Newport Folk Festival
| Newport Folk Festival | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 |
|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Folk music festival |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Venue | Fort Adams State Park |
| Location(s) | Newport, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 41°28′41″N 71°20′08″W / 41.478056°N 71.335556°WCoordinates: 41°28′41″N 71°20′08″W / 41.478056°N 71.335556°W |
| Years active | 57 |
| Inaugurated | July 11, 1959 |
| Founders | |
| Most recent | July 22, 2016 – July 24, 2016 |
| Next event | July 28, 2017 – July 30, 2017 |
| Capacity | 10,000 |
| Website | |
| newportfolk |
|
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in July 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival. The festival features performances by folk, blues, country, bluegrass and folk rock musicians, and since the 1990s has featured performers from related contemporary genres, such as alternative country, indie folk and folk punk.
The Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by George Wein, founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz Festival, backed by its original board: Theodore Bikel, Oscar Brand, Pete Seeger and Albert Grossman.
The festival is renowned for introducing to a national audience a number of performers who went on to become major stars, most notably in the first festival of 1959 the appearance of Joan Baez who was invited as an unannounced guest by Bob Gibson, and Bob Dylan, in turn a guest of Baez at the 1963 festival. Newport was not strictly limited to folk performers. In the 1960s, Johnny Cash, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf were featured. José Feliciano debuted in 1964. The festival also included many musicians from the pre-World War II country blues era who served to influence the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s.
...
Wikipedia