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The Newport Folk Festival is an American
Music of the United States

The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Rock and roll, blues, country music, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop music, techno music, and hip hop music are among the country's most internationally-renowned music genres....
 annual folk
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
-oriented music festival
Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday....
 in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles south of Providence, Rhode Island....
, which began in 1959.

Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel

Theodore Meir Bikel is an Academy Award- and Tony Award-nominated character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his role as the Southern Sheriff in The Defiant Ones ....
, Oscar Brand
Oscar Brand

Oscar Brand...
, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger is an United States folk singer, and a key figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 50s as a member of The Weavers, most notably the 1950 recording of Leadbelly's "Goodnight, Irene" that topped the charts f...
 and George Wein
George Wein

George Wein is an United States jazz promoter and producer who has been called "the most famous jazz impresario" and "the most important non-player......
, founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival

The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by the jazz impresario George Wein, prompted by socialite Elaine Lorillard, whose wealthy husband helped finance the festival's startup....
, and his partner, Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman

Albert Bernard Grossman was an entrepreneur and Talent manager in the American folk music scene. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970....
.

The Festival is renowned for introducing a number of performers who went on to become major stars, most notably Joan Baez
Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is a Mexican-United States folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. Many of her songs are Topical song and deal with social issues....
 (who appeared as an unannounced guest of Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson (musician)

Samuel Robert Gibson was a folk singer who led a folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the Twelve string guitar....
 in 1959), and Bob Dylan (managed by Grossman), whose first Newport appearance in 1963 is generally regarded as his premiere national performance.






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The Newport Folk Festival is an American
Music of the United States

The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Rock and roll, blues, country music, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop music, techno music, and hip hop music are among the country's most internationally-renowned music genres....
 annual folk
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
-oriented music festival
Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday....
 in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, Rhode Island, United States, about 30 miles south of Providence, Rhode Island....
, which began in 1959.

History

The Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel

Theodore Meir Bikel is an Academy Award- and Tony Award-nominated character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his role as the Southern Sheriff in The Defiant Ones ....
, Oscar Brand
Oscar Brand

Oscar Brand...
, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger is an United States folk singer, and a key figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 50s as a member of The Weavers, most notably the 1950 recording of Leadbelly's "Goodnight, Irene" that topped the charts f...
 and George Wein
George Wein

George Wein is an United States jazz promoter and producer who has been called "the most famous jazz impresario" and "the most important non-player......
, founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz Festival
Newport Jazz Festival

The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by the jazz impresario George Wein, prompted by socialite Elaine Lorillard, whose wealthy husband helped finance the festival's startup....
, and his partner, Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman

Albert Bernard Grossman was an entrepreneur and Talent manager in the American folk music scene. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970....
.

Joan Baez Bob Dylan
The Festival is renowned for introducing a number of performers who went on to become major stars, most notably Joan Baez
Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is a Mexican-United States folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. Many of her songs are Topical song and deal with social issues....
 (who appeared as an unannounced guest of Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson (musician)

Samuel Robert Gibson was a folk singer who led a folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the Twelve string guitar....
 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
Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is a Mexican-United States folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. Many of her songs are Topical song and deal with social issues....
 (who in turn had been one of the first discoveries of the first Newport Folk Festival, in the company of Chicago musician Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson (musician)

Samuel Robert Gibson was a folk singer who led a folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the Twelve string guitar....
).

The festival draws on folk music in a wide and loosened sense. For instance, in the 1960s there were famous performances by Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Primarily a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll , as well as blues, folk music and Gospel music....
 and Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett , better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match [Howlin' Wolf] for the singular...
, artists usually described as representing country music
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
 and blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
 respectively. The festival was associated with the 1960s Blues Revival
Roots revival

A roots revival is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly-composed songs with socially and politically aware lyrics, as well as a general modernization of the folk sound....
, where artists "lost" since the 1940s (e.g. Delta blues
Delta blues

The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, the Mississippi River on the west to the Yazoo River on the east....
 singers) were "rediscovered".

Concerts have been a rich source of recordings. Murray Lerner
Murray Lerner

Murray Lerner is an United States Documentary film and Experimental film film Film director and film producer....
 directed the 1967
1967 in film

The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film....
 film Festival
Festival (1967 film)

Festival! is a 1967 in film documentary film about the Newport Folk Festival, directed by Murray Lerner.Filmed over the course of three music festival at Newport, Rhode Island , the film features performances by Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Odetta, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Mississippi John Hurt, Son House,...
 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 251965 Dylan was booed by some fans when he played with backing from Mike Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield

Michael Bernard Bloomfield , an United States musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation entirely on his instrumental prowess....
 on Guitar and others from an electric blues
Electric blues

The electric blues is a type of blues music distinguished by the amplifier of the guitar, the bass guitar , and/or the harmonica. Electric blues is performed in several regional subgenres, such as Chicago blues, Texas blues and Memphis blues....
/rock and roll
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
 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
Orthodoxy

The word orthodox, from Greek language orthodoxos "having the right opinion," from orthos + Doxa , is typically used to mean adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion....
, 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

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
Philadelphia Folk Festival

The Philadelphia Folk Festival is a three-day festival of folk music that has been held annually in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania in the vicinity of Philadelphia by the non-profit Philadelphia Folksong Society since 1962....
, which began in 1960.

