8 must-see acts at Newport Folk Fest this weekend

Дата публикации: 23-07-2026 13:53:15

Your guide to the fest, complete with last-minute changes and under-the-radar stars.
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Music Your guide to the fest, complete with last-minute changes and under-the-radar stars. Among the artists gracing the Newport Folk Festival stage this weekend are (clockwise from top left) Brittany Davis, Father John Misty, Lauryn Hill, Cat Power, Jason Narducy and Michael Shannon, and Brandi Carlile. Kurland Agency; Amy Harris/Invision/AP; AP Photo/John Locher; Elio Lee Hazel; Christy Bush; Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP

Newport Folk Fest is Mother, as the kids say. (Do the kids still say that?) Yup, before Bonnaroo, Burning Man, or Coachella — heck, before Woodstock — there was Rhode Island’s Newport Folk: Mother of Fests. 

From Joan Baez making her ’59 debut to Bob Dylan going electric, from Judy Collins introducing Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell to fans in ’67 to Joni Mitchell’s ’22 resurrection, no other fest is as steeped in musical and mythical history as this fest by the sea. 

And from Animal jamming with Connecticut’s Goose to Kermit singing with Jim James, no other fest has as many surprise Muppet cameos.

Valerie June, right, is joined by Floyd Pepper of The Muppets at the Newport Folk Festival in 2023. – Ben Stas for The Boston Globe

A massive annual draw, tickets historically go in the blink of an eye. This year’s long-sold-out fest springs to life July 24-26 at Newport’s Fort Adams. With various stages simultaneously pumping out music over the course of three days, there is no way to see every act. Various A-listers rock various stages simultaneously. 

If you’re one of the thousands descending upon Fort Adams this weekend, We’re here to shepherd you through the jam-packed, multi-day schedule to select must-see guideposts. (Including a few you may not have heard of — after all, anybody could have picked The Lumineers.)

Disclaimer: Newport is known for surprises. In recent years, we’ve been surprised by Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, and Mitchell. Kermit the Frog popped in to play banjo in ’19, and James Taylor popped up on a boat in ’23. 

So if Elmo, Jimothy the raccoon and Matt Damon in full “Odyssey” costume all arrive by tall ship bearing Dunkin’ Munchkins for everyone, please don’t send me angry “How could you have missed that?!” emails on Monday. I mean, that could happen. It’s Newport Folk.

A last-minute Father John Misty

What was I saying about surprises? 

This just in! One of my must-see picks, Tedeschi Trucks Band, announced Monday they’re pulling out of the fest because Norwell native Susan Tedeschi had “had an appendix scare” and needs immediate surgery to have her appendix removed. We’re thinking of you, Susan!

Newport Folk quickly announced a substitute singer: Father John Misty, aka Josh Tillman. Misty, who made his Folk Fest debut in ’13, will appear Sunday on the Fort Stage from 2:55-3:40 p.m.  This proves what Newport notes on their website: “Artists and schedule subject to change.”

His new single, “The Payoff” is out now. My favorite song may still be his 2012 hit, “Only Son of the Ladiesman.” 

Ms. Lauryn Hill

Hill needs no introduction. She’s killing us softly. 

From a standout role in “Sister Act 2,” she went on to front the Fugees, and then flew solo at 22 with 1998’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” winning five Grammys. Then, she became something of a mystery. 

Notorious for almost never granting interviews (I still tried), Hill posted on Instagram July 3: “It can take a lot to get me to come outside these days … but Jesse Collins may be one of the few who can. I had a wonderful experience working with him and his team on the Grammy tribute to our legends, Roberta Flack and D’Angelo.”

Looks like Newport Folk is one of the few who can lure her, too.

She’s slated (italics very intended) for Friday, Quad Stage, 5:50 -6:50 p.m. (Insert obligatory Hill tardiness joke here.)

Cat Power

Love Chan Marshall. 

Marshall, aka Cat Power, is never not utterly her own person, down to the bone. 

I had a wide-ranging interview with the fascinating Marshall in 2024 about everything from the wild backstory on how she came up with her stage name to wild times in Europe to our shared obsession with Dylan: “I call him God Dylan. I’m sure he resents that. [But] he is a scholar of humanity,” she said.

At the time she’d just released the tremendous “Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert.” I’m hoping she nods to Bob at Newport with at least one of these tracks — she can sing Dylan in a way that will have you in a trance. Must listen: “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

She came to Boston earlier this year, touring on The Greatest 20th Anniversary Tour — a celebration of her 2006 album, which was No. 6 on Rolling Stone’s “Top 50 Albums of 2006” as well No. 26 on its “100 Best Albums of the 2000s.”

If you miss her at Newport, catch her in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at the Music Hall July 26.

Saturday, Quad Stage, 4:20-5:15 p.m.

The Barr Brothers

Rhode Island natives Brad and Andrew Barr are an act best seen live: You need to see them to believe what they play. I’ve seen Brad Barr play guitar made from an old fishing tackle box. Andrew has made his own PVC-pipe xylophone. And get a load of this polyester string technique.

