NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL

A couple of weekends ago, I took another road trip up the Eastern Seaboard to the great state of Rhode Island to go to the Newport Folk Festival music fest in Newport Harbor. It was something of an impulse trip, as somewhere on the internet a few weeks before I stumbled upon the lineup, thought it sounded pretty special, located some tickets on stubhub and emailed a few friends up North to come meet me (and host me, Thank You Seth and Danielle!). Next thing I knew I was driving up the coast ready to jam to some folk. The thing about this festival is that it is pretty iconic, it has been around since 1959 and it is where Bob Dylan famously ‘went electric’ in 1965, controversially. All the great ones have played there over the years. It’s a beautiful setting for a festival right on the harbor, and very intimate at only 3 small stages. And also quite preppy – I never expected to see so many pairs of Nantucket Red shorts at a Folk Festival – Toto, we are not in SF anymore… But all around it was an awesome and special East Coast experience with great company- we had the best time listening to amazing music, seeing some known faves and discovering new ones. My favorite acts included the insanely soulful Hozier (I wrote about him earlier here), at one time even backed by the Berklee College of Music Gospel choir (amazing), me and my friend Erin’s favorite dude, Shakey Graves, the glittery Valerie June singing a favorite of mine, ‘Rain Dance’ in the pouring down rain, Shovels & Rope, The Milk Carton Kids, the legendary Mavis Staples on her 75th birthday, the ladies Lucius and many more. Take a listen at the bottom to my Spotify playlist and enjoy my snapshots below…