Newport Folk 2016: Premonitions, Suggestions and Hopes

If history is any indicator of itself we can likely expect the first roll out of Newport Folk Festival artists to be announced in just about one month’s time. Last year Newport Folk hit us with the first artist announcement in the first week of February and Aussie songstress and rocker Courtney Barnett was met by the folk fam with open arms and hearts (and ears too, of course). The second announcement came in the form of a podcast and to my excitement (bliss, really) our dear friends of Haunt the House would be gracing the stage at Fort Adams. One thing is for certain, there has been an uphill trajectory of the artists that NFF has been able to wrangle in recent years. The team behind the scenes is working their tails off to maintain and grow relationships with incredible talent (both BIG and up and coming/growing names alike).

I would venture to say that Mr. Sweet isn’t the only one who will be at the Fort in July with a “white whale” list and the artists who I hope the beautiful souls behind the scenes land continuously seems to grow. 2015 was a pretty insane year for music and so many of the folks with some of my favorite records of the year were rambling around the cavernous tunnels of the fort throughout that magical weekend in some fashion (see: John Moreland, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Christopher Paul Stelling, Dave Rawlings & Gillian Welch). And while some late ’15 releases may be an indicator of what to expect, you really can never know what is going to be in the next announcement. There are always some pleasant surprises and tough decisions to make when planning your schedule.

So without further adieu, a few of my thoughts (and hopes) for Newport Folk 2016…

With a new record almost wrapped and having worked on some pretty fantastic collaborations (including a few tracks in that new record from Ian) throughout the year, Ian Fitzgerald and Smith&Weeden are on my punch card for the local/Rhode Island ticket this year. Last year exposed the folk fam to Ian even further and gained him a few more nods as ‘every songwriter’s favorite songwriter’. The fellas of my personal favorite rock n’ roll band have ties to the folk fam and have been on the radar for a while now. With Fitzgerald’s move back to Providence and the Smith&Weeden boys being based there as well, this year seems as good as any to get the two acts together on a Newport stage, at least in some fashion…at least that is what I am hoping for.

Keeping that kind of local thematic frame, Jeffrey Foucault and Caitlin Canty have had a busy year both solo and supporting one another’s music. Touring together, Canty backing Foucault during his sets and BOTH of the two songwriters released insanely brilliant records last year…both of which landed on my personal top 15 of 2015 list. I could see them each on a stage at NFF this summer and blowing minds, together or apart as solo artists, with a full band, any which way these two are sure to win hearts.

While we did get the genius of Dave and Gill on stage at the Fort last year, with how fantastic the new David Rawlings Machine album was, it is more than warranted to give them a nice long slot at the fest. It’s been quite a few years (2009 I believe) since they had a strictly Dave or Gillian set during the weekend and with their Wilbur show in Boston being the best of the year (and perhaps my entire life) in my opinion, I would kill to have them there in July.

Repeat offender from last year has to go to Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. The energy from that set was too much to not have a return on the main stage… And speaking of repeats, Rayland Baxter was sorely missing from the line up last year. With the praise his recent release, ‘Imaginary Man’, took home I would say he is a sure bet and with a better time slot (one of my biggest Newport regrets to date was missing his 2013 performance…which I have relived through the NPR recording countless times). I didn’t dig in as deep as I would like yet to Shovels & Ropes’ ‘Busted Jukebox’, but some type of overtaking would be a perfect fit for one of the Museum stage multi-hour and multi-performer sets. That would have the place rocking and packed all day long for sure and fits in line so well with all that NFF stands for.

As far as the big get, with the way the past two or three years have been with hooking some nostalgia names that still have that “power” I am going to go out on a limb and just toss out 3 names: Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen. Three names that also get tossed in the ring almost every year, but I think this year may be the one for one (or more) of those fine characters. Plus, Springsteen is working on a solo album and it seems there will be a subsequent tour to follow…

What do you guys think?