Tag: Newport

BGS Top 50 Moments: Newport Folk Festival

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Dylan going electric in 1965. Lomax making his historic archive recordings in 1966. Joni taking the stage after 50-something years in 2022. Newport Folk is a festival full of milestone moments and lots of surprises. And for a brief moment in time in 2014, BGS was a small part of Newport Folk Fest’s long and storied history too, when we presented our Bluegrass Situation Workshop Stage inside the intimate Whaling Museum building on Sunday at the Fort.

Amidst a festival lineup that included such stalwarts as Nickel Creek, Trampled by Turtles, Dawes, Valerie June, Hozier, Jack White, and Mavis Staples, the BGS crew – helmed by co-founder Ed Helms and his Lonesome Trio bandmates Ian Riggs and Jake Tilove – hosted a few “up and coming” acts we were very excited about, singing songs about significant “firsts” in their lives. Some of those young whippersnappers you might have heard of, like Shakey Graves (joined by Chris Funk of the Decemberists and Langhorne Slim), Aoife O’Donovan, Wilie Watson (with special guest Sean Watkins), and Watchhouse (who were still going by Mandolin Orange at the time), which marked Andrew and Emily’s very first – but certainly not last – appearance at Newport.

That big “first” for us was significant – to be welcomed into the “Folk” Family and made to feel like we were all part of something big and wonderful. And it’s that feeling that’s brought us back to the Fort year after year ever since.

Photos by Samara Vise

In a Legendary Moment, Joni Mitchell Returns to Newport Folk Festival

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Newport Folk has long been a place where legendary moments are formed. The festival achieved yet another moment in its storied history last weekend when Joni Mitchell joined Brandi Carlile during the festival’s closing jam, marking the iconic songwriter’s first return to the festival in over half a century and first public live performance in decades. Brandi & Co. gave us a moment we all needed. Hearing Joni’s words and calming, dulcet tones was a balm for an uncertain society; a collective pause for us to reflect on time and its passing, and how different the world looks since the last time Joni played this stage.

We’ve rounded up a collection of the best videos around the internet from Joni’s historic set so that even if you weren’t there, you can take that joy in from every angle.

Brandi Introduces Joni

Questlove caught much of Brandi’s introductory speech building the excitement for the Joni Jam – and a bit of electric uncertainty among the crowd whether or not the guest of honor would actually be in attendance – as well as the first two numbers (“Carey” and “Come in From the Cold”) up close and personal.

 

 

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But it’s wholly worth watching Brandi’s speech in its entirety, as she acknowledges the power of congregation and radical love. “To power structures, folk music is — and always has been — utterly fucking destructive… It’s a truth teller and a power killer.”

“Both Sides Now”

“Big Yellow Taxi”

Joni’s Grand Entrance

 

 

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“Just Like This Train”

Joni and her electric guitar graced us with this Court and Spark beauty after a word of encouragement from Brandi Carlile: “Kick ass, Joni Mitchell!”

“The Circle Game”

“Summertime”

“A Case of You”

 

 

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An Interview with Joni & More Onstage Moments

 

 

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Cover photo by Newport Folk Festival

LISTEN: Newport Folk Festival Opens Bluegrass Archive for Saturday Stream

Posted on by Editor

Where do you begin to talk about bluegrass at Newport Folk Festival? And how do you capture 60 years of musical magic in just one show? The curators of the festival’s archive have taken a very cool approach, pulling out musical highlights from their first decade as well their most recent decade for the upcoming Burnin’ & Pickin’ Bluegrass set.

The 90-minute show — featuring some recordings that have never before been released — will stream during the festival’s Revival Weekend on Saturday, August 1, starting at 1:37 pm ET. The list of performers on the show has not yet been announced, but considering the breadth of talent that the festival has hosted, you might hear iconic figures like Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, and Doc Watson, or a new generation that includes Carolina Chocolate Drops, Old Crow Medicine Show, or Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. Legendary artists like Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, and Elizabeth Cotten could potentially show up on the set list, too.

One thing we do know: The Burnin’ & Pickin’ Bluegrass set will include this previously unreleased recording of Ralph Stanley and Ray Cline’s “Sally Goodin'” from 1968.

To honor the festival’s incredible heritage, please consider a donation to Newport Festivals Foundation, which in the last year has provided financial relief to over 400 musicians impacted by the pandemic and over 100 grants for music education programs across the country.

Billy Glassner, archivist for Newport Folk Fest, tells BGS, “Bluegrass has always been an important ingredient in the Newport Folk magic. From its first year in 1959 when Earl Scruggs brought the Cumberland Gap to the shores of the Narragansett Bay up through last years’ collaboration between Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle, that high lonesome sound has been a constant companion to the Newport Folk Festival.”

