Daniel Donato - From Wonder Kid to Cosmic Cowboy & His Lost Highway

Today’s guest is as much a philosopher and thinking man as he is a creative force in the world of music. He started busking - which means playing music on the streets for coins - on Broadway in Nashville at  14. Two years previously the only thing he knew about playing guitar was the video game GUITAR HERO. He was good, damn good. Then he heard a Gun’ & Roses song blasing out of a set of speakers and decided to give playing real guitar a try. 

Turns out he was even better at the real thing. On his first day of busking Daniel Donato didn’t make one red penny.  

The next part of the story is one of those storybook kind of tales that seem more fiction than fact,  Daniel is no stranger to the idea that if one is prepared, then that person will capitalize when an opportunity arises. One day he’s walking down the street - 14 year old kid,  guitar case in his hand and a guy from a bar - the bass player from a band that was performing -  waves him in and says “hey kid can you play guitar?”  

The sensation of sound waves blasting into his calves from the amplifier standing on the stage just behind him transformed him forever.

At 16 he became the youngest musician ever to get a regular playing gig at the world famous honky tonk ROBERT’S WESTERN WORLD - on Broadway in Nashville of course - 

Daniel Donato is 26 now, that’s him we’re listening to now. 

several cross country tours, a second album just released, 2,000 performances under his belt….. Some would call him a Master of the Telecaster...referring to the style of Fender guitar he plays, which you see all sorts of country stars play, Merle Haggard, Marty Stuart, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, REAL guitar heroes…

Today’s  conversation with Daniel Donato moves from music to all things  ABOUT LIFE, MOTIVATION, OVERCOMING YOUR FEARS, BREAKING THROUGH THE BARRIERS, ABOUT FOLLOWING THE CORE PATH OF YOUR HEART….WHETHER YOURE A MUSICIAN, DANCER, HITCHHIKER, SHOWER SINGER, HOUSE BUILDER, CAR PAINTER, ENGINEER, AMATUER PILOT….DON’T MATTER….THIS IS ABOUT FOLLOWING YOUR HEART  

Daniel Donato, he calls his brand of music COSMIC COUNTRY

He also has a podcast, called The Lost Highway, HE HAS A NEW ALBUM OUT CALLED  Cosmic Country & Western Songs, released on September 30 of 2021.

Daniel Donato is a lot more than a musician….wise beyond his years, here’s our conversation 

Transcript

Thom Pollard: 0:00

Following is an interview with Daniel Donato of Nashville, Tennessee, musician, artistic force philosopher, social media guru. He looks at the world through a child's eyes but is wise beyond his years. Daniel DiNardo is currently touring the US with his band, and also appears in the Allman Brothers tribute band trouble no more. I'm Thom Pollard. From early on, I wanted to squeeze as much as I could from life by looking for adventure all over the world. As a documentary filmmaker, experience seeker, I basically became a professional adventurer. In tools for nomads, you'll meet inspiring, insightful, passionate people. Nomads like me who are driven by creativity, who have a desire to reveal the answers to life's big questions. That's why today's guest is as much a philosopher and thinking man as he is a creative force in the world of music. He started busking, which means playing music on the streets for coins on Broadway in Nashville at 14. Two years previously, the only thing he knew about playing guitar was the video game Guitar Hero. He was good, damn good. Then he heard a Guns and Roses song blasting out of his speakers and decided to give playing the real guitar a try. Turns out he was even better at the real thing. However, it started in auspiciously. On his first day of busking, Daniel Donato didn't make one penny. The next part of the story is one of those storybook kind of tales that seem more fiction than fact, Daniel is no stranger to the idea that if one is prepared, then that person will capitalize when an opportunity arises. So one day he's walking down the streets of Nashville with his dad, he just been busking to save some money for his first guitar, 14 year old kid guitar case in hand, then a guy from a bar, the bass player from a band that was performing inside, steps out from the door and says, Hey, kid, can you play guitar? The sensation of sound waves blasting into his calves from the amplifier standing on the stage behind him, transformed Daniel forever. At 16 He became the youngest musician ever to get a regular playing gig at the world famous Honky Tonk Roberts western world on Broadway in Nashville, of course. Daniel Donato is 26 now, and that's him. We're listening to several cross country tours. A second album just released 2000 Plus performances under his belt. Some call him the master of the Telecaster, referring to the style of Fender guitar that he plays, which you see all sorts of stars play. Merle Haggard, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley fence, Gil, real guitar heroes, Daniel also plays guitar and the newly formed Allman Brothers tribute band trouble no more, which is formed with the band's blessings. The All Star lineup is said to transport one to a real Allman Brothers concert, and all one needs to do is close one's eyes. My conversation with Daniel Donato went from music to all things life, motivation, overcoming fears, breaking through the barriers, following the core path of your heart. Whether you're a musician, dancer, house builder, architect, engineer, designer, amateur pilot, this is about following your heart. Daniel Donato calls his brand of music cosmic country. He has a podcast called The Lost Highway and a new album, cosmic Country and Western songs released late last year. Here's Daniel Donato. From his home studio in Nashville. So So what have you been up to Daniel I I had just listened to and earlier about not quite a week ago listened to a new single that you released. So with the time that you've had on home at home, or maybe you wrote it on the road, you put it in? You put some good creative juices out there, man, that new song of yours is dynamite. Tell me about it.

