Newport Folk Festival, at Fort Adams State Park, yesterday.
NEWPORT, R.I. - It may have been the greatest single day in recent Newport Folk Festival history: two stages, 16 and not a clunker among them.
Emmylou Harris' gorgeous set with her band Spyboy proved that the arch old distinctions between acoustic and electric are truly dead in the modem folk world. If the music has roots, vision and soul, it belongs in a folk fest.
Harris' set bounded between the most austere unplugged country balladry ("Love Hurts," "Hickory Wind") and throbbing electric country-rock, A dark and penetrating version of David Olney's "Deeper Well" and a still haunting "Poncho and Lefty" were among Ham's'tiighs.
The reunion of the Flatlanders, VA'th Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, was another country-drenched delight. Gilmore's sweet tenor was a fine foil for Ely's gritty twang, and Hancock proved to have a voice as pliant as rubber.
With two stages, there were often two must-see acts competing for attention. How to choose between Baaba Maal, who, with a massive group of musicians and dancers, made some of the most jubilant, expressive polyrhythmic African music within memory, and a gifted song circle featuring Ell's Paul, Vance Gilbert, and Mark Erelli and Michael Veitch.
I only caught some of the circle. Veitch, and especially Erelli, were knockouts.
The toughest choice was between the darkly persuasive folk-blues of DavId Johansen & the Harry Smiths on the small stage, and mandolin- fiddle whiz Sam Bush, fronting one of the most glorious American roots bands working today.
It was quite a contrast. Bush was like a dose of sunlight; Johansen was like deepest, scary night. Coiled like a reptile, Johansen focused on the black-hearted menace of the blues. With a roar or a growl, his foreboding vocal power convinced.
Patty Larkin, Catie Curtis, Michelle Shocked and Jonatha Brooke were all at the top of their game. Welch and Rawlings were the soul of the fest, singing on both stages, their new material as harrowing and perfect as the oldest folk song.