The 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
Non-profit organization

A nonprofit organization is any organization that does not aim to make a profit, and which is not a public body....
 to for-profit
Business

A business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide good s and/or Service to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalism economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners....
, the crowd has shrunk from 20,000 to 10,000 and evening concerts have been canceled. Furthermore, the festival has enlisted the aid of major sponsors, including Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's is a brand of ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream novelty products, manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc., headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont, Vermont, United States, with the main factory in Waterbury, Vermont....
 and Dunkin' Donuts
Dunkin' Donuts

Dunkin' Donuts is an international Doughnut and coffee retailer founded in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts, Massachusetts by William Rosenberg. It is now headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts, Massachusetts....
. The 2007 festival featured musicians such as Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt

Maria Linda Ronstadt , known as Linda Ronstadt, is an United States popular music Singing and entertainer whose vocal styles in a variety of genres have resonated with the general public over the course of her four-decade career....
, who was the Friday night headliner, in addition to other well known musicians such as the Allman Brothers Band, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris is an United States Country music singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other highly successful, well-known artists....
, Alejandro Escovedo
Alejandro Escovedo

Alejandro Escovedo is an United States musician....
, Cheryl Wheeler
Cheryl Wheeler

Cheryl Wheeler is an United States singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music, based in New England. To date, she has recorded several folk albums, and has toured extensively throughout the United States....
, Hazel Dickens
Hazel Dickens

Hazel Dickens is an American bluegrass music singer. She was the eighth child of an eleven-child coal mining family in West Virginia. Her music is characterized by not only her high lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro-trade union, feminism songs....
 and Ralph Stanley
Ralph Stanley

Ralph Stanley , also known as Dr. Ralph Stanley, is a legendary United States of America Bluegrass music artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing....
. The 2008 Newport Folk Festival headliners included Jimmy Buffet, Stephen
Stephen Marley (musician)

Stephen Robert Nesta "Raggamuffin" Marley is an United States musician and the son of reggae legend Bob Marley and his wife Rita Marley....
 and Damian Marley
Damian Marley

Damian Robert Nesta "Junior Gong" Marley , is a three time Grammy-winning reggae artist, humanitarian and is the youngest son of the late reggae legend Bob Marley....
, The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes

The Black Crowes are an United States of American, blues music-oriented hard rock jam band that have sold over 20 million albums. They were hailed by Melody Maker as "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World"....
, Levon Helm
Levon Helm

Mark Lavon Helm , better known as Levon Helm, is an United States rock and roll musician and actor most famous as the drummer for the rock group The Band....
 and Jakob Dylan
Jakob Dylan

Jakob Luke Dylan, born December 9, 1969 in New York City, is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of the rock band The Wallflowers and as the son of legendary singer-songwriter Bob 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
Amphitheatre

An amphitheatre is an open-air venue for spectator sports, concerts, rallies, or theatrical performances. There are two similar, but distinct types of amphitheatres: Ancient amphitheatres, built by the ancient Rome, were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used for spectator sports; these comp...
 circuit.

That first touring lineup included Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett

Lyle Pearce Lovett is an United States singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the #10 chart hit on the U.S....
, Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith

'Nanci Caroline Griffith', is an United States singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.Griffith's career has spanned a variety of musical genres, predominantly country music, folk music, and what she terms "folkabilly." Griffith won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1994 for her recording, Other Voices, Other R...
, Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss

Alison Krauss is an American Bluegrass music-Country music singer and fiddler. She entered the music of the United States at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen....
, John Hiatt
John Hiatt

John Hiatt is an United States rock and roll guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave music, blues and country music....
, Newport veteran Joan Baez
Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is a Mexican-United States folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. Many of her songs are Topical song and deal with social issues....
, Wilco
Wilco

Wilco is an American Rock music band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure....
, Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Nadine Vega is an American songwriter and singer known for her highly literate lyrics and eclectic folk music-inspired music.Record companies saw little prospect of commercial success in the beginning; Vega's demo tape was rejected by every major record company?twice by A&M....
, Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is an United States songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, and the former husband of folk singer Kate McGarrigle....
, Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams is an United States rock music, folk music, and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public....
, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Jimmie Dale Gilmore

Jimmie Dale Gilmore is a country music singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas, Texas....
. A New York Times review found some similarities between the acts but a loss of the folk sensibility in its original purpose.

