Newport's folk festival has eclectic lineup of performers
The diverse lineup for the 2005 Dunkin' Donuts Newport Folk Festival Aug. 4-7 promises a stellar and surprising weekend of music.
On Aug. 6, British folk-rock legend Richard Thompson and Boston-bred singer-songwriter Patty Griffin will cap a day on the main stage that includes sets from the Bela Fleck Acoustic Trio, bluegrass hero Del McCoury, fast-rising singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne, and gospel/R&B vocal group the Holmes Brothers.
The Aug. 7 lineup spans the sounds of country-folk queen Emmylou Harris, indie wunderkind Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, the dark tunesmith M. Ward, Australian songbird Kasey Chambers, Americana luminary Buddy Miller, and upstart string band the Old Crow Medicine Show. Elvis Costello & the Imposters, in their Folk Festival debut, will close the weekend.
''It makes sense," says artistic director Nalini Jones of Costello's appearance. ''He's a world-class songwriter, and that puts him in the Newport lineage. He bumps up into all kinds of music, and ultimately that's what the festival's trying to do."
Two new events will also debut this year. On Aug. 4 the event will kick off with a rare screening of Murray Lerner's 1967 film ''Festival!," which chronicles the Newport Folk Festival from 1964 through 1966 and includes footage of Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan's notorious plugged-in set. And on Aug. 5, the evening concert moves from the Viking Hotel to the International Tennis Hall of Fame to mark the 40th anniversary of Arlo Guthrie's ''Alice's Restaurant," which he premiered at Newport in 1967. Nanci Griffith, who duetted with Guthrie on ''Tecumseh Valley" for her ''Other Voices, Other Rooms" album, is also on the bill.
Tickets for the film screening and the Aug. 6 and 7 Fort Adams concerts go on sale today at 10 a.m. at www.ticketweb.com or by phone at 866-468-7619. General admission tickets for Aug. 6 are $48; Aug. 7 tickets are $58. Children 2-12 pay $5 both days; under 2, admission is free. A limited number of adult two-day tickets are available for $90. Tickets for the Guthrie/Griffith concert, which was previously announced, are $30, $45, $60, and $75 and are already on sale.