Glassner hints at more music to come from the vault, too. He adds, “The Newport Folk Archives house an embarrassment of bluegrass riches and curating this set proved to be a joyful yet challenging experience. The only way we were able to make the tough decisions of what to cut was with the knowledge that this is only the beginning of our efforts to make the recorded history of Newport more available to our fans.”

Tune in to Newport Folk’s Festival Revival Weekend from Friday, July 31-Sunday, August 2.

 

Be Together: Newport Folk Fest 2019 in Photographs

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Newport Folk Festival has always played host to singular, incomparable, once-in-a-lifetime musical moments. As you read this you can almost certainly think of at least a handful of examples, right off the top of your head. This year carried on that tradition and then some, displaying absolute magic across the festival’s four stages over the course of the weekend. Too many headline-worthy moments were sprinkled throughout, but BGS photographer Daniel Jackson was on hand to capture this folk and roots lightning in a bottle — from the performance debut of super supergroup The Highwomen to celebrating 80 years of Mavis Staples to surprise guests that make being green and looking cheap seem easy and effortless.

Perhaps the most meaningful take away from the festival, though, was not its star-studded stages, but its mantra — a timely reminder in this particular global moment: Be present. Be kind. Be open. Be together. Folk music, in all of its forms, carves out just such a space to allow for this togetherness. See it for yourself in these photographs from Newport Folk Fest 2019.

All photos: Daniel Jackson

FESTIVAL RECAP: Double Dose of Festival Fever (Newport & Grey Fox)

Posted on by Editor

(PHOTOS COURTESY OF JAMIE DEERING OF DEERING BANJOS):

 

The 2012 Newport Folk Festival, in its 53rd year with arguably the nation’s best artist lineup of the summer, continued its long running streak of ushering underexposed talent onto the national stage. This was true for yesteryear artists like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, and even artists in recent years, such as David Wax Museum and Brown Bird.

Just as we at grass clippings predicted, a new band to add to the list is Brooklyn secular gospel band Spirit Family Reunion, who has seen a recent explosion in the press (The Wall Street Journal and NPR to name a few) since it was named to the festival’s lineup. Like Baez and Dylan, the Festival marked the start of a new era in the band’s lives. Despite an early timeslot and frazzled late arrival to Fort Adams, the band turned a massive crowd (consisting of college hippies, Brooklyn hipsters, public radio music snobs and everything in between) into rabid fans. The crowd begged for multiple encores with standing ovations and passionate cheers within a set that comprised almost completely of original songs (besides a spicy rendition of “End of the Line,” a song from Woody Guthrie’s Columbia River Collection) and no special guests. It was especially moving for me personally, as I though back to a Saturday afternoon in 2009 when I stumbled upon the band playing at my neighborhood farmers market and selling hand-burned CDs.

But that was just a one way this year’s festival exceeded expectations. There really were too many magic moments to capture, but after a few Newport Storms (beer and weather), here’s what stood out…

  • LA’s own honeyhoney wooed festivarians with a cover of the Hank Williams song “Lost Highway.”
  • Continuing the trend of the young embracing the old (in standard Newport fashion), trendy Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit played a spine-chilling cover of “Diamond & Rust,” a song penned by 1959 Newport unbilled performer Joan Baez. Later the sisters, making their Newport debut at the ages of 21 and 19, closed their set with “King of the World,” which included a special appearance by Conor Oberst.
  • The festival’s Fort stage became a New(port) Orleans big tent revival with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s soulful closing songs, “A Closer Walk With Thee” and “I’ll Fly Away.” Joined by Del McCoury and Ben Sollee, the performance was a powerful picture of the way this music festival joins people. What else could join an environmentally-conscious cellist, a bluegrass legend and multiple Ninth Ward NOLA jazz stars other than a gospel song?
  • Then, Ben Sollee’s solo performance on the Festival’s intimate new indoor stage drew a crowd of his own, with a very special performance of “Prettiest Tree on the Mountain,” featuring Sara Watkins.
  • Both days of the Festival included strong showings from Canadian folk stars City and Colour and Deep Dark Woods.  Deep Dark Woods delivered a beautiful and well-attended set on Sunday that ranked high on my list of favorite performances. A nice festival moment happened when frontman Ryan Boldt broke a string and then finished out the show with a beautiful Gibson guitar offered up by James Maple of New England Americana band GraveRobbers, which made its festival debut this year.
  • It was The Tallest Man on Earth that impressed me the most out of any performance on Saturday or Sunday this year. A packed out crowd watched and chanted song after song as this tiny man sang, played and danced, filling the stage better than a small orchestra.
  • And then there was “The Screaming Eagle of Soul” Charles Bradley, who began his career at 62 and has more soul and better moves than any artist I’ve ever seen, anywhere. Bradley, a teenage runaway who lived on the streets and in subway cars for two years, seemed to be watched by more festival performers than any other.
  • The Head and the Heart delivered an intense performance to a massive crowd, which included a few impressive new songs, showing that the band will hopefully outlive their hugely popular first album.
  • Joe Fletcher chose to close his impressive Newport debut set surrounded by fellow Rhode Island folkers, including several members of The Low Anthem and Dave Lamb of Brown Bird.
  • Iceland’s folk pop band Of Monsters and Men drew one of the largest (and certainly the youngest) crowds of the festival. Yes, the more poppy you get, the bigger the crowds get, but there were tons of baby boom folkers hitting the “hey choruses” during “Little Talks.” The band brought a much needed energy to the festival, strategically timed to perform at the point where the crowd is starting to tire.