Daniel Donato: 4:43

Thank you. Yeah, why have been gone so long. It's like an old time country song. That is part of a collection of songs that we're putting out. That is I'm all inspired by what I used to play down at my times in the honky tonks which is how I started my career. And so it was really an interesting thing the whole not being able to go and tour we ended up picking up a lot of slots down at Robert Westworld again and playing and sometimes playing to know people. Um, and it was this all star band because no one was on the road. And so we're playing the songs in the style of Honky Tonk traditional country music. And But then we're also jamming them, we're bringing them to this cosmic country filter. And so it's these classic songs. It's it's eight songs. And it's, it's like these old characters that are dressed in new clothes. If that makes any sense. It does. And so that one is called Cosmic country in western songs. So it's this idea of, you know, country in western, but then you have, you know, a little bit more. It's really fun. It was the whole goal. And I was really inspired last year by the Grateful Dead documentary, and there is this long, strange trip. There's this one scene where Mickey Hart goes, if you're playing music, right, you're in the transportation business. That's what we do. And it's like, okay, okay, that's the that is like, I love finding the words that define the feeling that I have been able to define for years. And that's it. And so there's this vibe that happens specifically in this one building at Roberts, that like anyone who goes there on a Saturday night will attest to. And so we're trying to capture that, because I'm realizing that's the thing that inspired me to get into music was that spirit. And so this record is like the closest manifestation of that spirit that I've been able to capture yet. And so it's not the last time I'm going to try, but it's the closest thing to it. We're trying to be like, hey, all See, look at this thing. It's like it's invisible. But you can feel it, you know?

Thom Pollard: 6:45

Amazing. So that idea of the transportation business, so you're playing something passionate, from your heart, with it with this band dancing together, if you will. It's this this beautiful symphony of music and connectivity. And you look out into the audience and their people, and you see them going to the place that they go when they feel good.

Daniel Donato: 7:15

You hoped you know. And that was the funny thing, though, about the whole time of COVID was there were many shows where there were not, you know, there was a time where we played, they played on December 27. So it was two days after the bombing in Nashville, and we still had a gig. It was just like, no one was down there. Not a soul. No one's going down to Broadway to go listen to music and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer for $2.50 After a bombing just happened two days after Christmas. But that's the thing is that these musicians that are freaking crazy, like myself are willing to do that. Because there's so much meaning in existential and also an immediate way that is found through that experience. And I think it's a desire to transport to a realm that kind of is pervasive over this normal realm that we coexist in all the time. And Roberts has a really heavy portal for that energy. There's something about he has a really fruitful tree. That fig tree that doesn't stop given.

Thom Pollard: 8:10

So you as a musician man that the show goes on that there's like almost That's respect. Like that's, that's not like we're gonna stop and, and pause here. No, we're not stopping. Work. Dammit. No, we're gonna do this.

