Newport Folk Festival 2021 "Folk On" -Preview-

After a long, lost year of COVID-cancelled concerts, shuttered venues, and languid live streams, “there will be music in Newport this summer.” It may look a little different at first, but Newport stands ready to welcome both the Folk and Jazz fests this July - some of the first large-scale music festivals to return in the country.

The difficulties of 2020 need not be expounded upon - and health experts are still exercising caution and encouraging vaccinations - but this summer’s schedule certainly feels like a return to the normalcy we took for granted. There will again be music, merriment, and we trust a little bit of that Newport magic.  

This year’s fest, dubbed “Folk On,” will run at half capacity spread out over double the days. (Tickets are sold out but it’s not too late to queue up for tickets on the Lyte ticket exchange.) Other tweaks include removal of a stage as well as kids’ tickets, the addition of hand sanitizer stations, and an added requirement of proof of vaccination or recent negative COVID test.

While the shape may seem a little different, many of the sounds will not. We’ll have familiar favorites like Deer Tick, Langhorne Slim, alongside returns from Middle Brother, Margo Price, Billy Strings, Hiss Golden Messenger and Kevin Morby, plus newcomers like Joy Oladukun and icons like Randy Newman. There are still many slots left unannounced, and many stages seem ripe for cross-pollination. And an upside of the reduced capacity could mean better experiences all around.

But more importantly, beyond the lineups and the logistics, for the first time in nearly 24 months, we will again get a chance to live out the Folk Festival’s ethos and “Be kind, be open, and be together.” And that is reason enough to celebrate.

Tickets are still available for the jazz festival, which continues to book increasingly eclectic, genre-stretching line-ups in the same spectacular setting. As of writing, Friday is looking particularly funky with Kamasi Washington stepping in for Wynton Marsalis; plus Mackaya McCraven whose recent “reimagining” of Gil Scot-Heron is an absolute stunner, and the mellow modes of Folk Fest-alums Khruangbin and Yola. Plus: Mavis Staples. Enough said! 

Words by Brian Hodge