Festival Recap: Newport Folk Day One

Words by Carson Huffer // Photos by Mae Krell

Newport Folk isn’t just your average music festival. With a storied history of firsts since its inception in 1959, the pilgrimage to Fort Adams State Park is a dream for many and a yearly occurrence for the luckiest of music fans. It sells out each year in mere minutes without a single act announced for the lineup. With that, there is an inherent trust built between the festival and the attendees – the lineup will always be remarkable and there is no such thing as a “bad year” at Newport Folk. 

As a first time attendee, the sense of something greater is all I could think about as we headed into the festival for day one. The handmade signs that directed traffic into the parking lot informed cars of Newport’s four standards: be present, be kind, be open, and be together. Yellow school bus shuttles to Fort Adams were full of smiles, and by the time we hit the gates, it was evident that I wasn’t the only one feeling something special. It felt as though a thrum of energy permeated the festival grounds; the air was as thick with the breeze of the Newport Harbor as it was with giddy excitement for what might hit the stage during a weekend built on surprises. The Newport magic that is so lovingly referred to by anyone who knows of the Folk Fest was rampant, and I felt my appreciation for the music community changing before the first note could even be played.

Del Water Gap kicked off our weekend with a passionate set on the Fort Stage. Although he was a late addition to the lineup, the crowd swarmed to dance and sing along to songs both old and new.

The Fort Stage was built for the breezy and fluorescent energy of “Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat”, and the 2018 hit “High Tops” felt like it personified the summer heat that enclosed the Harbor.

New release “Coping on Unemployment” was an easy highlight of the set, with festival goers alive at the news of a song’s live debut on the Newport Stage and following Del Water Gap’s every move with reverie. Our full Del Water Gap gallery can be found here.

We then hit the Harbor Stage to catch Slaughter Beach, Dog. With new record Crying Laughing Waving Smiling out September 15th, the fifty-five minute show ran through a variety of new tracks for fans to feast upon from their upcoming project.

Slaughter Beach, Dog was joined by Erin Rae after her earlier solo set, and she helped sing through nearly the entirety of the record with a vibrant smile. Craig Finn of The Hold Steady was also brought on for a energetic cover of “Barstool Blues” by Neil Young, with lead singer Jake Ewald referring to Finn as his longtime mentor and friend.

For me, their recent release “Float Away” stole the show, and as a crowd member blew bubbles out into the audience during the final chorus, I found myself experiencing that indescribable feeling of the Newport magic yet again. Check out our full Slaughter Beach, Dog gallery here.

With a quick hustle back to the Fort Stage, we caught CAAMP on a smooth joyride of their discography. The Ohio natives were the first announced act of Newport Folk 2023 and with good reason – 2022’s Lavender Days album swept through the folk rock genre with fervor that seems entirely made for the Newport Folk community.

Taylor Meier’s distinct smoker’s rasp pulled in the crowd like a siren song as the band pulled out a variety of tracks from Lavender Days, as well as earlier favorites like “26” from their debut eponymous record and “By and By”.

A special cover of “Ooh La La” by Faces brought out JP Harris mid set, and later on when festival director Jay Sweet cleared the band for a short encore track, the crowd was treated to another stunning cover of “Can’t You See” by The Marshall Tucker Band that is still ringing through my head three days later. Our full CAAMP gallery can be found here.

Maggie Rogers was next to light up the Fort Stage, and her show was easily one of the best of the entire weekend in my eyes. I’ve been a fan of Maggie since 2017’s Now That The Light Is Fading EP yet had never seen her live, and with a teary shaking vocal to start the show, she launched into a solo acoustic rendition of “Alaska” that can only be described as sensational.

Surprising the crowd even further, Maggie brought out SistaStrings for a sweepingly melodic rendition of “Want Want” that Rogers remarked they put together in the twenty minutes prior to her set.

Maggie continually spoke about how Newport isn’t like other festivals but instead something more special, and she clearly wore her emotions on her sleeve and her reverence for the space Newport Folk creates in high regard throughout the entire show. Later in her set Del Water Gap hit the stage yet again to play the duo’s “New Song”, originally recorded when the two were eighteen and more recently released in 2020’s Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016.

The entire set felt like a swan song to last year’s Surrender on the one year anniversary of the album, as well as a look towards the future with the surprise of an unreleased song entitled “Don’t Forget Me” that absolutely pulled on the crowd’s heartstrings.

I could go on for hours about how special this set was as my first Maggie Rogers show, and I already cannot wait for the when “Don’t Forget Me” is released. Our full Maggie Rogers gallery can be found here.

Midway through Maggie’s set, the crowd was informed via the festival’s app that Noah Kahan unfortunately had to cancel his set on the Quad Stage due to vocal strain. The message left an exciting yet ominous message of “But thankfully we’ve got a friend… a legendary friend”. As the murmuring crowds flooded over to find out just who the festival called in at the last minute, nothing could have prepared me to hear Jay Sweet announce that filling in was none other than the legendary James Taylor.

Taylor sat down with his guitar and laughed about not getting a soundcheck before launching into some of his greatest hits like “Fire and Rain” and “Something in the Way She Moves” to a shell shocked audience.

Entirely a solo acoustic show except for the addition of his wife and son towards the end of the set for both “Carolina in My Mind” and his magnetic cover of Carole King’s “You’ve Got A Friend”, Taylor held the enraptured and elated crowd in the palm of his hand. Our full James Taylor gallery can be found here.

Leaving Fort Adams State Park after day one, I couldn’t help but feel a love and shock that is almost hard to describe. Even with such a stellar announced lineup, there were still surprise guests and collaborations at every turn. How the festival was able to call in James Taylor on such short notice I am unsure, but experiencing such a stunning surprise performance certainly left a lasting impact on the attendees that will be talked about for years to come.