Daniel Donato: 8:27

Yeah, really, sincerely. I mean, you know, there's, it's interesting how, you know, Alan Watts talks about how life is that really, your only teacher and other people are just setting just setting you up for opportunities to allow you to, to learn from life. And that was the thing that wife showed me from that experience was like, man, there's some level of you that's really in this that you don't even that you're not even aware of yet. So anytime a log that you have yourself that might be falling into the category of trepidation that might be falling into the category of let's not put our eggs in this basket. But let's try something else. Not that my actions would reflect that but I have had those thoughts especially over the past year, you know, a lot of musicians did. A lot of people did and you should be weary of the steps you're making and try to test your hypothesis. But that I remember looking out to the audience on December 27 and there being no one there. It was like I'm thinking man, I'm really in this until I can't you know live anymore. And it was like it was like getting buried to myself in some way. So let's go so really you're reassuring and also slightly crazy.

Thom Pollard: 9:34

Yeah, yeah, but that that crazy is well at least for me is what what draws me to people because it's it's not really crazy. It's it's not insane. Crazy. It's that you see that? It's interesting. You brought up Alan Watts because I just listened to an Alan Watts talk this morning. Really big and it was talking about how do you how does an individual find his or Her true path in life. And so when you you were just talking about this, when you listen to a message from yourself, you have to identify which itself, if you will, is speaking that message. Is it a person? And now I'm going a little bit off on a tangent. Is it the person who's steeped in perhaps fear and trepidation? Anxiety? unsure of which direction to go, perhaps inspired by? How will this affect? Well, let's say my mom and dad or, or my best friend, as opposed to the person, they're the pure, unfiltered truth of who we are. That speaks often, but it's very often clouded in doubt. So that's where Alan Watts is talking about, we know we've just got to make sure we know who's delivering the message before we go with it. And that's that asked for silence or, or whether it's meditation, or, you know, that's listening, right? Like to listen very often, you know?

Daniel Donato: 11:07

Yeah, it's people like to know, before they listen, you know, and I catch myself wary of that all the time. And it's like, you know, there's an interesting dichotomy that I'm starting to see or not our dynamic of, like, I've had quite a long time to work with men and women that were twice my age more, you know, for years. And the conversation stylings of that demographic is far different energy wise, and like a bunch of mid 20 year old men in a van. Yeah, talking. And it's like, there's a lot of people stopping each other mid sentence midpoint, because they already know how the half of the other sentence is gonna go. And it's like conversation isn't yielded best with a lot of inflamed ego. And so it's like the practice, it's like life maybe maybe dulls your ego down as you get older in some way. But then you might also incentivize it in other ways. So that's the thing I'm trying to get into now is like, when I feel something, or when something good or bad happens, and there's an intuition about it, maybe it's not really all within my control, maybe it's not me, that's telling me that thing, maybe it's something that sounds like me in my head, because my consciousness is really limited as a, you know, kind of as a as a silly, 26 year old man. You know, and it's like, really what it is, it's like it might be you know, maybe like a thought adjuster of some kind, something that is kind of, you know, there to give you a path forward if you're willing to listen and not know

Thom Pollard: 12:40

I was just, I was trying to eat it all up, and I was a savage. When I was a young kid, I'm still kind of crazy, in a good way. But I'm, I'm just like taking it in. And I've got a 20 year old and a 23 year old, man and and, and you'll like this, I took my 20 year old to his second dead and company showed and took him when he was 15. And then this went Psalm again. And he's just like, dude, what a scene man. This is people. This is love. Like,

Daniel Donato: 13:12

odd. Isn't that? Isn't that an interesting thing that everyone who goes to that field of energy, whether it's fish, dead, and CO Yeah, ears, or others? It really is like, it's a contract to kind of it's happening in America, and it's happening on Earth. But it's definitely like a it's a place that is unlike any other place.