“You start to realize almost any sounds can be used musically,” Andrew told me previously. “The sounds of airplanes overhead and washing machines droning and birds chirping create rhythms and melodies.”

They might, for example, “throw dried corn inside a drum; tie thread to your guitar, [or wire] your harp through a wah-wah pedal,” Andrew said. “As far back as I can remember, I would assemble little percussion set-ups out of pots and pans and soup spoons; I would build rubber-band guitars.”

Growing up mostly in Providence, Brad told me previously, “At some point, watching ‘Back to the Future,’ seeing Michael J. Fox rip [guitar] solos really got us into it.”

In the early ’90s, the brothers were part of The Slip, an avant-rock-jam-trio born at Marion’s Tabor Academy. Later, as Boston’s Berklee College students, they cut their teeth at Middle East, the Paradise, and Somerville Theatre. Since moving to Canada, they’ve earned a cult following and multiple Juno nods.  Their stellar fourth studio album, “Let it Hiss,” is out now. Nothing gives me goosebumps, though, like “Beggar in the Morning.”

Saturday, Harbor Stage, 4 -4:55 p.m.

Brittany Davis & Black Thunder

“As a blind person, I’ve never had an actual visual experience,” Davis announces on her website. “Sound is the way I’ve always seen my world.”

A gifted keyboardist with silky smooth vocals, the multi-instrumentalist from Seattle was tapped last year to create an anthem for the city’s pro women’s soccer team, Seattle Reign. “Stand Up” is a catchy let’s-go anthem, worth a listen whether you’re a soccer fan or not. Even more interesting: Reign released a short film about Davis to pair with the song.

Directed by Jason Bergh, the film follows Davis — a Black, blind, and queer artist — during the song creation process. Davis says in the film: 

“I see music as little stacks of bubble gum. And each one of the stacks has a height. And each one of them has a different color. All of these stacks of bubblegum pieces in my mind, they all supposed to go in a certain order. That’s how I create full canvassed paintings of sound …  I want you to turn your eyes off when you listen to my music.”

Sunday, Harbor Stage, 11 -11:40 a.m.

Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy and Friends play REM

Talk about the Passion. 

Like Hank Azaria with Bruce Springsteen, Shannon is not just a character actor — he can deliver REM hits sounding eerily like the real thing. It’s uncanny how much the actor — who, BTW, is tremendous in “Death by Lightning,” streaming on Netflix now — sounds like Michael Stipe.

Here he teams with musical vet Jason Narducy and a cast of talented musicians to focus on that juicy spot: early-to-mid REM. Must-listen: “Don’t Go Back to Rockville.”

This being Newport, Stipe or Mike Mills just might join them.

Friday, Quad Stage, 1:40-2:30 p.m.

Gillian Welsh and David Rawlings play Dead

Legends. 

I’m part of the generation that came of age obsessed with the seminal “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack — T Bone Burnett’s masterpiece that introduced a generation to old-time bluegrass. Gillian Welsh’s voice is a key part of my memory of that CD, which I played until it scratched on my Sony Discman. (Google it, kids.)

She and the brilliant guitarist Rawlings have long been a dynamic bluegrass duo. Now, here’s where the Bluegrass/Deadhead Venn diagram overlaps, and Deadhead heads explode: They’re here on their “Gillian Welch & David Rawlings Play Grateful Dead Acoustic Reckoning” tour, which sees them celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Dead’s landmark 1981 acoustic live album “Reckoning.” 

This looks to be a balm for the soul.

Saturday, Fort Stage, 4:55-5:55 p.m. 

Brandi Carlile

The 11-time Grammy winner is a professional scenester who is always everywhere all at once. Like whack-a-mole, she pops up on “Saturday Night Live,” The Grammys, the star-studded tributes to John Prine, to Vince Gill, to Willie Nelson, one of the final “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” shows. She played a key role in getting Mitchell on stage in ’22 because of course she did.

One of TIME’s 2026 Women of the Year, the two-time Emmy winner and Oscar nominee and powerhouse heads to Maine and Connecticut after the fest, before capping her New England run at Tanglewood Aug. 30. But if you’re part of the “Bramily” — the tens of thousands who make up her hardcore followers — you already have tickets. 

Sunday, Fort Stage, 4:15-5:15 p.m.

Honorable mentions

Now I told you I’d pick eight and I’ll stick to my promise. But if I could pick a few more?

• Peter Rowan, Sam Grisman, Sierra Hull, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams: This Americana Dream Team will rock Sunday, Harbor Stage, 5:15-6:10 p.m. 

• Nathaniel Rateliff & Friends: They’ll bring the party on Sunday, Fort Stage, 5:55-7:45 p.m.

• Tom Morello: He’ll rage against the machine on Sunday, Quad Stage, 4:25-5:25 p.m.

Full schedule here and below.

Editor’s note: Rolling Stone editor Jonathan Bernstein will speak on his biography of Justin Townes Earle, “What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome,” on Saturday at the Foundation Stage at 4:20 p.m. Lauren Daley will be interviewing him in a pre-Newport Folk event at Charter Books in Newport, Thursday July 23 at 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.

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