The Newport Folk Festival
is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959.
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NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL TICKETS
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History
The Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by
Theodore Bikel,
Oscar Brand,
Pete Seeger and
George Wein, founder of the already-well-established
Newport Jazz Festival, and his partner,
Albert Grossman.
The Festival is renowned for introducing a number of performers who went on to become major stars, most notably
Joan Baez (who appeared as an unannounced guest of
Bob Gibson in 1959), and
Bob Dylan (managed by Grossman), whose first Newport appearance in 1963 is generally regarded as his premiere national performance. Dylan became the artist most famously (and infamously) associated with the festival. In 1963 and 1964, Dylan was accompanied by
Joan Baez.
The festival draws on folk music in a wide and loosened sense. For instance, in the 1960s there were famous performances by
Johnny Cash and
Howlin' Wolf, artists usually described as representing
country music and
blues respectively. The festival was associated with the 1960s
Blues Revival, where artists "lost" since the 1940s (e.g.
Delta blues singers) were "rediscovered".
Concerts have been
a rich source of recordings.
Murray Lerner directed the
1967 film
Festival
based on the 1963-1965 festivals, now available on DVD.
The Electric Dylan Controversy
Bob Dylan's 1963 and 1964 performances had made him popular with the Newport crowd, but on
July 25 1965 Dylan was booed by some fans when he played with backing from
Mike Bloomfield on Guitar and others from an
electric blues/
rock and roll band known as The
Paul Butterfield Blues Band while
headlining the festival. It is usually said that the reason for the crowd's hostile reception was Dylan's 'abandoning' of the folk
orthodoxy, or poor sound quality on the night (or a combination of the two). This incident, Dylan's first live 'plugged-in' set of his professional career, marked the shift in his artistic direction from folk to rock, and had wider implications for both styles of music. This incident has now been proven to be untrue in Alexander Cockburn's Essay Collection 'Serpents in the Garden' - where the original tapes were played back and shown to have not been booing at all.
Recent years
thumb compilation
The Newport Folk Festival fell on hard times in the later 1960s, even closing its doors for a number of years, beginning in 1971, but was revived in 1985, and has since become one of the major folk music festivals in the United States, alongside the
Philadelphia Folk Festival, which began in 1960 and is now the longest continual running music festival in North America, and the
Kerrville Folk Festival which began in 1972.
The Newport festival has run without interruption ever since 1985, although in a different form from its 1960s heyday; the event has gone from
not-for-profit to
for-profit, the crowd has shrunk from 20,000 to 10,000 and evening concerts have been canceled.
[1] Furthermore, the festival has enlisted the aid of major sponsors, including
Ben & Jerry's and
Dunkin' Donuts. The 2007 festival featured musicians such as
Linda Ronstadt, who was the Friday night headliner, in addition to other well known musicians such as the
Allman Brothers Band,
Emmylou Harris,
Alejandro Escovedo,
Cheryl Wheeler,
Hazel Dickens and
Ralph Stanley.
The 2008 Newport Folk Festival headliners included
Jimmy Buffett,
Stephen and
Damian Marley,
The Black Crowes,
Levon Helm and
Jakob Dylan
Newport Folk Festival Tour
Beginning in 1998, a multi-act bill, only loosely centered around folk music, has toured the United States under the
Newport Folk Festival Tour
moniker, playing the usual summer outdoor
amphitheatre circuit.
That first touring lineup included
Lyle Lovett,
Nanci Griffith,
Alison Krauss,
John Hiatt, Newport veteran
Joan Baez,
Wilco,
Suzanne Vega,
Loudon Wainwright III,
Lucinda Williams, and
Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
[2] A
New York Times
review found some similarities between the acts but a loss of the folk sensibility in its original purpose.
[3]
Albums recorded at the festival
- The Newport Folk Festival, 1959
[3 Volumes] - Vanguard Records
- The Kingston Trio Live at Newport
- Vanguard Records (1959 performance released in 1994)
- The Newport Folk Festival, 1960
[2 Volumes] - Vanguard Records
- The following albums were issued by Vanguard Records after the 1963 Newport Folk Festival:
- *Newport Broadside (Topical Songs)
- VRS-9144 (Mono) and VSD-79144 (Stereo) Joan Baez, Bob Davenport, Bob Dylan, The Freedom Singers, Jim Garland, Sam Hinton, Peter La Farge, Ed McCurdy, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger
- *Blues At Newport
- VRS-9145 (Mono) and VS-79145 (Stereo) Rev. Gary Davis, John Hammond, John Lee Hooker, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Mississippi John Hurt
- *Country Music and Bluegrass At Newport
- VRS-9146 (Mono) and VSD-79146 (Stereo) Clarence "Tom" Ashley, Clint Howard, Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, Tex Logan, The Morris Brothers, The New Lost City Ramblers, Fred Price, Doc Watson, Mac Wiseman, and The Country Boys.
- *Old Time Music At Newport
- VRS-9147 (Mono) and VSD-79147 (Stereo) Clarence "Tom" Ashley, Doc Boggs, Maybelle Carter, Jenes Cottrell, Dorsey Dixon, Clint Howard, Fred Price, Doc Watson
- *Evening Concert At Newport, Vol. 1
- VRS-9148 (Mono) and VSD-79148 (Stereo)
- *Evening Concert At Newport, Vol. 2
- VRS-9149 (Mono) and VSD-79149 (Stereo)
- *Live at Newport (John Lee Hooker album)
- Festival: The Newport Folk Festival 1965
- Ben & Jerry's Newport Folk Festival '88 Live
- Ben & Jerry's Newport Folk Festival, Vol. 2
(1990)
- Turn of the Decade 1989-90: Ben & Jerry's Newport Folk Festival
See also
- American folk music revival
- Festival
- No Direction Home
- Kerrville Folk Festival
- Philadelphia Folk Festival
- Newport Music Festival
- Newport Jazz Festival
- Electric Dylan Controversy
References
- CNN: "Newport Folk Festival features Willie Nelson, Natalie Merchant", retrieved January 10, 2006
- Travel Advisory | Pop Culture News | News + Notes | Entertainment Weekly | 1
- "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; Newport Folk, How It's Changed", ''The New York Times'', August 4, 1998. Accessed April 11, 2008.