For the last few years, I have aspired to write about every show I see. In reality, I have not even come close to doing so, I have barely written anything, which is a shame… for me, at least. So, I’ve tried to recalibrate my expectations of myself and am going to try and summarize each month of livemusic’n, hit some of the high points and try to wrap it up in a single theme that captures both the music and my thoughts on music and whatever. We’ll see how it goes!
ICYMI: October 2023: Nostalgia Acts
ICYMI: December 2023: Holiday’d
ICYMI: January 2024: Winter Jazzqueens
ICYMI: February 2024: Lil’ somethin’ extra
ICYMI: March/April 2024: Multiplicity
ICYMI: May 2024: Festival Season
ICYMI: June 2024: Community Centers
It’s been 4 weeks since the 65th Newport Folk Festival came to a(nother) triumphant close. I think I’m still in the window when I can write down some thoughts… and thoughts I’ve got!
This was my 13th Folk Fest, the first being 2007 and what I really want to say about the 2024 version is that it reminded me of the festival I fell in love with and made me realize how it had drifted away from that “ideal” over the last 5+ years. In that way, it was my favorite folk fest in quite a while.
That was pretty surprising to me, because the lineup was, as far as my tastes are concerned, the “weakest.” At least, that’s what I thought as I watched the announcements roll in over the course of the spring. What I had forgotten is that the NFF of yore was not Newport Fuckin’ Folk Fest because it was loaded with my favorite artists. It was NFFF because it wasn’t loaded with my favorite artists, rather a lineup filled with favorites-yet-to-discover. It was NFFF not because of the manufactured “surprise guests” weighing down what’s-gonna-happen secret sets, it was NFFF because the sit-ins were organic and natural. The must-attend event of the summer wasn’t lessened when artists dropped out, it was actually made better by the late substitutions. It wasn’t a soul-stirring weekend in Rhode Island because it was filled with a bunch of wish-they-were’s, it was because it had folks like Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings capping off an all-timer Saturday with just simple, honest, real folk songwriting. Somehow I had lost sight of that.
If I had to reduce the essence of Newport Folk down to one single thing that made me fall head-over-heels in love, the thing I keep coming back to, the person I keep coming back to is Elvis Perkins. Weird, but true. At the beginning, NFF was just an historic music festival to me, a great music festival in a very cool spot, dripping with the ghosts of festivals past. But when leaving the festival one of my first years (maybe my first?), we were strolling by the Harbor Stage and decided to stop and listen to the music for a bit. It was, you may have guessed, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, the song they were playing was “While You Were Sleeping,” and it is a moment I remember as if it were yesterday, one of those time-stood-still moments. I fell in love with the song, the performer, and, yes, as time went on, the festival in that moment. The songwriting, the performance, the glorious gut-punch of music discovery. It was the first of many “who are these guys!?” moments I would savor at Fort Adams. This year I felt it again, from Chaparelle and Steve Poltz and Number One Babe and Reyna Tropical and Friko. I was moved by songs I had never heard before, the gobsmacking “Mallory” from John Craigie which had me sobbing on a hot summer’s afternoon and new music from Liz Cooper playing solo.
That was not the only time I saw Elvis Perkins at Newport, he strangely became a go-to substitute in a couple of the following years, filling in for artists that had to miss. The thing is, he performed not like a pinch hitter but like a starting batter, an integral part of a lineup he hadn’t been a part of from the start. I thought a lot about that role as I watched Thao completely annihilate the modern version of the Harbor Tent, owning not the stage and the day, but probably the performance of the weekend. I can’t even remember who dropped out to make room for Thao, but with a massive band she was as good as I’ve seen her, rocking and funky and angry and relentless. Come to think of it, the first time I saw John Craigie was as a sub at the fest and, of all the artists on this year’s lineup, he represents what this festival is now and can be for years to come. A special songwriter and performer.
Sure, NFF2024 had its big names and manufactured surprises and gimmicks and larger-than-life moments, and those will continue to help make it a blind-trust sell out every year. But I was happy to skip catching Beck’s surprise set to bask in the Erin + Mat + Paul set, and leaving before Jack White came out to play with Conan O’Brien (just writing that was a bit odd) Sunday was no big whoop, but savoring every single note from Gillian and Dave Saturday was a must — serious chills from start to finish, it’s been too long.
