The Best of Newport Folk 2011

August 15, 2011 at 08:35 (Opinion)
Tags: amos lee, emmylou harris, folk music, gillian welch, justin townes earle, middle brother, mountain man, newport folk festival, npr music, the civil wars, the decemberists, the felice brothers, the head and the heart, the secret sisters, the wailin' jennys

Image of The Decemberists Courtesy of NPR Music

The Newport Folk Festival is easily the most famous folk festival in the world with a history spanning back to 1959. The latest iteration of the festival took place on the 30th and 31st July and for the first time in its history was completely sold out. Traditionalists had their usual grumbles about the definition of “folk” being too loosely applied to music with grounding in rock, blues, funk and soul but in our opinion Newport had one of the most exciting lineups we’ve seen at a festival in recent years.

NPR Music spent the weekend of the Newport Folk Festival streaming most of the key concerts live and have since uploaded all of that material to their site to be accessed by fans all over the world. We here at Timber and Steel have painstakingly sifted through all of the material compiled by NPR Music (it’s been really difficult listening to hours and hours of music) to recommend to you, our constant reader, our favourites from the event. If you’d like to access a full list of everything captured by NPR at the festival click here, otherwise you can stream our recommendations via the links below:

• The Decemberists copped a lot of flack for their inclusion at The Newport Folk festival (they’re apparently a rock act) despite delivering their folkiest album to date with The King is Dead this year. Accordion player Jenny Conlee was absent from the proceedings due to her battle with breast cancer but The Decemberists were blessed with appearances of touring violinist Sara Watkins, collaborator Gillian Welch and the great Pete Seeger
• The Felice Brothers have a reputation as an amazing live band and it looks as though they deliver once again
• The Wailin’ Jennys should be familiar to Australian audiences having toured here a couple of times in the past. Their Newport set is as tight as folk music gets and their voices are absolutely superb
• Gillian Welch is having a hell of a year having collaborated with The Decemberists on their new album as well as releasing her first solo record in 8 years. As usual Welch is on stage with partner in crime David Rawlings (who is just a magic guitarist) performing some of the choicest cuts from The Harrow and the Harvest
• The Civil Wars have been making quite a stir on the music scene of late and listening to their performance at Newport it’s easy to see why
• Justin Townes Earle was meant to perform at last year’s Newport Folk Festival but a hand injury kept him away. This set is almost note for note the same as we saw at the Blue Mountains Music Festival this year (including the introductions) which we don’t mind one bit
• Emmylou Harris is another folk legend with a new album this year and an amazing live show to showcase it. Here she’s just as amzing as she was earlier this year at the State Theatre in Sydney
• The Head And The Heart are not a band we’ve talked about much but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. Their harmonies alone are worth listening to in this NPR concert
• Amos Lee has been kicking his brand of rootsy folk around for a while now and it’s easy to see why he attracts an audience of loyal followers
• Middle Brother, the supergroup consisting of members of Dawes, Delta Spirit and Deer Tick, were show stealers at this year’s Newport Folk Festival. It’s easy to see why
• Mountain Man flew a little under the radar when they were here earlier this year but having toured with Jonsi and The Decemberists and now an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival it looks like their star is well and truly on the rise
• The Secret Sisters were one of our standouts at this years Bluesfest so its great to hear them again at Newport

There’s over 12 hours of music there and that just scratches the surface of the Newport Folk Festival. We don’t know about you but we’ve already started working out how we can afford to see the festival in person next year. Why don’t you join us?