Kacey Musgraves brought her Middle Of Nowhere Tour to TD Garden in Boston and set aside a song for Dolly Parton, who had died three days earlier. She chose "Rainbow", the closing track from her 2018 album Golden Hour, and introduced it with one of Parton's best-known lines: if you want the rainbow, you have to put up with a little rain.
The rest of the night belonged to the new record. Musgraves is touring behind Middle Of Nowhere, released in May 2026, and opened with "Everybody Wants To Be A Cowboy" from it. She played 11 of the album's 13 songs across the show, including "Dry Spell", "Mexico Honey", "Loneliest Girl" and the title track.
She also worked in two covers pulled from opposite ends of Texas music: "(Hey Baby) Que paso?" by the Texas Tornados and George Strait's "All My Ex's Live In Texas". "Rainbow" arrived late in the set, after most of the new material had been aired.
The choice of song is worth noting. Musgraves has plenty of options for a Parton tribute, and several of her peers went straight for "9 To 5" or "Jolene". "Rainbow" is her own, which turns the dedication into something closer to a personal statement than a cover version.
Parton died on August 25 in Nashville at the age of 80 after a short illness, and the fortnight since has produced an unbroken run of these moments across every touring act with a country audience. Musgraves is among the artists credited in the report of her death.
This is not her only tribute of the run. She has repeated the gesture at other stops on the tour, including at Madison Square Garden, where she also brought out Troye Sivan earlier in the year.
Her remaining country and pop dates are on the tour guide. Elsewhere on the same weekend, Brandi Carlile gave a whole Bridgestone Arena encore to Parton and Brandon Flowers covered Islands In The Stream in Salt Lake City.
The facts
- Kacey Musgraves performed Rainbow for Dolly Parton at TD Garden in Boston
- She introduced it with Parton's line about the rainbow and a little rain
- Rainbow appears on her 2018 album Golden Hour
- The set included 11 of the 13 songs on her 2026 album Middle Of Nowhere
- She also covered the Texas Tornados and George Strait
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