When Daniel Donato takes the stage at Howelsen Hill on Thursday evening, audience members shouldn’t expect a concert — they should expect a journey.

Sporting an improvisational ethos grounded in everything from country to the Grateful Dead, a band he calls a “living dynamic entity,” Donato is bringing the genre-defying sound he calls “Cosmic Country” to Steamboat Springs as part of his lifelong mission to explore what music can do for the soul, mind and body.

“There’s truth in the simplicity of country music,” Donato said. “But there’s also truth in the unknown. That’s where Cosmic Country lives — between the two.”

Donato and his band will perform at Thursday’s edition of the Steamboat Free Summer Concert series, and will be joined by special guests Bonfire Dub. Donato has previously performed in Steamboat at WinterWonderGrass and the Old Town Pub. On this trip to the Yampa Valley, he brings an even deeper connection to the improvisational roots that have shaped his path and to the energy of a recently released album.

Donato began playing guitar at 12 after discovering classic rock through the video game “Guitar Hero.” He credits that gaming experience with sparking the curiosity and obsession that has fueled his musical life ever since.

“I was always trying to dig my teeth into something,” he said. “Guitar just happened to be the vehicle that was endless and eternal enough for me to do that.”

By 14, he was regularly performing in Nashville, where he was drawn to traditional country and what he called “honky-tonk music.” There, he immersed himself in the music of Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Marty Robbins and Hank Williams. He was drawn not only to their storytelling, but also the danceability of their songs. Donato saw it all as music meant to bring people together in everything from small rooms to wide-open halls.

But it was a history teacher, Mike Ragland, who unknowingly gave Donato his first glimpse of something larger. That something would end up changing Donato’s life forever — and by extension the lives of his fans and followers.

“He came to see me play downtown and the next morning in class, he handed me 200 Grateful Dead CDs,” Donato said.

In that collection were bootleg recordings of live concerts as well as every “Dick’s Picks” volume. It was, in Donato’s words, everything that he needed to take his music to the next level.

The gift from his history teacher also opened Donato’s ears and heart to a new world of improvisation. He began to hear how traditional song structures could bend into moments of shared freedom, where the music became something more than notes.

Donato also cut his teeth with the Don Kelly Band in Nashville, playing four-hour sets multiple nights a week and building the foundation of what would be his own “cosmic” sound. But while he learned how to keep a room dancing, he kept returning to that Deadhead spark and the feeling that a show could be more than just individual songs.

“If you start with three chords and the truth, you can end up somewhere that’s not on this material plane anymore,” Donato said.

That vision forms the foundation of Cosmic Country, a musical approach Donato describes as a harmony between chaos and order. It is something that he calls “ancient and futuristic” that is also familiar yet mysterious.

Above all else, it’s rooted in intention and unity.

“I try to give people something they don’t know they want,” he said. “If you’re only trying to entertain, that fades. But if you’re aiming at something divine and eternal, people feel that and they remember that.”

As part of his tour with Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth, Donato is bringing new material to each stop. The band is also testing songs from a yet-to-be-released album, playing one “fresh” track a night while rotating through a catalog of over 200 songs — about 50 of them originals.

“We’re always taking chances,” Donato said. “We don’t want to just go through the motions. We want to earn what people give us when they show up — their time, their energy and their attention. That’s a sacrifice.”

With each performance, he aims to build something singular and unrepeatable.

“There’s something sacred about everyone in a room knowing they’re together but not knowing where they’re going — and being OK with that,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s Cosmic Country.”

Donato even runs a website with his father, DanielBase.com, where fans can track setlists, song statistics and performance history. His level of engagement, both digitally and sonically, is designed to deepen the bond between band and audience — to create a community around the music.

When asked where he goes during those moments on stage when the magic begins to happen, Donato doesn’t offer a literal answer.

“It has been said that the kingdom is at hand, but not visible,” he said. “What’s worth seeing isn’t seen by the eyes of space and time. I try to go to the place that is all places.”

It’s a risky endeavor, as there are no guarantees in improvisational music, only the pursuit of what Donato calls “truth and transcendence.” It’s a risk he’s willing to take.

Donato credits his bandmates as the other three wheels on the vehicle that carries the music forward to the people.

“We’ve never felt tighter,” he said. “We’re listening to each other better and being more patient and dynamic. The shows feel like they’re alive in a whole new way.”

In the end, Donato feels the goal isn’t about fame or recognition. It’s faith.

“I’m not really thinking about where I’m headed,” he said. “I just want to sow more seeds for people who have the ears to hear it. The actions are mine, but the consequences are God’s.”

He hopes the music — a harmony of past and future, simplicity and risk — carries others somewhere they didn’t expect to go, somewhere that feels like home, even if they can’t quite name where that home is.

“That’s what Cosmic Country is,” Donato said. “It’s a frequency and we’re all tuning in together.”

The gates to Thursday’s concert at Howelsen Hill open at 5:30 p.m.

Bonfire Dub, a Colorado-based band that blends folk, reggae, rock and Americana into a soulful, uplifting sound, will perform 6-7 p.m.

Donato, who will play two sets, takes the stage at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on the Steamboat Free Summer Concerts, visit KeepinItFree.com.