Thom Pollard: 13:34

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And so

Daniel Donato: 13:37

differently, like time acts differently in those in that setting, like our emotions behave differently, like everything is different. And we just agree that it's different. And we all use our conscious energy to enable that difference to happen. And there's this variable that comes in that's very invisible, that is very strong and inclusive of every conscious being that's there. And it's freaky. It's like mycelium and mushrooms. It's like, it's just so connected. And you're like, Wow, is this happening right before my very eyes, you know, morning in May or goes forward in morning do and he you know, he's feeling it, you know, the band's feeling it and you know that the room is feeling it because there's a difference between the band and the room at that point, because the energy is all the same best place on earth.

Thom Pollard: 14:24

You know, I was talking this this is I hadn't even thought about this in a long time. I was speaking to this guy a few years ago as I was filming out in Southern California and, and there was this gentleman we had done an interview with and he was kind of a seer, if you will, and he's his insight was just boundless. I'm amazed that his name isn't just this world known name, but he said that you can literally change the course of the entire civilization of of humankind, if we could but get it 60,000 people in one place to think collectively, very positive thoughts of love and positivity. But think about that. So like a dead company show where there's 25,000 people at a in Saratoga, New York. And, and everybody's kind of on a on a vibe. And and there, as Mickey Hart said that one of the drummers like we're in the business of transportation, and he's right on the money.

Daniel Donato: 15:32

Right on, it's like that is the word that is the if I ever get to teach a class somewhere it's going to be on that is going to be part of the of the dialogue is transportation. And so it's really interesting to see a band that is kind of the master of taking your consciousness in organizing music, and just freakin teaching it all around, like Rubik's Cube. I mean, he was on, it was super real. I don't like to use the term unreal anymore. Because you have these, like, you know, you have these trips of like, of these intense, you know, connections with a really strong benevolent force. And you're like, Well, that was so real, because the emotion was so pervasive. Um, it moved me to tears, but then I can't really find words for it. So it's like, the tools that I use to describe a real reality can't describe something that felt so real. So it can't be unreal, it must just be super real. So that's kind of what I'm seeing. Now. It's like, that's what I want out of music is the super real. It's like,

Thom Pollard: 16:28

Yeah, can I borrow that? I think I'm, because I do say unreal, a bunch. And it's super real. It's I'm done. It's over. I might have a slip, but I'm going with the super real now. Well, it's funny,

Daniel Donato: 16:41

because everything we start with, just life itself is is so much, and then our senses adapt over time. Oh, so everything starts out in a distorted manner and becomes more cultivated and domestic. Mmm, interesting. And so it's like, maybe that's kind of part of most of life. And so you can kind of look at these like these peaks and be like, I really want that, because I've also taken other peaks, and I've climbed them as well. So why can't they take this next week? Same with guitar, you know, there was a time where I remember the first time I tried playing country guitar, I went home and learned Mama Tried it was like, couldn't play that took me months. And now I could play that and I could probably even improvise over it and come up with ideas that lead to the next and it's like, all that was was me, saying I could try to do that having vision to do it, and intention in action and investing my time and staying focused.

