Dark Star Jubilee

We’ve gathered for eleven Jubilees since our first one back in 2012 and they just keep getting better, warmer and more inclusive.

Over the years, the fans, bands, crew and staff have united as one creating a vibe that is unparalleled in the festival world. As soon as you pass through the gates and set up your camp, you’ll enjoy a relaxing, energizing and inspiring atmosphere immersed with the kindest people on the planet.

For all those returning we can’t wait to have you again, and to our first timers, we cannot wait to welcome you to the Family at Dark Star Jubilee!

Performing to critical acclaim for over 25 years and over 3100 shows, Dark Star Orchestra continues the Grateful Dead live concert experience. Their shows are built off the Dead’s extensive catalog and the talent of these seven fine musicians. On any given night, the band will perform a show based on a set list from the Grateful Dead’s 30 years of extensive touring or use their catalog to program a unique set list for the show. This allows fans both young and old to share in the experience. By recreating set lists from the past, and by developing their own sets of Dead songs, Dark Star Orchestra offers a continually evolving artistic outlet within this musical canon. Honoring both the band and the fans, Dark Star Orchestra’s members seek out the unique style and sound of each era while simultaneously offering their own informed improvisations.

Dark Star Orchestra offers much more than the sound of the Grateful Dead, they truly encapsulate the energy and the experience. It’s about a sense of familiarity. It’s about a feeling that grabs listeners and takes over. It’s about that contagious energy…in short, it’s about the complete experience and consistent quality show that the fan receives when attending a Dark Star Orchestra show.

Dark Star Orchestra has performed throughout the entire United States, including a sold out debut at Colorado’s Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater, plus shows in Europe and the Caribbean with the band touching down in seven different countries. DSO continues to grow its fan base by playing at larger venues for two and even three-night stands, as well as performing at major music festivals including Bonnaroo, Milwaukee’s SummerFest, The Peach Music Festival, Jam Cruise, Wanee Festival, SweetWater 420 Festival, Mountain Jam, and many more.

In addition to appearing at some of the nation’s top festival, Dark Star Orchestra hosts its own annual music festival and campaign gathering, titled the “Dark Star Jubilee”, currently in its eighth year where DSO headline all three nights and are joined by a mix of established and up and coming national touring acts. Beyond the shores of the United States, DSO has taken its internationally-acclaimed Grateful Dead tribute to the beaches of Jamaica in the dead of winter for the past six years, with their event appropriately titled ‘Jam in the Sand’. Featuring an ocean-side stage, DSO sets up camp to perform shows for four nights along the tropical sands of an all-inclusive resort, selling out the event each year for hundreds of lucky attendees.

Fans and critics haven’t been the only people caught up in the spirit of a Dark Star show. The band has featured guest performances from six original Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Vince Welnick, Tom Constanten and even toured with longtime Dead soundman, Dan Healy. Other notable guests have included Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman of Phish, Keller Williams, Warren Haynes, Steve Kimock, Peter Rowan, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and many more.

“For us it’s a chance to recreate some of the magic that was created for us over the years,” keyboardist and vocalist Rob Barraco explains. “We offer a sort of a historical perspective at what it might have been like to go to a show in 1985, 1978 or whenever. Even for Deadheads who can say they’ve been to a hundred shows in the 90s, we offer something they never got to see live.”

Visionary GRAMMY Award-winning artist Warren Haynes is a cornerstone of the American music landscape, lauded as one of the most formidable guitarists and vocalists of the modern era and a prolific songwriter and producer. He effortlessly cross-pollinates genres and unfurls solos that broil with passion in his distinctive, signature style. Throughout his prolific career as part of three of the greatest live groups in rock history – Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule and the Dead – and an acclaimed solo artist, he has become one of music’s most treasured storytellers and his artistry has led to thousands of memorable performances and millions of album and track sales. Haynes is a beacon of creativity and musical excellence that inspires fans as well as fellow musicians, evidenced by the diverse array of artists that he has performed and recorded with, including Dave Matthews Band, Peter Frampton, Chris Stapleton, Coheed and Cambria, Dave Grohl, Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton, and many more. Haynes released his new solo album, Million Voices Whisper, on November 1, 2024, marking his first solo album in almost a decade and fourth solo release in his esteemed career catalog. The soulful blues-rock collection includes guest appearances from his ABB bandmate Derek Trucks, Lukas Nelson and Jamey Johnson. Haynes also curates and hosts the Christmas Jam, an annual star-studded holiday charity show in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, which will return for its 33rd event in 2025 due to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts this year. As one of the most celebrated and longest-running live concerts in the U.S., the Christmas Jam has raised nearly $3 million for Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, constructing over 50 homes, and helps the region’s housing needs through newer partner BeLoved Asheville.

