Anthony D'Amato (born November 27, 1987), is an American songwriter and singer. His latest album is 2022's ''At First There Was Nothing.''

Biography

D'Amato grew up in

Blairstown, New Jersey Blairstown is a Township (New Jersey), township in Warren County, New Jersey, Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 5,704, a decrease of 263 (−4.4%) from the 2010 Uni ...

, and attended

Blair Academy Blair Academy is a coeducational, boarding and day school for students in high school. The school serves students from ninth through twelfth grades as well as a small post-graduate class. The school's campus is located on a campus in Blairst ...

on a scholarship. His father Chris D'Amato was an editor for

rail enthusiast A railfan, train fan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff, anorak (British English), gunzel (Australian English), trainspotter (British English) or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally in ...

magazines such as ''

Railroad Model Craftsman ''Railroad Model Craftsman'' is an American magazine specializing in the hobby of model railroading. The magazine is published monthly by White River Productions, which acquired the title from Carstens Publications in 2014. Its first issue in M ...

'' and ''

Railfan & Railroad ''Railfan & Railroad'' is an American monthly magazine that has been in publication since the 1970s. It was the first magazine title established in-house by Carstens Publications. As a magazine dedicated to trains and rail transportation, it sta ...

'', and often took D'Amato and his older brother Nicholas on cross country trips to various industrial heritage sites. Chris also introduced his sons to the music of

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

. D'Amato attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where he recorded his first album, ''Down Wires,'' in a dormitory during his senior year, graduating in 2010. He released the record independently in 2010, catching the attention of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, which called his song "My Father's Son" a "modern folk gem," and the World Cafe, which featured him in their emerging artist series "Next." D'Amato followed it up with another home recording, ''Paper Back Bones,'' which made

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

's Best Americana Albums of 2012, and was described by host Ricky Ross as "one of urfavourites of all time." In 2014, D'Amato released his

New West Records New West Records is a record label based in Nashville and Athens, Georgia. It previously had offices in Burbank, California and Beverly Hills, California. From 2013 to 2018, New West's records in the U.S. were distributed by Alternative Distrib ...

debut, ''The Shipwreck From The Shore,'' which was inspired in part by his time studying with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet

Paul Muldoon Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he has been both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humani ...

and earned widespread critical acclaim, with

noting that "he writes in the tradition of

Josh Ritter Joshua B. Ritter (born October 21, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author who performs and records with the Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana (music), Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2 ...

" and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' saying it "strikes every right note." The album was recorded with producer Sam Kassirer (

Langhorne Slim Langhorne Slim is an American singer-songwriter (born Sean Scolnick on August 20, 1980 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania). He attended high school at Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase ...

) at The Great North Sound Society in Maine with members of

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

and

Megafaun Megafaun is an American psychedelic folk band based in Durham, North Carolina.Mongillo, Peter (2010) "Megafaun relaxes into headlining slot", ''Austin American-Statesman'', April 27, 2010, p. D02 History Brothers Brad Cook (bass, guitar) and Ph ...

. Songs from the record racked up millions of plays on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

and turned up on the ABC series

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, while the album earned additional praise everywhere from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' to ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' magazine and ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. D'Amato returned in 2016 with ''Cold Snap,'' recorded in Omaha, NE, with producer

Mike Mogis Mike Mogis is an American producer/mixer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who owns ARC Studios (Another Recording Company) in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha. Mike, along with his brother A. J. Mogis, A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Stud ...

( Bright Eyes,

First Aid Kit A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give First aid, immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents o ...

) and featuring performances by

Conor Oberst Conor Mullen Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes (band), Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos (band), Desaparecidos, the Faint (previou ...

and members of Bright Eyes,

The Faint The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Graham Ulicny, Dapose and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes (band), Brig ...

, and

Cursive Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

named him an "Artist You Need To Know", and D'Amato made his national TV debut on ''

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987 to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012 to September 6, 2021. On November 1, 1999, the original incarnation was repla ...

''. D'Amato's latest album, 2022's ''At First There Was Nothing,'' marked his debut release for the Blue Rose label and earned similar acclaim, with

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

calling it "a new masterpiece" and ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'' awarding it four stars. D'Amato is also a member of the folk rock supergroup Fantastic Cat, which released its first album, ''The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat,'' and made it
national TV debut
in 2022.

called the album "a wildly satisfying collection of folk-rock, country, Americana, and good old rock & roll" and dubbed the band "the supergroup-you-need-to-know."

Photography

In addition to his musical work, D'Amato is also an avid photographer whose work has appeared in publications from The Denver Post to TimeOut. Working under the name "Steel Rail Blues" (a reference to the

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, ...

song of the same name), D'Amato has amassed a large following on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

for his

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

photography, which focuses primarily on

steam trains A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomoti ...

around the world. In 2022, D'Amato also released his album "At First There Was Nothing" as a book of his photography, complete with an essay about the record, song lyrics, and an accompanying download of the music.

Personal Life

D'Amato is married to Jane Beaird, an artist who has made artwork for both D'Amato's solo career and Fantastic Cat.

Discography

* ''Down Wires'' (2010) * ''Paper Back Bones'' (2012) * ''The Shipwreck From The Shore'' (2014) * ''Cold Snap'' (2016) * ''At First There Was Nothing'' (2022) See also:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:DAmato, Anthony 1987 births Living people American folk rock musicians American male singer-songwriters Blair Academy alumni New West Records artists People from Blairstown, New Jersey Singer-songwriters from New Jersey 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American male singers