Tiger of the Week: Anthony D'Amato '10

January has been a pretty remarkable month for Anthony D’Amato ’10, a singer, songwriter, and rising star in independent music. He’s rubbed elbows with one of his musical heroes, Bruce Springsteen. He was featured in a New York Times story that explored his relationship with two Princeton mentors, poet Paul Muldoon and composer Paul Lansky *73. He talked with Paste magazine about recording his most recent album, Down Wires, in his Princeton dorm room last year. And one of his songs, “My Father’s Son,” was selected as NPR Music’s song of the day. NPR praised the piece for weaving “a vivid narrative with organic vocals.” D’Amato, whose upcoming gigs include a pair as the opening act for Pete Yorn and Ben Kweller, began seriously thinking about a career in music while he was an undergraduate. He recorded three albums in his time at Princeton, playing nearly all the instruments and enlisting help from a handful of campus musicians. He also refined his lyrics, and the structure behind them, by working closely with Muldoon, a Pulitzer Prize winner and part-time rocker who once collaborated with Warren Zevon. Like last week’s Tiger, D’Amato wrote a senior thesis that had an immediate link to his career. Majoring in English, he examined Springsteen’s music and “the literature of American alienation.” Earlier this month, D’Amato found himself on stage with the Boss, at a benefit show in Asbury Park, N.J., singing a group rendition of “Thunder Road.” It was, he told the Times, “a really magical moment.” Do you have a nominee for Tiger of the Week? Let us know. All alumni qualify. PAW’s Tiger of the Week is selected by our staff, with help from readers like you.