Grace Potter spent the weekend at Waterfront Park in Burlington, Vermont, headlining a festival she co-founded, and used the second of her two sets to hand the stage to other people. JamBase reports that she brought out Maggie Rose and Tessa Gordon on Saturday for a version of Dolly Parton's 9 To 5, at the Grand Point North event Potter has run in her home state for years.
The Parton material was not incidental. Potter also worked I Will Always Love You into the same performance, a month after Dolly Parton died at 80, and a crowd singing 9 To 5 in a waterfront park in September 2026 is doing something different from a crowd singing it in 2019.
Tessa Gordon is the daughter of Phish bassist Mike Gordon, which in Vermont is close to a local credential. She and Maggie Rose had already worked the same corner of the state the night before, sitting in with Old Crow Medicine Show at Shelburne Museum on Wagon Wheel and on John Prine's Angel From Montgomery.
That Prine song turned up twice in the weekend for Potter too. On Friday, opening night of the festival, US Representative Becca Balint joined her onstage to sing Angel From Montgomery during her first headline set, and members of the local Lamoille Valley Dance Academy appeared with her across the weekend.
The closing guest was Jackson Browne, who came out for a cover of Warren Zevon's Lawyers, Guns and Money, a song Browne has a genuine claim on having produced Zevon's early records. Earlier in the set Potter had played Fleetwood Mac's Gold Dust Woman and worked in an improvised Funkytown interlude with lyrics about Burlington.
The 2026 edition of the festival also featured Dawes, Trampled by Turtles and Portugal. The Man, and Potter appeared during sets by Maggie Rose, Dark Star Orchestra and Dogs In A Pile as well as her own. Guesting across an entire weekend rather than saving herself for a headline slot is how a festival founder makes a festival feel like a hometown event. Potter has been doing the same as a visitor elsewhere this year, joining Zac Brown Band with Amos Lee in Philadelphia. The rock hub carries the rest of the week.
The facts
- Grace Potter headlined Grand Point North at Waterfront Park in Burlington.
- Maggie Rose and Tessa Gordon joined her for Dolly Parton's 9 To 5.
- Tessa Gordon is the daughter of Phish bassist Mike Gordon.
- Jackson Browne joined for Warren Zevon's Lawyers, Guns and Money.
- Potter also played I Will Always Love You and Gold Dust Woman.
- US Rep. Becca Balint sang Angel From Montgomery with her on Friday.
- Potter co-founded the festival and guested across other acts' sets.
- Dawes, Trampled by Turtles and Portugal. The Man also played the 2026 edition.
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