Photos: Willow Knight/Brett Porter

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country literally made it rain Thursday night at Putnam Place. Hartstone Productions added another sold out show to their legendary bookings, resulting in the collective body heat condensing and falling back down from the ceiling. For one night, downtown Saratoga was hootin’ and hollerin’ to a mix of both originals and classic country bangers.

Going from 8:00 to 11:30 p.m, Cosmic Country blew the doors off the place, no opener billed, no opener needed. 

Donato and company blend elements of jam into a mix of classic and contemporary country sounds, first embracing the yee and the haw in 2019 with his Starlight EP and eventually coalesced with the full band in 2023 with their album Reflector.

Weeks if not months before the show, I told anyone who’d listen that this would be the first and last time he plays at Putnam Place, and the sold out crowd is a good indicator I was right. “It’s a great time to be making music,” he would say before closing out the show. Donato closed the night out with a cover of Bob Dylan’s The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo). “It’s a great time to be making music,” he would say before closing out the show.

Setlist:

Set 1: Along the Trail, Lose Your Mind>Waymores>Mystery Train, Guilty Jubilee, Better Deal Blues, Sweet Tasting Tennessee, and See Through.

Set 2: consisted of Blame the Train, Lay Low Lucy, About the Angels>Big Iron, I’m so Lonesone I Could Cry, Workin’ Man’s Blues, Cornerstone, Tell Me I’m a Lover, Gotta Get Southbound, and For a Long Time>Chore

Encore: The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo.)

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