Thom Pollard: 17:53

You're listening to my interview with musician Daniel Donato of Nashville tools for nomads is brought to you by top drawer. Top tours mission is to make durable, sustainable tools for creatives who work to make the world better. I fell in love with the top two our brand when they invited me to do a presentation for them in 2017 at their annual meeting in Boston. Top drawer makes tools for travel writing accessories for everyday carry. From pens to Japanese how shoes journals, amazing photo albums, finely crafted paper bags, eyewear, handkerchiefs, lighters, key chains, check them out at top drawer shop.com or visit one of their dozen plus meticulously outfitted shops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Berkeley, Chicago and Tokyo. Top Choice shop.com. Now back to the interview. Hey, so Daniel, tell me about I want to have you tell me about the three P's. I love it. It's such a beautiful life philosophy. We've spoken about this before. That's wild to me that it affects you because it's like, you know, frankly, I'll say a lot of these things to my family and they don't, they don't get it. Um, you know, and so it makes me kind of think maybe I'm just kind of, you know, I shouldn't even express these thoughts. Um, you know, but it's, it's, I'm glad that it resonates with you and why I say that. It's because it's like, you know, you have you have so much more experience on this planet than I do. And you fulfilled the responsibility of having children and raising a family. It's like, you know, that it's a shades to cosmic career, I think on a really, that's probably a might be the biggest check box that they has on their, you know, to curate another person's reality in life, um, but the fact that resonates with you is beautiful, and so patience, persistence, positivity. Um, that is, you know, that I think satiate any, any existential angst I have with my You know, career on both levels, patience, persistence, positivity, those are the tools and they speak for themselves. It's just like Einstein said, you know, if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it. And I think the really simple truths in lives, the trite cliches, they explain themselves. So it's like, you know, that's what I love about patience. Persistence positivity, is that all of those lead down to the dead end road of simply trusting in life and just showing up for the parts that you're responsible for? Oh, that's good stuff. Hey, so Daniel, you you were back on the road? So how was your tour? Re and how has it been going? And how do you get ready for it? I mean, you know, what's, you guys are all in this van. And everybody looks pretty happy, man. I see your social media posts and, and your your Instagram stories. And they're, they bring me a smile every time. So So what's your travelled? How do you do it? What's your kind of routine, if there is even is one,

Daniel Donato: 21:04

here's an approach, there's a there's a refined philosophy that I've had, because I started touring when I was after I played at Roberts, I started touring all the time, because I was the only one to make any money in a way that interested me. And it's important that you stay interested in music, because otherwise it sounds like you're not interested. And that's the last thing the world needs. And so it's like, at first I was trying to like, bring home life onto the road. And that doesn't work. And then something that I don't do, but a lot of people do is they bring rode life back home. And that's not good, either. So the biggest thing is to realize, I think home life as the best opportunity for order. And road life has the best opportunity for chaos, which are kind of like the two dichotomy. It's like the dichotomy of life in some way, chaos, and we're and so the road is you're in the domain of chaos, anything could happen at any given time that is prepared that is, you know, potentially really deadly or bad. It's, you kind of just got to keep that in mind. And so that's the one thing I do to prepare for it is I literally think about what are the worst things that could happen. And then once I just defined those fears, I get way less anxious, because I've gone through it all in my mind. You know, that's one thing humans really have the ability to do that no other animals really do is we prepare for the future, which is really interesting. Yeah, a lot of birds aren't preparing for the future. They might build a nest and things like that, but they're not really thinking about next winter, or you know, what the s&p 500 moving up point four or 5% means they don't care we humans really do. And so I try to take that innate ability that we have. And we've been given and use that to my advantage. And so it's like, how can I prepare, I write out a setlist at least three times a day and I go through it, I write out setlist in sequences of three songs. So it's like a movie, like a cosmic country show no shows ever the same and it never stops really, like a movie never stops, like you don't go see the Godfather and it stops for five minutes. Unless there's a break between Godfather one Godfather two, that's probably upset breaks. Um, so it's like, I think about it in that way. Um, and I mean, I really just try to think about what my vision is. And that's really like, a man and his vision is really like, the most timeless thing I mean, that's kind of the the story of everything in some way. Man, his vision. So I try just relate to what my vision is, and I try to feel it. But feelings are like different than thoughts. So that's, that's what I've been really thinking about. For this tour. It's like feeling and thinking, wow, really abstract, and so on. On a less abstract level. We have bass, drums, guitar, myself, tour manager and a content production guy. So everything's planned before we leave, you know, when we're arriving, how we're arriving, where we're parking, all those things. Um, that's how I like to run my organization. A lot of people don't, you know, but that's fine. I like to run it with with the opportunities that we have. Now I just like everything to not be a big surprise.

