My second day at the Newport Folk Festival felt so much more relaxed than the first, which I detailed in my article, “Give Me Time, Newport Folk Festival (Part 1).” I had the comfort of knowing I had a ticket to get into the fest on Sunday, July 28, 2019. I was able to go early enough to get in position for the first act I wanted to see and enjoyed talking to some of the other fest attendees. This day’s account may be in less detail than the previous one, partially because I wanted to feel immersed in the experience and partially because it was difficult to take notes during the sets I saw.
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
I planted myself at the rail of the Fort Stage to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I was excited to see their own set after seeing them play with Dawes the day before. Plus, the spirit of Preservation Hall holds a special place in my mind after a visit to the legendary venue in New Orleans during a high school choir trip.
Every moment of this set was pure bliss — listening to this music that speaks to the soul played with such flare and enthusiasm. The band had a couple singers make guest appearance. First Nicole Atkins joined in the fun and then J.S. Ondare entertained the crowd with a mambo. I especially enjoyed the band’s performance of “Keep Your Head Up.”
Lake Street Dive
I don’t remember what I did between the Preservation Hall Jazz Band set and the next one I watched, because they weren’t back to back, though they were at the same stage. I returned to the Fort Stage to watch Lake Street Dive perform. It was early afternoon by this time and the sun was high overhead. The temperature was hot and being crammed in the crowd near the front of the stage, barely able to move, there was little breeze reaching me.
Lake Street Dive was fantastic and the performance was definitely worth seeing. They played a bunch of tunes from last year’s album release Free Yourself Up. A highlight moment was when Hozier appeared to join the band for “Rental Love” from Lake Street Dive’s earlier album Bad Self Portraits. Unfortunately, the high temperatures and relentless sun of mid-day made standing in front of the stage nearly unbearable and as soon as they were finished I could not wait to get out of that crowd and into some shade.
I headed over to the quad and caught the end of the set for Bonny Light Horsemen. Would have been nice to see more of their set as I think I would have liked it.
Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings
I managed to grab a patch of shade provided by a fort wall at the Harbor Stage for the set by Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle. Billy is an amazing, technical, finger picking guitar player and Molly is a fantastic bluegrass musician. Molly is currently supporting this year’s album, When You’re Ready. The pair combined for a superb set, including adding a backing band and re-working Cher’s hit “Do You Believe in Life After Love?” You would have never thought it was a pop hit if this was the first time you had heard it performed as they so completely transformed it into bluegrass style.
The Milk Carton Kids
I hustled into the Harbor tent at the end of that set, grabbing a spot in one of the first few rows, house right for The Milk Carton Kids. This was the concert I had come to the festival for on that Sunday. Since I was sitting down, I was able to take some notes on their set, which commenced thus:
- “Hope of a Lifetime” from The Ash & Clay
- “The Ash & Clay” from album of same title
- “Years Gone By” from The Ash & Clay
- “Girls, Gather ‘Round” from Retrospect
Joey talked a little about the title of the album the released last year, All the Things I Did and All the Things I Didn’t Do. He pointed out that title perhaps could have been condensed because that was “everything.” I have thought the same thing when I first heard it. But Kenneth remarked that wasn’t true, it didn’t include “all the things you’re gonna do.”
- “Sea of Roses” from All the Things I Did and All the Things I Didn’t Do
- “Younger Years” from All the Things I Did and All the Things I Didn’t Do
- “Mourning in America” from All the Things I Did and All the Things I Didn’t Do
- “Heaven” from The Ash & Clay from All the Things I Did and All the Things I Didn’t Do
Joey and Kenneth talk about Newport Folk Festival producer, Jay Sweet, with Kenneth saying Jay did not want certain Milk Carton Kids songs to be played. Joey complained that was censorship and since he didn’t know about it until that moment, that Kenneth was censoring him from the censorship. Then Kenneth said, maybe it wasn’t censorship, but hinted that maybe Jay just didn’t like some of the songs. Joey thought that was okay, because then the set list wasn’t being censored, it was just “curated.” He asked the audience if there were any songs they did NOT want to hear. Someone called out “Freebird” and everybody laughed. Someone else mentioned “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” but Joey defended that saying if done in a certain way it could even fit in at the folk fest. In fact, he felt Britney needed to be allowed out of her house and urged the audience to start a hashtag to get Britney to the folk fest next year.
