Cover photo of My Morning Jacket by digboston
Newport Folk Connecting Music Through Moments
Heading into Newport Folk ain’t your average experience at a concert or a festival. For one, tickets are sold without a lineup announced. Maybe that sounds counterintuitive to the whole sales thing, but when you’ve built the kind of trust that Newport has with its audience, the lineup will never disappoint. The second thing you’ll quickly realize is that these headliners aren’t here to play the hits, maybe they will, but really what Newport is about is experimenting, new collaborations and an implicit trust between the audience and artist. Trust that means your ticket is not a demand to see Jack White play “Seven Nation Army”, but rather an opportunity to see him get on stage and play a set that makes him tear up. Or where the Pixies will get to play an acoustic set. It’s a safe place for everyone involved. And more than that, it’s a place that fosters connection—it almost breathes it. Icons meet up-and-comers or icons connect—and these connections go on to make music together, tour together, or form supergroups. All born at The Newport Folk. Likely the best way to understand this sentiment is to go, but the following are some good examples of the kinds of things you might see. You know if once-in-a-lifetime experiences are your thing.
Key Folk Family
Some names to remember for down the line.
Margo Price
Rhiannon Giddens
Nathaniel Rateliff
Brandi Carlile
Mavis Staples
Jon Batiste
Marcus Mumford
Joni Mitchell
Jim James
Allison Russell
Hozier
Adia Victoria
Jason Isbell
Amanda Shires
Taylor Goldsmith
Lucius
John Prine
Jon Batiste
Photo by Nina Westervelt
Jon curates a Newport Closing set in 2018 of covers inspired by the music of the civil rights movement. The set features Maggie Rogers, Brandi Carlile, Leon Bridges and Mavis Staples (many of the artists that appear in Jon’s set help to celebrate Mavis for the 80th birthday shows Newport throws).
Batiste also became close friends with Newport Folk founder George Wein (a fellow jazz piano player). He eulogized him at his funeral and memorialized him on-air on The Late Show after his passing.
Jon Batiste and Brandi Carlile serve as co-musical directors for Joni Mitchell’s MusiCares Person of the Year honorary celebration at the Grammys (Lucius, Allison Russell, Beck, Jon Batiste, Brandi, Yola and many more Newport Folk family members). Many of these artists come back to Newport to play in Joni’s band.
Marcus Mumford
Photo by Nina Westervelt
In 2018 Mumford and Sons come to do a full surprise-headlining set and invites Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Maggie Rogers and Mavis Staples to perform with them.
Marcus Mumford returns to play with Joni Mitchell and debuts solo work in 2022.
Phoebe, Maggie, Brandi meet Mavis Staples. (All met at Newport.)
Nathaniel Rateliff
Photo by Nina Westervelt
Rateliff played the festival in 2015 and then came back the next year as a surprise when Justin Townes Earle had to cancel. They were opening for another band nearby and had time to come over and play the smallest stage as a last-minute surprise and brought up Preservation Hall Jazz Band to do a second line into the crowd.
Rateliff returns many times including in John Prine’s legendary 2017 Newport set.
Later Rateliff and Prine officially records “Sam Stone”, the song they performed together at Newport.
Rateliff headlines in 2022 under a mysterious set title called the “American Tune Review” In it he brings Paul Simon out of retirement to surprise the Newport audience. He also brings out Lucius, Mumford, Adia Victoria and Rhiannon Giddens.
Brandi Carlile
Photo by Adam Kissick
Brandi has played the festival numerous times both announced and unannounced. In 2019, she debuted her supergroup the Highwomen and then topped off the festival with a fully curated Dolly Parton set with the legend herself making a surprise appearance. In 2021 Carlile made a surprise appearance on Allison Russell’s headlining set that featured Chaka Khan, Margo Price, Adia Victoria and more. In 2022 Carlile pulled off the impossible by bringing Joni Mitchell back to Newport for her first appearance since her stroke. The performance featured a band composed of many Newport Folk Family members including Russell, Mumford, Lucius, Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes, Blake Mills and more.
The Highwomen: Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires. Sheryl Crow, Yola, Jason Isbell, Lucius, Dolly Parton.
Brandi appears with Allison Russell at her 2021 Newport set which also featured Adia Victoria, Margo Price and Chaka Khan.
Brandi and Allison Russell release the song “You’re Not Alone” together.
Brandi invites Allison Russell to perform as part of the backing band for the Joni Jam in 2022.
Brandi brings Joni Mitchell back to stage backed by Mumfod, Lucius, Taylor Goldsmith, Blake Mills, Allison Russell and more. Mitchell first plays Newport Folk Festival in 1967.
It’s not about genre or a community of music; it’s the power of music through community.
Jay Sweet, Executive Director, Newport Folk
Margo Price
Photo by Adam Kissick
Margo is one of the Newport core family members often and has led numerous collaborations both on-site at Newport and off-site—recording with artists she’s met there and being a phenomenal mentor and ally to other artists.
Margo Price collabs with Sharon Van Etten, Courtney Barnett, Adia Victoria, Allison Russell and John Prine.
Margo, Mavis and Adia Victoria all collaborate at Newport and go on to record together.
Margo, Adia Victoria, Allison Russell, Kam Franklin & Kyshona all collaborate together at Newport and go on to record together and perform on Colbert.
Margo Price + Kris Kristofferson meet at Newport collab on Bobby McGee (Kristofferson was originally at Newport as Johnny Cash’s guitarist and made his debut as a solo artist).
Rhiannon Giddens
Photo by Adam Kissick
Multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens originally comes to Newport in 2011 with her band the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Giddens returns in 2022 to join Rateliff’s American Tune Review. She performs with Paul Simon.
Later she returns with her all-Black female banjo player project—Songs of Our Native Daughters. The band was formed specifically for a record and Newport Folk Festival was originally the only live set they were supposed to play. The project takes off and launches the solo careers of Allison Russell, Amythyst Kiah and Leyla McCallah.
Joni Mitchell
Joni a guest of the festival in 1967, had her debut in 1969, meets James Taylor, Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Cohen, etc. Comes to Newport Folk’s Mavis Staples birthday party as a guest of Brandi Carlile.
Completes the “circle game” with her surprise return to the stage in 2022.
Mavis Staples
Photo by Adam Kissick
Mavis originally played Newport Folk Festival in 1964 with the Staples Singers.
Staples and Bob Dylan begin dating though she refuses his proposal (Dylan goes electric at Newport Folk Festival in 1965).
Newport Folk Festival throws Mavis Staples’ 80th birthday party in 2019, roping in Brandi Carlile, Maggie Rogers, Jason Isbell, Taylor Goldsmith, John Prine, Jon Batiste and more. The shows are held at The Apollo, The Ryman in Nashville and the Ace Theatre in Los Angeles. Joni Mitchell attends the show in Los Angeles.