Dark Star Orchestra Honors Dolly Parton & Breaks Out ‘Liberty’ In Utica
Watch Jeff Mattson and Lisa Mackey share vocals on the Dolly Parton-penned “Tomorrow Is Forever.”
By Scott Bernstein Sep 16, 2026 • 6:36 am PDT
Dark Star Orchestra paid tribute to the late Dolly Parton during Tuesday’s concert at Saranac Brewery in Utica, New York. Jeff Mattson and Lisa Mackey shared lead vocals on the Parton-penned “Tomorrow Is Forever,” a song also performed by the Grateful Dead during the early 1970s.
Tuesday’s concert featured a DSO-curated setlist rather than a recreation of a specific show from Grateful Dead history. The band also brought back “Liberty” for the first time in more than two years.
“Liberty” arrived fourth in the opening set, following “Promised Land,” “Althea” and “Minglewood Blues.” DSO performed “Tomorrow Is Forever” later in the set before “Black-Throated Wind,” “Box Of Rain” and set-closing “Let It Grow.”
DSO dedicated “Tomorrow Is Forever” to Parton, who died August 25 at age 80. The song has deep ties to the Grateful Dead thanks in part to Jerry Garcia’s well-documented admiration for the country music legend.
During a 1972 interview with writer Ed McClanahan for Playboy, Garcia called Parton his “favorite girl singer.” Garcia also played both sides of her 1970 album The Fairest Of Them All for McClanahan and singled out album opener “Daddy Come And Get Me” for praise.
The Grateful Dead debuted “Tomorrow Is Forever” on September 24, 1972 at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, with Garcia and Donna Jean Godchaux sharing vocals. The song remained in the repertoire through December of that year before the Dead revived it one final time on October 19, 1974 at Winterland Arena in San Francisco.
Garcia later performed “Tomorrow Is Forever” with the Jerry Garcia Band on January 27, 1976 at Keystone in Berkeley, California. Donna Jean Godchaux, then a member of JGB alongside Keith Godchaux, John Kahn and Ron Tutt, again supplied vocals.
Dark Star Orchestra has its own lengthy history with “Tomorrow Is Forever.” According to DSO Starbase, the tribute act first performed the song on November 8, 2001 and had played it 43 times before Tuesday, most recently on March 21.
Watch Mattson and Mackey lead DSO through the Parton tribute below:
Earlier in Tuesday’s set, DSO dusted off “Liberty” for the first time since August 21, 2024 at Innovative Field in Rochester, New York. The Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia composition had been absent from the repertoire for 755 days.
Check out the Utica “Liberty” below:
Setlist
- Promised Land
- Althea
- Minglewood Blues
- Liberty
- When I Paint My Masterpiece
- Cumberland Blues
- Tomorrow Is Forever
- Black-Throated Wind
- Box of Rain
- Let It Grow
- Feel Like a Stranger
- China Cat Sunflower
- I Know You Rider
- Truckin'
- Easy Wind
- Drums
- Space
- The Last Time
- All Along the Watchtower
- Days Between
- Good Lovin'
- Baby Don't You Do It
Dark Star Orchestra continues its late-summer tour Thursday at College Street Music Hall in New Haven, Connecticut. Back-to-back shows at Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire follow on Friday and Saturday before DSO performs Sunday at Grand Point North in Burlington, Vermont. The September dates were among those detailed when the band finalized its 2026 summer tour.
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