Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country’s Camp Cosmic returns to The Caverns in Grundy County, TN for its third year on May 8 & 9, 2026.

There is a rare honesty about the way 30-year-old Daniel Donato talks about his music. It’s much deeper than just guitar licks and stories from the road. He speaks with a deep philosophical understanding of humility, connection, and faith—an old soul trapped in a young man’s body.

Shoe Fest 2025 is excited to welcome headliners Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country and bluegrass legend and Grammy winner Peter Rowan, whose career spans from the early years of playing under the tutelage of Bill Monroe to his time in Old & In the Way alongside Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, and beyond. He will be teaming up with none other than Dawg's son, the Sam Grisman Project, to bring that magical music of Old & In the Way to Shoe Fest.

Year after year, I ask myself how the Adirondack Independence Music Festival (ADK) in the heart of Lake George, NY, is going to level up, topping themselves with an inevitable smokin’ hot lineup announcement… and that’s just what they did. The most recent release of the daily schedule left me… wow… jaw agape! I enjoy a wide range of musical genres to get my fix at fests.

These days, it can often times be a daunting task for those of us who are fans under the ever expanding umbrella of the genre known as country music to sift through the seemingly endless mire of tired, overplayed & shallow subjects like red solo cups, truck tailgates and bikini clad girls on a river bank (usually while also holding red solo cups and sitting on truck tailgates).

Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country has released their vintage country-inspired new track “Better Deal Blues,” from their highly anticipated forthcoming album Horizons (out August 22nd on Retrace Music).

There are few mid-sized music festivals in the United States with the legacy, devoted fanbase, and magical ambience that match Northern California’s High Sierra Music Festival (HSMF). This year’s installment of the annual Fourth of July weekend gathering in Quincy, CA, proved once again why HSMF deserves such accolades.

Acclaimed GRAMMY-nominated band Gov’t Mule has announced the details for Island Exodus 16. Their annual “concert-cation” experience will take place January 15-18, 2026 at the Hideaway at Royalton Blue Waters Montego Bay in Trelawny, Jamaica. Marking a new location for Island Exodus, the all-inclusive resort will offer an elevated experience for all attendees and musicians featuring a beautiful beach, better restaurants, modern room accommodations, and more.

Marcus King turned the main stage into a master class in soulful Southern rock. Opening with a heart-wrenching “Goodbye Carolina,” joined by his wife Briley King, he paid homage to Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, then tore into a blistering cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Ramblin’ Man.” King’s guitar solos were liquid fire, translating emotion into sonic waves that swept the audience.

I’m old enough now that being told on Tuesday that I am going to cover the Northlands Music & Arts Festival on Friday feels rushed. Gone are the carefree days of the early ’00s. Back then, I went on tour with one day’s notice—without a tent.