Albums recorded at the festival

  • The Newport Folk Festival, 1959 [3 Volumes] - Vanguard Records
    Vanguard Records

    Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 in music by brothers Maynard Solomon and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical music label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary label....


  • 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
      Joan Baez

      Joan Chandos Baez is a Mexican-United States folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. Many of her songs are Topical song and deal with social issues....
      , Bob Davenport, Bob Dylan, The Freedom Singers, Jim Garland, Sam Hinton, Peter La Farge
      Peter La Farge

      Peter La Farge was a New York City-based folk music and songwriter of the 1950s and 1960s. He is known best for his affiliations with Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash....
      , Ed McCurdy, Phil Ochs
      Phil Ochs

      Philip David Ochs was a United States protest song and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice....
      , Tom Paxton
      Tom Paxton

      Thomas Richard Paxton is an United States folk music singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years....
      , Pete Seeger
      Pete Seeger

      Peter "Pete" Seeger is an United States folk singer, and a key figure in the mid-20th century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 50s as a member of The Weavers, most notably the 1950 recording of Leadbelly's "Goodnight, Irene" that topped the charts f...
    • Blues At Newport - VRS-9145 (Mono) and VS-79145 (Stereo) Rev. Gary Davis, John Hammond
      John Hammond

      John Hammond may refer to:* John A. Hammond , Canadian painter* John Brown Hammond, believed in and used violent action to try to bring about alcohol prohibition in the United States...
      , John Lee Hooker
      John Lee Hooker

      John Lee Hooker was an influential United States post-war blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter born in Coahoma County, Mississippi near Clarksdale, Mississippi....
      , Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Mississippi John Hurt
      Mississippi John Hurt

      "Mississippi" John Smith Hurt was an influential blues singer and guitarist....
    • Country Music and Bluegrass At Newport - VRS-9146 (Mono) and VSD-79146 (Stereo) Clarence "Tom" Ashley
      Clarence Ashley

      "Tom" Clarence Ashley was an United States of American clawhammer banjo player, guitarist and singer. He began performing at medicine shows in the Appalachia region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame in the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands....
      , Clint Howard, Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, Tex Logan, The Morris Brothers
      The Morris Brothers

      The Morris Brothers were an United States country music group particularly popular in the 1930s, although still playing together occasionally until the 1970s....
      , The New Lost City Ramblers, Fred Price, Doc Watson
      Doc Watson

      Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an United States guitar player, songwriter and singer of Bluegrass music, American folk music, country music, blues and gospel music....
      , Mac Wiseman
      Mac Wiseman

      Malcolm B. Wiseman , better known as Mac Wiseman, is a bluegrass singer, nicknamed "The Voice with a Heart". The bearded singer is one of the cult figures of Bluegrass music....
      , and The Country Boys.
    • Old Time Music At Newport - VRS-9147 (Mono) and VSD-79147 (Stereo) Clarence "Tom" Ashley
      Clarence Ashley

      "Tom" Clarence Ashley was an United States of American clawhammer banjo player, guitarist and singer. He began performing at medicine shows in the Appalachia region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame in the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands....
      , Doc Boggs, Maybelle Carter, Jenes Cottrell, Dorsey Dixon, Clint Howard, Fred Price, Doc Watson
      Doc Watson

      Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an United States guitar player, songwriter and singer of Bluegrass music, American folk music, country music, blues and gospel music....
    • 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)


  • 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
    American folk music revival

    The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States in the 1950s to mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, of course, since traditional folk music has thousands of years of history, and performers like Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in decades prior to the 1950s....
  • Festival
    Festival (1967 film)

    Festival! is a 1967 in film documentary film about the Newport Folk Festival, directed by Murray Lerner.Filmed over the course of three music festival at Newport, Rhode Island , the film features performances by Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Odetta, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Mississippi John Hurt, Son House,...
  • No Direction Home
    No Direction Home

    No Direction Home is a documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th century American popular music and culture....
  • Kerrville Folk Festival
    Kerrville Folk Festival

    The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas....
  • Philadelphia Folk Festival
    Philadelphia Folk Festival

    The Philadelphia Folk Festival is a three-day festival of folk music that has been held annually in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania in the vicinity of Philadelphia by the non-profit Philadelphia Folksong Society since 1962....
  • Newport Music Festival
    Newport Music Festival

    Newport Music Festival is a noted classical music festival that takes place in Newport, Rhode Island.It was founded in 1969 as a summer season of the Metropolitan Opera....
  • Newport Jazz Festival
    Newport Jazz Festival

    The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by the jazz impresario George Wein, prompted by socialite Elaine Lorillard, whose wealthy husband helped finance the festival's startup....
  • Electric Dylan Controversy
    Electric Dylan controversy

    The electric Dylan controversy was the incident at the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday July 25, 1965, where folk music singer Bob Dylan "went electric", by playing with an electric blues band in concert for the first time....


External links