Biography
After spending more than ten years based in New York City, Anthony D’Amato shifted his base westward to lay down At First There Was Nothing, settling into American Fork, Utah, where sessions unfolded across the fall and winter alongside songwriter-producer Joshua James. The resulting album pulses with exuberant vitality and sharp perception, arriving as D’Amato’s first full-length project in six years and revealing clear artistic maturation through its expansive, unpredictable arrangements and some of his most compelling, unflinching songwriting to date. The material draws freely from hazy 1960s soul and roots-oriented 1970s rock and roll, yielding loose, playful tracks that nonetheless confront questions of faith and trust, mortality and loss, resilience and regret, all framed by vast, rugged sonic textures that mirror the dramatic terrain that shaped them.
Raised in New Jersey, D’Amato first attracted widespread notice with The Shipwreck From The Shore, his 2014 debut release on New West Records. Partly shaped by his studies under Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon, the record drew enthusiastic notices on both sides of the Atlantic: NPR welcomed him for a Tiny Desk Concert and observed that “he writes in the tradition of Bruce Springsteen or Josh Ritter,” while Uncut noted that his songwriting “echoes with early Bob Dylan.” He followed in 2016 with Cold Snap, produced by Mike Mogis, which brought his initial national television appearance and an Artist You Need To Know designation from Rolling Stone, whose writers characterized his work as “folk music raised on New Jersey grit.” In 2017 he issued the collaborative EP Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which generated more than $10,000 for refugee aid, and in 2019 he returned with Five Songs From New Orleans, a spare acoustic set that drew further acclaim from outlets ranging from Billboard to Rolling Stone. Throughout this period D’Amato maintained a steady touring schedule across the United States and Europe, sharing stages with Ben Folds, Valerie June, Keb’ Mo’, The Felice Brothers, American Aquarium, and numerous others.
Raised in New Jersey, D’Amato first attracted widespread notice with The Shipwreck From The Shore, his 2014 debut release on New West Records. Partly shaped by his studies under Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon, the record drew enthusiastic notices on both sides of the Atlantic: NPR welcomed him for a Tiny Desk Concert and observed that “he writes in the tradition of Bruce Springsteen or Josh Ritter,” while Uncut noted that his songwriting “echoes with early Bob Dylan.” He followed in 2016 with Cold Snap, produced by Mike Mogis, which brought his initial national television appearance and an Artist You Need To Know designation from Rolling Stone, whose writers characterized his work as “folk music raised on New Jersey grit.” In 2017 he issued the collaborative EP Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which generated more than $10,000 for refugee aid, and in 2019 he returned with Five Songs From New Orleans, a spare acoustic set that drew further acclaim from outlets ranging from Billboard to Rolling Stone. Throughout this period D’Amato maintained a steady touring schedule across the United States and Europe, sharing stages with Ben Folds, Valerie June, Keb’ Mo’, The Felice Brothers, American Aquarium, and numerous others.
Albums
At First There Was Nothing
2022
Kinda Strange
2022
Five Songs from New Orleans
2019
Cold Snap
2016
The Shipwreck From the Shore
2014
Singles
