It’s taken me some time to put words to a truly incredible three days of music. It’ll never be enough, but here are a few thoughts on Newport Folk Festival, 2022. 

The New Folk Family Came to Play

Jay Sweet was a very busy man at Newport this year. He has a tradition of introducing every act who is playing the Festival for the first time and it seemed like every other set he was up on stage welcoming a new member of the folk family. What was striking was how quickly the new acts to the festival endeared themselves to the crowd. In Rick Massimo’s excellent book on Newport Folk Festival, he quotes Jay telling artists to “let the audience know you know where you are.” Every single new act at this year’s Festival seemed to take that advice to heart. 

The first artist of the festival was Leith Ross, the recipient of the newly-established John Prine Songwriter Fellowship. Jay was visibly emotional, and rightfully so, as he paid tribute to John who championed so many of the artists, like Margo Price, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, and Sturgill Simpson, who have created new legacies at Newport. Jay acknowledged that when you first hear Leith’s music, they don’t sound a lot like John Prine, but that’s not the point of this Fellowship. It is to support new songwriters bringing their vision to an audience. I can’t think of a better start to the festival then Leith Ross. Their songs are beautiful and tender and the way they played with their band was simply gorgeous. From the first notes on the Harbor stage the audience was pin-drop quiet, which is what you come to expect from a Newport crowd: attentive, appreciative, and supportive. 

The Dead Tongues lit up the Quad Stage. Dust was one of the best albums of the past few years, and the band brought it all to beautiful life on stage. Watching Ryan Gosling and Maddie Shuler trade guitar solos was otherworldly.

The Black Opry Revue was full of performers making their debuts and each artist was worthy of a full set. Autumn Nicholas started the Revue with her stirring anthem: “Not Gonna Do This Anymore.” Leon Timbo had me weeping; The Kentucky Gentleman and Julia Cannon had me dancing. Lizzie No was a total force. Buffalo Nichols performed twice over the weekend: once with the Black Opry Revue, and again during his full set on Sunday. In both instances, he had the crowd in the palm of his hand. His performance of his gripping song “Another Man” was one of the highlights of the Festival. The song takes the traditional structure of the old blues song “Another Man Done Gone” and updates it to reflect today’s version of Jim Crow, namely police violence. Buffalo Nichols sings: “When my granddaddy was young / He had to hold his tongue. / They’d hang you from a bridge downtown / Now they call it “stand your ground,” / Another man is dead.” The song makes allusions to Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and includes the singer’s own experience of a gun being drawn on him by police when he was a teenager. I cannot recommend this song and Buffalo Nichols’s entire album enough.

Perhaps the debut act that was most pleasantly surprising to me was The Linda Lindas. They are a pop punk band from California. The oldest member of the band is 17 and the youngest is 11. And in their first performance at Newport, they did not blink, and had the entire Quad Stage audience dancing and grinning ear-to-ear their entire set. They brought so much energy and enthusiasm that it was simply infectious.

Folk Music is Intergenerational

One of the interesting threads of attending the Newport Folk Festival is the shifting and evolving and expanding definition of “folk music.” When I tell my friends that I’m going to a folk festival, I think they mostly imagine Peter Paul & Mary. White people sitting around a campfire playing guitar and shushing anyone talking during the song. One of the things I appreciate about Newport is its active effort to expand the definition of folk. The Roots are folk. Sylvan Esso is folk. Dinosaur Jr. is folk. 

For me the most important aspect of folk music is that it is intergenerational. It is Taj Mahal playing the Thursday night after show with Jake Blount and Rhiannon Giddens. It is Courtney Barnett joining Dinosaur Jr. on stage. It is kids sitting on their parents shoulders watching kids like The Linda Lindas, not much older than them, burning the house down. There were a couple of other artists that I was interested in catching who were playing at the same time as Taj. But he was too damn good so I had to stay for his whole set.