Thom Pollard: 24:03

So you know, here you are with the guitar on on your in your lap. And, and I'm sure that you play a lot and you know, noodle or practice, but are there other things that get you? Like, do you read or do you have an mp3 player like what you're saying,

Daniel Donato: 24:22

I read a lot. I read a lot I read every morning. I'm so I'm very interested. You know, it's very interesting. When I'm home, I'm very much like, I'm an old man, like, I wake up at 530 or six. Yeah, and I'm in bed by 930 or 10. And I'm just, you know, I'm keep to myself. And so it's like, I love that. I'm like exercising I like routine of reading, re journaling. Very static, very static. Um, but when I'm on the road, it's just like let's go let's go let's go you know, there's none of that it's the exact opposite. Um, I'm just in this might be a it's might not be good by me. tunnel vision, um, in the sense of like, my home I just stay focused, you know, I do the podcast that's really like my main source of like therapy is doing the podcast The Lost Highway. That's like things like this I just love talking with you

Thom Pollard: 25:39

I was on. So you hear you are 26 years old and you've been in essence touring since what like once you 15 When you got your first gig or something at Roberts

Daniel Donato: 25:51

15 I got my first gig started busking when I was 14, I'm six started playing full time, and I was around 17 years old, four nights a week, four hours a night, um, sometimes five nights a week. So I ran under 500 shows over over 2000 hours. Um, a lot of a lot of just grinding, that I started touring with other bands cuz I didn't quite have my vision of, of what I wanted to do. And so you know what I mean? It was just like, touring with other people's bands, different genres, different levels of organization, different levels of pay, you know, that kind of thing doing you know, really big bus tours to really shitty Chevy Astro van tours. And yeah, you know, it's just like, you know, brushing your teeth, at the venue behind the bar is there's no hotel room. Ah, like, seriously? Oh, yeah, just like total outsider to society is what I'm realizing it's like, but it's never occurred to me until this year that how outside of normal society, this really is this career.

Thom Pollard: 26:53

So the Chevy Astro van thing where we're like, tell me where where did you guys sleep? Were you on the ground out back on a dirt

Daniel Donato: 27:01

in the van. This was crazy. So it's like, again, you're different levels. And this is the thing where life as your teacher if you choose it to me. And so that's when I learned where it's like, okay, when I do my own van tour one day, I'm going to go about it in a different manner, where these logistics are going to be satiated and confirmed in a very quantitative way prior to departure into the realm of chaos. Music needs to be served. Because you can't serve us like if you're not sleeping. Well. I can't at least sorry. Maybe other people can. Sleeping in a van. With dudes you don't know, for a weekend, you know, for seven days rather in only making$300 over the whole seven days. It's like, well, that's a great, that's a great thing for a 21 year old guy to do. Like that's the time to do that as the time. It so musics really interesting to me to where it's like it hasn't quite. I haven't quite found that 2000 ticket A Night audience yet, but yet, I've been working for it forever. And so it's like, I keep like be getting I keep having like these tests of like being humble. Again, saying patient persistent positive is like never once in those moments, am I not? Still fully in the belief that is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

Thom Pollard: 28:15

So now that you are in control of your tour, if you will try. So um, do you guys stay in hotels on this on this tour? We

Daniel Donato: 28:25

do? Yeah, we stay in hotels? We are we do? Like, um, yeah, we do hotels. So that's the thing, though, is like, you know, it's there, you booked for hotel rooms, then you show up to a hotel this past weekend, there's only one. And it's like, well, the guy Larry at the front desk, you know, his his first day there, he never reserved the room. So even though they were paid for. And so it was like rooms got sold. And so it's like, we have to fit, you know, four men into one room. And it's like for 2627 28 year old men, we don't want to be doing that shit. And so it's like, but it's Labor Day. So every hotel within 100 mile radius, because you've called has it's one in the morning, it's pulled out. So it's like, you just got to do it. And so you're gonna go into the realm of chaos, like a hero does, and embrace it with the armor of patience, persistence and positivity. And so you don't get too broken by the opportunity that life is trying to show you. And so it's like a resume, it's just all the hardship that you've heard that you've improvise and overcame. And so it's like, if you can have the awareness to see it's like, oh, okay, life I'll raise you. I'll raise you one hotel floor.