I enjoyed so much at the festival, even as some of the specifics start to fade with my memory, but can’t resist a rundown of my favorite sets/things from 2024’s Newport Folk:
- Thao: I have seen her play many times, every time she makes me think “how fucking awesome is this human?” but her set at Newport was one for the ages. Horns and back-up singers, lots of guitar shredding, an all-killer setlist, and a through-the-roof energy. Awesome.
- Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings: this was the first announcement for this year’s lineup and with good reason. They have been sorely missing from NFF for way too long. The lineup has been filled with groups of folkies that try to capture what these guys have and it was quite clear that they are the real deal, having that essence that either you’ve got or you don’t. This one warmed my heart.
- Medicine Singers with Yonatan Gat & Lee Ranaldo: I don’t know how there’s room for such nasty cacophony at a folk festival, but somehow it just fits. Controlled anarchy that defies expectations even if you’ve seen em a dozen times. What a way to purify the Fort Stage for the weekend.
- Steve Poltz & John Craigie: this captures every time I saw these two guys, but particularly the set the two of them did trading off songs at the Foundation Stage. This was Poltz’s first NFF and my first time hearing him play and he just made me smile so big. These two should be playing and playing together every damn year. Amazing songs, hilarious storytelling.
- Madison Cunningham & Andrew Bird: in a dream world, this would be the modern day version of Dave and Gill, two artists meant to play with each other. Their set on the Fort Stage was an full-album reinterpretation of Buckingham Nicks and it was as awe-inspiring as you might imagine.
- Liz Cooper: the Foundation Stage was the spot where a lot of magic happened for me this year. This is the smallest stage and kind of an afterthought spot which gave it a little extra dose of special for me. Guess unsurprising considering what I’ve written above. Anyway, that was definitely true for this Cooper set, solo acoustic, song-focused and still as engaging as when she’s digging deep with her full band.
- Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek: they each played their own set, both of which were great, but it was the moment when Buck joined Adrianne during her set that gets them this spot. You could just feel the love and friendship between these two. Very real and very raw emotion, the kind of moments I found myself seeking at the Fort this year.
- Reyna Tropical: one of those sets where I had listened to and dug the record, but live was another level of sweetness. Fun, dancey set that just clicked in the right way.
- Chaparelle: you see a lot of music like I do and you start to recognize people and patterns and such and man, do I love that shit. I knew absolutely nothing about this country band but seeing familiar faces Will Van Horn and Geoffrey Muller in the band made me stop to listen and dang, I loved what I heard. Then they brought out Sam Evian to sit in, which was a pleasant surprise. Good gets better. Finally, where-did-he-come-from? Paul Cauthen (!?) came out and they crushed some Flying Burrito Brothers and I was sold.
- Erin Rae: Finally, a special note for Erin Rae. There’s a running joke/meme about the Jim James Award for the person who sits in with the most acts. Obviously named after the MMJ frontman who developed a reputation for sitting in with everyone when he was playing the festival in the 00’s. That role got taken on by others and eventually Brandi Carlile was kind of everywhere and, in a way, helped make the festival the larger-than-life thing it became. This year, it was Rae who was popping up in set after set. Unlike James and Carlile, though, Erin is a quiet, sweet presence, not pushing things over the top, but more like making them lovely and calming. And in all the ways, this is exactly what I was looking for and somewhat symbolically brought the festival back to something lovely and calm and sweet and just right. Thanks for that, Erin Rae.
July Roundup:
24 shows = $48 donated as part of the #livemusicchallange to the TPM Journalism Fund
Five Star Shows seen in July:
! My Morning Jacket (w/ Karina Rykman) @ Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids
! My Morning Jacket (w/ Karina Rykman) @ Masonic Temple in Detroit
! Arooj Aftab @ Summerstage
! Newport Folk Festival @ Fort Adams State Park in Newport
Review written in July (for Bowery Presents):
