2023 Newport Folk Festival Day Two: Surprise Guests, Folk Festival Firsts and the Amazing Jon Batiste

A stellar lineup of performances that (almost) outlasted the weather.

August 1, 2023

Lauren Clem,

Turnpike Troubadours plays the Quad Stage on day two of the Newport Folk Festival. (Photos by Lauren Clem)

Despite the thunderstorms that rattled the rest of Rhode Island on Saturday, Newport was a (mostly) cloud-free haven as the Newport Folk Festival jammed on through a second day at Fort Adams. The hydrating stations were a must as guests crowded in for an afternoon of big names, surprise guests and iconic Folkfest traditions.

The Local Ties

As a first-time festival attendee, I was thrilled to make it through the gates in time to catch the final few songs of The Huntress and Holder of Hands, fronted by Rhode Island’s own MorganEve Swain, opening on the Fort Stage. Like many Rhode Islanders, I first encountered Swain’s music years ago through Brown Bird, the folk duo she had with her husband, David Lamb, and was devastated to learn of Lamb’s death from leukemia in 2014. Originally started as a project to explore her grief, Swain’s five-member outfit has now come fully into its own and had no difficulty rocking the Fort Stage at Saturday’s festival. The same eerie, vaguely Southern-inspired chords familiar to Brown Bird fans make another appearance here, but with a feel that’s all Swain’s own.

Day Two lineup.

After the performance, I spent some time getting a feel for the festival layout and exploring the vendors scattered throughout the grounds. I’d heard about the easygoing air that pervades the fort, and that proved true for my experience. Despite a sellout crowd and the brutal July heat, a distinct feeling of kindness hung over every detail, from the peppy volunteers to the chatty line neighbors to the families frolicking in the quad and enjoying workshops by legendary performers like Valerie June. Most of my fellow line-waiters seemed most excited to see Goose, the American Indie-jam band hailing from Connecticut. For my part, I looked forward to John Oates’ late afternoon set with Guthrie Trapp on the Harbor Stage, and hearing what the iconic Hall & Oates pop superstar sounds like without his other half.

A reminder to festivalgoers.

The Surprise Find

After grabbing an obligatory Del’s and scoping out the food options (my favorite, Hometown Poke, was well situated near the Quad Stage for a mid-festival visit), I returned to the Fort Stage just in time to catch the powerful vocals of Danielle Ponder finishing out a set. Not knowing much about the New York-based singer-songwriter, I hadn’t singled her out as a must-see artist. I won’t make that mistake again. A former public defender now devoted to music full time, Ponder delivers a formidable mix of pop, blues, rock and R&B in a voice reminiscent of the lady power singers of old. Her final cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” was an unexpected but refreshing reminder of a true artist’s ability to make any genre their own.

A poke bowl from Hometown Poke was the perfect mid-festival pick-me-up.

Stage Hopping

It’s not possible to see every artist at the Newport Folk Festival; it’s how the lineup is designed. Many of the hard-core festivalgoers recommend tossing the schedule and allowing yourself to discover new artists along the way. I hewed to this advice, keeping up a steady rotation of the stages that allowed me to hear several previously unknown-to-me artists while catching up on others through word of mouth. I’d heard Nanna’s songs as the lead singer of Of Monsters and Men through many late-night study sessions in college, but her solo set offered a more slowed-take on the dreamy Icelandic vibe. The Hold Steady, a recent favorite, delivered a high-energy show marked by their signature storytelling approach, while Palmyra got the crowd moving on the Bike Stage with their foot-stomping Americana. I never did see Goose, though photos later revealed that Animal (the Muppet) joined the band onstage during an appropriately fort-rumbling rendition of their song “Animal.” Oates’ set with Trapp was delightfully refreshing as the guitarist showed off his bluesy side, covering classics like Doc Watson’s “Deep River Blues” alongside his own material.

John Oates and Guthrie Trapp on the Harbor Stage.

In one particularly memorable FolkFest first, Calin Peters and Martin Earley of the Ballroom Thieves duo finished out their Bike Stage set while pedaling a pair of the stage’s signature bicycles. Introduced last year, the Bike Stage is a fully human-powered stage featuring six stationary bikes that fuel the amps and sound system. Audience members typically take turns pedaling the bikes during a performance, but it wouldn’t be FolkFest it at least one artist didn’t try to pedal, play guitar and (mostly) successfully remember the lyrics to their ballad “Storms” at the same time.

Martin Earley and Calin Peters of the Ballroom Thieves play the Bike Stage.

of the Ballroom Thieves play the Bike Stage.

Rhody Represents

I was glad to see so many local businesses represented in the vendor sections, especially considering most of the festival’s attendees travel in from out of town. Best of Rhode Island winners Matriarch and Folk Vintage Co. were there helping to complete the FolkFest look, while Twenty Stories kept festivalgoers well informed with books on music history, including Bob Dylan’s famous electric moment at FolkFest ’65. I enjoyed chatting with the owners of Lost Life On Wax, a Warren-based business that transposes images from the local music scene (mostly indie artists) on vinyl records. Rhode Island was well-represented on the food scene, with choices ranging from lobster rolls from Matunuck Oyster Bar to ribs from Binge BBQ to hand pies from Ja Patty.

Del’s and FolkFest, a classic pairing.

The Unexpected Guests

FolkFest is known for its surprise appearances, often resulting in collaborations that would never happen at a mainstream show. The previous night saw James Taylor filling in as a last-minute replacement for Noah Kahan, and I was excited to see what Saturday would bring. FolkFest did not disappoint. Americana fans were thrilled to see country singer-songwriter Tyler Childers (whose wife, Senora May, was scheduled for Sunday’s lineup) join Turnpike Troubadours at the Quad Stage. But the real surprise came at the Fort Stage, where Christian-pop crossover star Lauren Daigle joined Jon Batiste for a forty-five-minute set that was straight from a New Orleans Mardi Gras, with a few old-school-meets-modern twists. Batiste — whose music falls somewhere between funk, R&B, jazz and pop, pulling only the best from each — kicked off his set with an Indigenous drum chant courtesy of Native Soul that somehow melded perfectly with his new song, “Raindance.”

By the time Daigle took the stage, the crowd was moving, and the pair finished off the night with a second line rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In” that saw them marching through the crowd. Though it wasn’t supposed to be the closing number, those thunderstorms we’d been hearing rumors of all day finally caught up with us, and organizers took to the stage to announce they were shutting down FolkFest early to allow festivalgoers to get safely home. Turns out, when you release 10,000 exhausted fans at the same time and tell them to get a move on, a quick jaunt home is not in the cards. Two-and-a-half hours later, I finally eased my car onto the Pell Bridge, escaping the gridlock that is downtown Newport and Fort Adams State Park post-FolkFest.

(A note for future festivals: Arriving by bike seems to be the way to go. According to Bike Newport, 1,600 attendees arrived at the festival by bicycle daily, a new FolkFest record.)

It was a disappointing end to an otherwise amazing first FolkFest, but I’m sure Batiste didn’t mind: The former “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” bandleader will be back in Rhode Island this weekend to play the Newport Jazz Festival.