Newport, and folk music in general, is also defined by a deep awareness of roots, of legacy. It is Adia Victoria invoking and inviting the ghost of Skip James on stage with her as she embodied the spirit of the blues: a combination of pain, of joy, of sorrow, of laughter, of resistance. Skip James also had a special place on the Foundation Stage for a special recording of the podcast Disgraceland with Adam Weiner of Low Cut Connie performing James’s songs as Jake Brennan told the story of Skip James’s life. 

The Spiritual Helpline Gospel Revue on Sunday was another beautiful example of intergenerational legacy. Phil Cook, a long time student and champion of gospel music, has dedicated himself to ensuring that it is passed on to another generation and a wider audience. His partnership with sister Lena Mae Perry and the Branchettes is one of the best stories in music from the past few years. If you have not yet seen the film Stay Prayed Up, I urge you to see it as soon as you can. Thomas Rhyant’s performance during Spiritual Helpline was another highlight. Thomas sings in an otherworldly falsetto; I’m quite sure I saw Nathaniel Rateliff flinch in awe at one of those high notes that Thomas hit so beautifully.

The final sets on Saturday and Sunday were also wonderful examples of the throughline of music. Paul Simon joined Nathaniel Rateliff on Saturday, and that would have been the story of Newport 2022 if not for Joni Mitchell performing with Brandi Carlile and Friends on Sunday. More on Joni in a minute. The Paul Simon set was absolutely incredible. He played “Graceland” with the Silk Road Ensemble, “The Boxer,” with Jerry Douglass on dobro, “American Tune,” with Rhiannon Giddens, and ended the evening with a stunning solo performance of “The Sound of Silence.” He thanked all the artists who learned his songs for the set, perhaps not imagining that these artists have been playing his songs their whole lives. 

Clusterfolk

The lineup for the festival was pretty stable, but, because of COVID, there were some notable shifts. Beabadoobee was replaced by Hurray For The Riff Raff a few weeks before the festival, and Bonny Light Horseman had to drop out a few days beforehand. John Craigie led an impromptu set playing all of The Beatles’ album Let It Be. The Bonny Light Horseman slot was filled by Clusterfolk. One of my rules for Newport is: if they don’t tell you what it is, it’s going to be memorable. 

This set, more than any other–yes, including those last big sets–captured the spirit of this festival. It was spontaneous, collaborative, and joyful. Anais Mitchell kicked it off by covering “End of the Innocence,” and it was beautiful. Sarah Lee Guthrie came out and played a couple of songs, grinning the whole time. Natalie Merchant jumped on stage and said to the crowd, “I know what you’re thinking. Can she still sing?” Uh, yesshecan. And she had the whole crowd singing “thank you, thank you” during “Kind and Gentle,” dedicated to the indefatigable crew that puts this festival together every year.

Lukas Nelson and Robert Ellis did a wonderful cover of “Tell Me Why” and Craig Finn brought out every available artist on stage to sing “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding.” The performances were fabulous, but it was really the feeling about this set that I loved. It was open-hearted. I would listen to a whole day of Clusterfolk (but I wouldn’t wish that stress on the festival team). 

I would add the Foundation and Bike stages to the spirit of Newport. Illiterate Light curated the Bike stage–one powered by power generated from solar panels and fans pedaling on stationary bikes. Langhorne Slim’s set on the Bike stage was all about the audience: he brought up a couple that had just gotten engaged and he moved into the crowd for “The Way We Move,” making the whole Quad jump. The Foundation Stage featured one of my favorite debuts: Izzy Heltai. We’ve known Izzy for a while at Red Line Roots, but this was my first time seeing him live. His lyrics are so disarming–they’re playful and funny and then, all of a sudden, you’re crying because they’re beautiful and vulnerable. His forthcoming song, “25,” had me not just crying, but weeping–I can’t wait until it comes out. Yasmin Williams’s set on the Bike Stage was what she always is: totally, utterly mesmerizing. To be literally three feet from these artists on the side stage is just something that feels very special and in keeping with the tradition and feeling of what makes Newport special.

