About a week ago, I filmed a session with New York City super group Fantastic Cat and attended their show at the Paradiso. That band consists of four songwriters, two of them you might have seen before on The Influences: Brian Dunne and Anthony D’Amato. The third is Hollis Brown’s Mike Montali, and the fourth is Don DiLego. Back in late 2021, DiLego and I met in Groningen during TakeRoot and filmed this session. I’m pretty pleased to finally present this to you, the viewer.

At the Grand Theatre in the center of Groningen, Don DiLego recorded covers of Tom Petty’s Southern Accents and Blondie’s Dreaming, plus his own song Dim Red Light.

Magnificent on all sides

For most of 2023, Don DiLego will be on tour with Fantastic Cat, playing Kilkenny Roots Festival for instance, and all over the USA supporting Jesse Malin. And when you’ve listened to The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat – Fantastic Cat’s very first record – make sure to dive deep into DiLego’s catalogue as well. You’ll find there is a lot to love. Whether it’s 2016’s Magnificent Ram A, 2018’s Magnificent Ram B Sides or some of his earlier work: DiLego is a fine songwriter.

Don DiLego feels pretty good and he swears he’s not lying.

DiLego built and runs his own Velvet Elk Studios a way to record and create without the buzz and distraction, and managed to make a name for his place for just those reasons. It’s where the Fantastic Cat album was recorded for instance, and Jesse Malin used it too. All in all, DiLego seems to be an artist who’s found his place – literally and figuratively – and is enjoying himself while he’s at it. That’s what it looked like at least, both on stage at Paradiso with Fantastic Cat and a year and a half prior, recording this session at TakeRoot in Groningen.

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There is no better way to discover music than watching great musicians cover the songs they love. The Influences has been producing these videos ever since 2008.

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