This year's Newport Folk Festival in July includes sets from Punch Brothers and Sara Watkins. A new short documentary from sö pa productions and Ryan Mastro revisits last year's festival and looks into what makes Newport so special. The video features interviews and performances from artists at last year's festival, including Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Low Anthem, Chris Thile, Michael Daves, Wanda Jackson, and Emmylou Harris. "In the story of my life, folk music brought me to music," says Harris. Newport "was where these people that I just kind of worshiped gathered." Watch the documentary here.
This year's Newport Folk Festival will take place July 28 and 29 and include performances from Punch Brothers and Sara Watkins. To celebrate the much-loved festival, a new 28-minute documentary has been released by sö pa productions and Ryan Mastro, directed by Adam Guindon and Mastro, revisiting highlights of the 2011 Newport Folk Festival and looking into just what makes this festival, founded back in 1959 by George Wein, so special.
The video features countless interviews and performances from artists at last year's sold-out festival, including several Nonesuch artists: Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Low Anthem, Chris Thile & Michael Daves, Wanda Jackson, and Emmylou Harris.
"In the story of my life, folk music brought me to music," Harris recounts in the opening minutes of the documentary, "and folk music at that point was Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, and somewhere along the line, of course, I found out about Newport, which was like the Mecca. It was where these people that I just kind of worshiped gathered."
The video closes with a wonderful group sing-along of Pete Seeger's folk classic "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," led by Seeger and featuring many of the weekend's performers, as well as an interview with the folk legend. When asked why the Newport Folk Festival is important, Seeger replies: "If there's a human race still here in 100 years, I think it will be thanks to music, music of many different kinds—old music, new music, young people's music, old folks' music, and music of different traditions too."
Watch the documentary here:
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