Diverse Voices Make Music Better

During Folk On 2021, one of the most important moments was Allison Russell’s “Once and Future Sounds” set featuring mostly Black women. In conversation with Adia Victoria recorded for Adia’s podcast Call and Response, Allison and Adia talked about the importance of diversity at music festivals. “We all love our white boys with guitars,” they said, “but there is space for more people.” I was so heartened to see Newport continuing to make its Festival a diverse space for artists, for the simple reason that diversity makes music better. 

The Silk Road Ensemble was perhaps the most stunning set that I saw all weekend. In terms of collaboration you don’t get much better than this. All of the artists are world class, and they come from all over the world. I loved the way the Ensemble grinned at each other as they played. Their mutual admiration and respect was palpable. The multiple standing ovations were a testament to both the artists and the audience: people who want to listen, who want to discover new music, and give artists the space to step into the moment.

Joy Oladokun was brilliant in her set with The Black Opry and her solo set. She is a vibrant performer who is vulnerable and honest about her own uncertainties. She has the best damn laugh in the world. And her songs, her songs, her songs. They stay with you and, as it says on her guitar, they keep hope alive. 

One of the striking moments about how diversity makes music better was when Rhiannon Giddens and Paul Simon performed his song “American Tune.” Paul Simon played guitar Rhiannon played banjo and sang. Rhiannon also changed the lyrics. She sang “We didn’t come on the ship the Mayflower / We came in a blood-red moon.” Instead of the whitewashed version in the original song, Rihannon’s rewriting expands the vision of who is included in a so-called American Tune and does not turn away from the difficult, tragic, violent aspects of our shared history. After the performance, Simon said, “I like the way you re-imagined that song and gave it more meaning.” 

More meaning. That is what diversity can bring us in music: more meaning, bigger conversations, deeper understanding, more joy, more beauty, and stronger commitment to make our world one in which everyone can thrive.

There’s Nothing to “Top”

Okay. The Joni Jam. This was quite simply one of the most amazing moments I have ever seen in live music. 

When Joni came out on stage with assistance and took Brandi’s hands, and sat in an ornate chair, I thought we would mostly hear contemporary artists playing Joni Mitchell songs to Joni Mitchell. And that’s how it started. But there was a turning point about halfway through the set. During “A Case of You,” which Joni performed with Brandi and Marcus Mumford, they all sang together, but then Brandi and Marcus stopped and it was just Joni’s voice singing: “And I would still be on my feet.” And her voice was so clear and her voice was so powerful that from that moment on I knew we were in for something different.

There were many wonderful moments from this set. Joni’s appreciation of and admiration for Celisse. Marcus Mumford simply grinning the entire set as he played percussion. The highlight for me was Joni’s definitive version of her iconic song “Both Sides Now.” It’s not just that Joni is older. And it’s not just that she has had a truly miraculous recovery following her aneurysm from a few years ago. Her delivery captured the essence of every single line in the song. The timing, the cadence, the humor, and the perspective were all brought out in a way I had never heard before. It is months later and the song is in my head every day.

One of the things that circulated quite a bit on social media in the days following Newport was a question: how will The Newport Folk Festival ever top that? 

I would like to humbly submit that there is nothing to “top.” At its best moments, live music lets you be totally present, open to ineffable emotional connections, and, for lack of a better way of putting it, filled up. That can happen between friends playing music on a porch and it can happen on the largest stages. It can happen in a club on Frenchman Street and in a small rural church and in a bar in Des Moines and in a living room. If it isn’t clear, I experienced this feeling over and over and over at Newport this summer and no one moment exceeded another. I think if we imagine live music as something that has to be bigger or better, we will miss all the “smaller” moments that can be just as fulfilling.

Was this final set incredible and inspiring? Yes, of course. But it didn’t top any of the other moments and it can’t be topped. I will hopefully be back at Newport in 2023. But I won’t be looking for it to try to top 2022. What happens next year will happen once and never again. Isn’t that enough?

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