There are a lot of musical influences and sources that Daniel Donato has drawn on during his career and that inform his latest album, Reflector (Retrace Music), his first all-original album. But within those, Donato has carved out a unique and individualized spot for himself, one that speaks to the deep American music heritage that inspires him — and that he’s pushing towards the future with inspired, intentional vigor.

He calls it Cosmic Country, a moniker that’s both self-descriptive and a statement of purpose. It’s an organic rock band aesthetic with plenty of roadhouse twang; a showcase for Donato’s instrumental virtuosity and facility for melodically infectious songcraft. Bridging Nashville and the Great West, Kentucky and mid-60s northern California, tie-dye and plaid, it’s a world of his own, and a wide world of musical adventure at that.

While growing up in Nashville his  his father, who turned his young son on to music of all genres, suggested the fledgling and industriously minded (even at just 14) artist start busking in Nashville’s lower Broadway area and outside concerts, for eight hours at a time on the weekends. One night, the two happened by Robert’s Western World where legendary honky-tonk local mainstay the Don Kelly Band were performing.  “Their songbook was that of my main influences still to this day — Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Bob Wills, Marty Robbins, Bill Monroe, traditional bluegrass music, Hank Williams Sr. — old-timey music with real stories and emotions that everybody has. It just hooked me right away.” Donato eventually became a member of the band, playing four hours a night at Robert’s (464 shows in total).

Another piece of the puzzle came through later in Donato’s teenage years — the Grateful Dead, thanks to a high school American History teacher who gave him a pile of bootleg recordings when he was 18. “When I discovered Jerry Garcia, there’s really never been anyone who writes like that,” says Donato. “From there I went on to discover Bob Dylan and all the great writers and made me want to make that part of what I did as well.”

The whole package of player, singer, writer and band leader was in place. Two albums in, Daniel Donato and Cosmic Country, featuring Nathan Aronowitz (keyboards/guitars/vocals), Will McGee (bass/vocals) and Will Clark (drums, percussion/vocals) are selling out venues throughout the country and bringing their brand of Cosmic Country to an ever growing, passionate fanbase.

Guitarist and songwriter Jeff Mattson is one of the Jam scene’s most lasting voices having taken over Long Island in The Volunteers and The Zen Tricksters then rising to national prominence with The Donna Jean Godchaux Band. ​ Mattson has also played with Phil Lesh & Friends both before and after taking the lead guitar post at Dark Star Orchestra. Jeff’s songs appear on DJGB’s latest release, Back Around (Heart of Gold Records), and his work is prominently featured on five other albums (Donna Jean & the Tricksters [2008], For Rex: The Black Tie-Dye Ball [2006], Shaking Off the Weirdness [2003], A Love Surreal [1999], The Holy Fool [1996]). He is known for serving rock and roll through engaging, fiery guitar work lifted by gentle vocals.

After cultivating her dynamic voice and performance skills in backup roles and stage plays, Joslyn Hampton teamed with her stepfather, Marty Charters (a touring guitarist and songwriter who has shared the stage with legends such as Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and Van Morrison), to compose a captivating set of tunes and assemble an ace band. Joslyn & The Sweet Compression (Kasym Moldogaziev- Guitar, Isaac Stephens – Trumpet, Smith Donaldson – bass, Rashawn Fleming – drums, Trevin Little – saxophone, and Sam Richardson – Keyboard) combine to deliver a hook-filled mix of funk and soul on their self-titled debut album, released in 2019. A headlining favorite at regional clubs and music festivals, they are poised to engage fans across the country with widespread touring in 2023.