Thom Pollard: 29:28

Sure, sure. Yeah, this ain't nothing Yeah, so do well on when you're a band like do you have to take all your gear and what if somebody smashes the window of the van and into you know, it's

Daniel Donato: 29:38

like it's like a terrible Well, we our dad has like this intense security system. He installed it that's like, absurd. But ya know, that's a real thing. Yeah. So we do we bring in I at least bring in my year. I got a new guitar from Martin this past weekend. We were bringing it out on the road. We were the nitty gritty dirt pan this past weekend. Which was crazy to me because they're like, they've been they've been a band for over 50 years, you know? Thank you, you know getting to talk to them and um just be around people who have done it that long if you're open to it and you want to learn and you admit to yourself that you don't know there are there are little morsels that you can take in like little truffles you know that you can take with you from those experiences of of share time with those beings.

Thom Pollard: 30:19

So um, I can't talk to you all day I would if I could and maybe that's why I got to get down to Nashville one of these days but that want to get lunch. Oh, 100% 100% I'd love to you know, just just feel the the actual in person vibe, we'll make it happen. But so when you when you get when you're on the road, just what are the absolute must have things with you? And it might be just one good. You said you just got a new guitar from Martin, which is, that's pretty cool. I'm sure they gave it to you. But But what other like other things, you have to have your journal. I don't even know you

Daniel Donato: 30:56

leave my journal. Yeah, everything I have is on the road does not come home, like it's in my house. I don't use it. So I'd like a road journal. Yeah, for road computer, I've wrote everything. And so my biggest thing is I need to be up before everybody else. And I need to know that I've had time to just interact with my own self for at least two hours. It's sometimes I exercise, sometimes I journal and I sit I drink coffee, like a lot of coffee. And I just think, um, you know, sometimes I'm like, he may get a little high in the morning, if it's an off day or something and just think about, you know, how'd the show go last night, what my intuitions my reflections on it just really just trying to not be an asshole. And so it's like, you know, because it really is. So whatever I can do to to just be aware of myself the most interesting, a lot of ideas come to me on the road, like a lot of song ideas, because there's so much flying around in the energy field of the road. Um, they're just coming at you. It's just like moths to a flame, just like capture them all. So I'm always working on a song on the road, always like two or three. That's been one as well. So I would say that's it, it was just like having a routine in which I can check in with myself. Um, that's a big one that really is. And man just, it's really just that I hate to beat a dead horse but patients resistance positivity. Sometimes I'll just write that down to start the journal and to end the journal. Just to remind myself that on a cosmic level, everything really is fine. If you're showing up on certain levels of your being in your interactions with others. And these micro things, there's a chip in the windshield soundcheck just got moved these micro things you do not need to lose your cool over to them like you shouldn't, especially if you're the leader, but you're the person who needs to stay below 51% can't boil over and it's like I love that responsibility. It's cool. So, you know, I'm just always trying to learn I think is what it is Brother,

Thom Pollard: 32:51

you are the man you're young enough to be my son but I feel like your brother.

Daniel Donato: 32:55

Yeah, likewise. Likewise, my friend sincerely I look forward to her when we can hang.

Thom Pollard: 33:09

Daniel Donato his new album is called Cosmic Country and Western Songs. The record will transport you to a Nashville Honky Tonk on a Saturday night, like Roberts Western World with a drink in your hand and not a worry on your mind. three chords, the truth and a whole lot of cosmic happenings in between. This podcast is Daniel de NATOs, The Lost Highway. You can find it on Apple podcasts and everywhere that you can find tools for nomads as well as on Daniel's YouTube page. His website is Daniel Donato.com. You can check out his music links to Instagram, his tour schedule and the like. Daniel, thank you. I will see you in Nashville hopefully soon. Well, thanks for visiting tools for nomads and up close and insightful look into the lives and habits of passionate, creatively prolific people like Daniel DiNardo, who embrace and cherish the nomadic lifestyle tools for nomads is brought to you by top drawer, where nomadism isn't simply about being on the move. It's about loving and living life with the things we carry impact our productivity, our well being and even our identity, visit top drawer shop.com or visit one of their dozen plus meticulously outfitted shops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Berkeley, Chicago, and Tokyo. Top Choice shop.com Thanks for visiting on Thom Pollard. See you next time on tools for nomads. sad sad song gentlemen baby Gentlemen baby Why are the gods