SO much more happened on stage, but there was plenty that happened off the stage as well. A crowd gathered as Jonah Tolchin wandered the grounds, playing without shoes and singing traditional folk songs. Also, slightly offstage and as the rain began to pour down, Punch Brothers rewarded those that braved the storm for their main set, with a mini unplugged set in the crowd as the stage hands began to tear down. It was catching moments like those that makes this festival the unique, communal gathering that it is.


Check out our photos from grass clippings photog Richard Kluver or vote for the festival’s best tattoos here.

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GREY FOX BLUEGRASS FEST — BY KIMBER LUDIKER OF DELLA MAE
 
 
My band Della Mae has performed at Grey Fox Bluegrass for three years now. I feel like every musician has lots of favorite festivals, but there’s always ONE that each of us will connect with on a personal level. For me, that festival is Grey Fox. They have stellar headliners, but a lot of festivals do. The most special thing about this festivals is that they create a platform for unique collaborations. Focusing on the personalities and relationships of artists, Grey Fox promoters Mary Doub and Chuck Wentworth have created a festival with a magnetic vibe that starts with the artists and spreads to the audience–a crowd full of people who appreciate the music and know they’re about to see things they’ve never seen before.

Speaking of those things, the festival’s greatest decision was to host Rushad Eggleston–‘the original Snee Goblin’. Look him up, love him, and go where you can to see him (most definitely at Grey Fox nextyear). He was playing with one of my favorite new bands, The Old Tyme Kozmik trio, alongside Darol Anger and Bruce Molsky. Rushad also closed the dance tent stage on Saturday night with his band Tornado Rider. Aside from his musical genius, Rushad is an athlete. He climbed the speaker tower to take a solo, and performed while being physically carried by his backup singers (okay, full disclosure: Della Mae became stand-in backup singers for Tornado Rider that weekend).

 

Highlights from the eyes of Della Mae: Our main stage set was really fun — afterwards, we signed a guy’s banana suit. We set up a ‘tattooing station’ at our workshop stage and gave out free Della Mae temporary tattoos. Our dance tent stage was probably my favorite set of all-time. We were joined by Greg Liszt and Dominick Leslie from the Deadly Gentlemen, Aoife O’Donovan, Bryan Sutton, Rushad Eggleson (again!), and my brother Dennis Ludiker from the great up-and-coming band MilkDrive. Rushad climbed on Shelby’s bass to take a solo, and Aoife played drums on ‘No Diggity’. What a ridiculous night.

Grey Fox is a magical place where you can be watching Del McCoury, see David Grisman picking along backstage, head to the dance tent stage where Del and Jason Carter are sitting in with Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers (Celia got to sing a song with them as well, and the rest of the Della Mae ladies got to be backup dancers!!), only to head back to main stage where the Punch Brothers are melting faces off of an eager audience. To top it off, you wander back to your camp, only to find Bryan Sutton, Grant Gordy, and Courtney Hartman picking on their guitars. The best part? All this actually happened over the course of four hours.

 

Other notable sets/moments: Thile & Daves, Tribute to Scruggs & Doc hosted by Tim O’Brien, Jesse McReynolds playing songs of the Grateful Dead, Brittany Haas sitting in with Tony Trischka & Territory, Noam Pikelny & friends performing with Aoife O’Donovan, and all of the jams at the Bluegrass Bus in the campground (one of which lasted until 9am — no joke).

Buy your ticket early for next year. And get your tent ready for one of the best campgrounds (and true festival experiences) around.