Then Joey and Kenneth had a discussion about “goat consciousness.” It was noted that audience members were flocking to the shaded areas and they were compared to how goats would flock to shaded areas. Thus the conversation as to whether that was an instinct or that was a conscious choice to go in the shade. Kenneth felt maybe Joey was suggesting that the Milk Carton Kids audience was lacking intelligence, but Joey pointed out that, “They’re here and not at Hozier” (who was playing at the same time on the Fort Stage). “We know what they want. Here’s a song about death.”
- “Snake Eyes” from The Ash & Clay
- “Michigan” from Prologue
- “New York” from Prologue
- “Memphis” from The Ash & Clay
- “I Still Want a Little More” from Prologue
If I Had a Song — Many Musicians!
As soon as the set was over there was a mass migration to the Fort Stage for the closing performance of the festival titled “If I Had a Song.” The session was advertised as, “This set will surround hate, and force it to surrender. In what would have been our co-founder’s 100th year, we could think of no better way to celebrate Pete’s [Seeger] spirit in a time where we need each other now more than ever, than to do so with a celebratory sing-along. We’re stronger when we sing together, so we intend to do just that for this year’s festival finale.” That set featured a slew of artists who performed at the festival, and some who didn’t, collaborating on songs that cross generations.
It kicked off with Kermit the Frog performing the song “Rainbow Connection” (the song celebrating its 40-year anniversary) and joined on stage by Jim James. I can’t express how big of a fan of Kermit the Frog I was when I was a kid, and how even as an adult, I gaped with childlike wonder across the throng of people at this superstar. Many of the people had received festival song books with all the lyrics printed out, so it was very easy for them to sing along. I didn’t get one, but it didn’t matter. I knew every word of this song and I’ve used part of the lyric as the title for this post. (By the way, if anyone ever reads this who has one of those songbooks spare and wants to get it to me, fill in the contact form on this site.)
After that wonderful beginning, the larger band formed on the stage for the numbers to come with Chris Funk of The Decemberists on guitar, the ubiquitous Benmont Tench on the piano, Wilco’s John Stirratt on bass, Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes on guitar, and Janet Weiss, formerly of Sleater-Kinney and now a “drummer for hire,” handling the drum kit, along with some other musicians I am probably missing because I was pretty far from the action (all my photos are zoomed in). The rest of the set was as follows:
- “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” – Dylan’s song voiced by Benmont Tench
- “God Only Knows” from the Beach Boys, with Trey Anastasio of Phish and Rachael Price from Lake Street Dive leading the vocals
- “We Shall Overcome” featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Berklee Strings, with help from Rachael Price. They were absolutely triumphant by the end of that number!
- “If I Had a Hammer” the folk classic heard Brandi Carlile and Alynda Segarra on vocals, with continued support from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
- “If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus” a song Pete Seeger played that became an anthem for the civil rights movement, was embraced and performed by Our Native Daughters
- “Everyday People” Sly and the Family Stone’s song had a cool collaboration between Lake Street Dive and Hozier
- “Strangers” heading off-book, Portugal.The Man covered this tune by The Kinks, with some-time Largo guest performer Paul Cartwright appearing on the violin
- “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” saw a slew of musicians swarm the stage, led by Mavis Staples on vocals, with Jason Isbell, Hozier, Phil Cook, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Our Native Daughters joining in (and again, I might be missing someone)
- “Instant Karma” John Lennon’s rocker was performed by Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes
- “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” Robin Pecknold, Eric Johnson from the Fruit Bats, James Mercer of the Shins transformed into Crosby, Stills, and Nash for this song, while Judy “Blue Eyes” Collins herself joined them toward the end
- “Turn, Turn, Turn” Judy Collins took her turn to lead the vocals
- “This Land is Your Land” Woody Guthrie’s great song,with The Milk Carton Kids and Colin Meloy from The Decemberists
- “Goodnight, Irene” with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, just about every musician that was left at the festival was on stage, and let’s not forget the crowd, still singing along, finishing the show with a feeling of fellowship
On my way out, I ended up in the Newport shuttle line right behind the couple from Canada that I had sat next to at The Milk Carton Kids’ Sad Song Comedy Hour on Friday night. It made for a sweet bookend to chat with them about our experiences while waiting for the boat and on the way across the harbor.
I have seldom felt more in my element than I did at this festival. The true magic of Newport was connection, even for a solo traveler. Be it rainbow or otherwise.Proof that dreams can manifest into reality #theloversthedreamersandME pic.twitter.com/Rc3YjXEPhf
— Jay Sweet (@ajsfour) July 29, 2019