectively get into a room together, the relationship to the spirit imbues that word cosmic. We all have a similar unified reaction to it, and that’s righteous … to be a witness to it.

RRX: Well, absolutely, we’re all connected, and it’s really hard to grasp what we are, let alone why we are. I think about this stuff all the time, but I think with the cosmic journey that you’re on, the music can certainly lay a soundtrack for us.

DD: Oh, there we go. Nothing better than some music to help you wander through the existential, right?

RRX: Precisely!

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