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HISTORY
1959
The Newport Folk Festival has long been considered an American institution. George Wein founded the event in 1959, a few years after his groundbreaking Newport Jazz Festival had begun to shape musical history. back to top
1965
The Folk Festival quickly developed its own identity as one of the original springboards for figures such as James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, and Peter, Paul & Mary. In 1965, Bob Dylan changed the course of American music forever when he went electric on the Newport stage. Other performers expanded the genre even further, and the festival became a showcase for everyone from the father of bluegrass Bill Monroe to bluesman Muddy Waters, from Buffalo Springfield to the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, from Pete Seeger to the shape note singers of the Georgia Sea Islands. Even then, the Festival was known for trend-setting as well as tradition. During this first golden age of the festival, Robert L. Jones joined the team. Originally from the Boston area, he first became interested in folk music as an artist—a balladeer who performed regularly in Cambridge clubs and coffee-houses. Initially he worked with Ralph Rinzler (who later created the Smithsonian Folklife Festival), to find indigenous talent all over the United States and Canada. They embarked on extensive road-trips, travelling from the tiny towns of the Mississippi Delta to the windy shores of Nova Scotia to bring musicians like Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, Willy Doss, Ann Walters, Clint Howard, Tom Ashley, Reverend Doc Reese, and many others to the Newport Folk Festival.back to top1971
In 1971, the event was cancelled due to growing social unrest. George Wein and his office, Festival Productions, Inc., relocated to New York City. There they continued to produce internationally-renowned jazz festivals, including the long-running Kool Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival-New York, and the Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, France.
The Folk Festival’s modern incarnation began after a fifteen-year hiatus. At that time, there was a resurgence of interest in folk music. Artists like Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins & Arlo Guthrie were the vanguard of the music, and very much beloved wherever they played. But there were also stirrings from a younger generation, singer-songwriters who were beginning to find audiences in clubs and bars and concert halls. Tom Rush toured with his Club 47 Reunion Concerts, featuring new artists like Nanci Griffith, Bill Morrissey, and Christine Lavin alongside longtime favorites like Richie Havens, Geoff Muldaur & the Jug Band, Mimi Farina, and Tom Paxton. Even Robert L. Jones picked up his guitar again after years "behind the scenes," and performed at a Symphony Hall reunion concert! Jones, an avid fan, dreamed of reviving the Festival at Fort Adams State Park—where its sister event, the Newport Jazz Festival (now the JVC Jazz festival-Newport) had been successfully running for five years. George Wein also sensed that folk music was beginning to attract new audiences, and in 1985, he brought back the Newport Folk Festival. back to top1986
In its first year, the event featured many of the artists who had performed during the Festival’s earlier years: Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Doc & Merle Watson, Bonnie Raitt, Arlo Guthrie, Mimi Farina, Jim Rooney & Bill Keith, Taj Mahal, Dave van Ronk, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott among others; it was a moving reunion for all of those returning to Newport. In 1986, the Festival began to include more emerging artists who have now grown to international prominence—Alison Krauss (at age 14, in her first national festival appearance) andNanci Griffith, and Patty Larkin, among them.Over the next several years, George Wein, the founder and executive producer, and Robert L. Jones, the festival producer, worked to strike a balance between contemporary—and often chart-topping—performers and the extraordinary musicians who had carried folk music from one generation to the next. Sweet Honey in the Rock, The Band, B.B. King, John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, New Grass Revival, Odetta, John Lee Hooker, Dr. John, Janis Ian, Little Feat, and Richard Thompson were billed with Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Joan Armatrading, Billy Bragg, Michelle Shocked, Suzanne Vega, the Violent Femmes, Bela Fleck, the String Cheese Incident, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Cheryl Wheeler, and the growing assemblage of artists who have revitalized folk music. In 1988, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade joined forces with the Festival in a long-running sponsorship. Current sponsors include Borders Books & Music and Gibson Guitar.back to top
1990
Since then, history has been made again and again. The Indigo Girls first came to Newport in 1990, a few months after their staggering success with Strange Fire and Indigo Girls (both released in 1989). Three years later, Sarah McLachlan made her festival debut in a songwriters’ round robin. Shawn Colvin performed her hit "Steady On" for the first time on a workshop stage; Joan Baez, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls appeared in a special extended set as the Four Voices in Harmony, and in 1998, James Taylor returned to Newport for the first time since 1969—when he appeared on the "Young Performers" concert with other "aspiring artists" like Van Morrison and Jerry Jeff Walker. In 2002 Bob Dylan performed at the festival for the first time in a generation, in a set that was internationally heralded. back to topToday
Recognized worldwide, the Festival attracts strong media attention from all the major press organizations in the New England area, with exceptional coverage in Boston, New York and Providence. It is frequently covered in national and international press, and its long history, and solid reputation among record companies, other music organizations, and artists insure its mention in a variety of different contexts throughout the year. In addition to advertising and promotions through a well-developed network of eastern seaboard radio stations, portions of live festivals also been broadcast on American Public Radio and National Public Radio, providing an even wider sphere of Festival exposure. Both Alcazar and Red House Record labels have produced live compilations of recent Newport Festivals, and Vanguard has released a veritable storehouse of vintage Newport recordings from the sixties.
