On Friday, July 26, 2019, Black Belt Eagle Scout kicked off the 60th anniversary of Newport Folk Festival. Katherine Paul’s (aka KP’s) expansive melodies along with the band’s all-encompassing queer grunge aesthetic reverberated the Quad stage. With extra distortion, feedback, and purpose, they claimed their 11am slot loudly. After a few songs, KP paused to speak to the crowd about the Wampanoag land (now known as Rhode Island). She acknowledged the native folks in the crowd and other bands, and thanked the tribe’s people for having us before descending into their song “Indians Never Die” and consequently asking the audience, “Do you ever notice what surrounds you?”
The moment was poignant and pivotal to the onset of the weekend. For context, Newport Folk Fest is held within and around Fort Adams, a former United States Army post. It’s surrounded by 80 acres of land that juts out into Narragansett Bay, where listeners on boats and kayaks wade just outside the festival grounds. Chairs, tents, blankets, and babies accompanied by giant headphones and their parents litter the festival grounds. In summer, it’s hot— about 85 degrees that Friday, without a cloud in the sky. Yearly, there are 10,000 people in attendance, an extremely exclusive number for a music festival. But when you’re there, you feel how sold out the fest is (as it is every year). And you hear folk-tinged music everywhere you go.
It’s not difficult to notice the tangible surroundings at a place like Newport Folk Festival. It takes more effort to acknowledge the invisible ones.
When KP sat down with us that Friday, she mentioned how she didn’t realize the festival was held in a literal fort. To her, navigating the space was bizarre: “I don’t know where North, South, East, and West is. I’ve never been here before. I’m still trying to figure it out.” She was also navigating her place at the festival, mentioning that she was surprised when she got invited. She brought her on-stage dialogue to our in-person conversation, saying that “it’d be great if there were more acknowledgment of the people that were here before, and more involvement with the tribes of this area” and reconciling that “so far, it’s me and those other [native] people. I’m used to seeing none! So even the fact that there was one other group, I was like, ‘This is cool!’”
11am on Saturday at Newport, saw Haley Heynderickx’s performance at the smaller, quietly packed Harbor stage. Heynderickx and her band played their signature open-hearted, absurdist, conversational, poetic songs to tender listeners, where her soft voice spoke of the familial heritage behind her song “Fish Eyes” along with less-serious jokes about pirates. On stage and in person, Heynderickx strikes a balance.
As we walked through the outskirts of the festival grounds, Heynderickx acknowledged the festival’s concrete attributes: “It seems like it’s a lot of people having a really lovely time and getting quite sunburnt,” she gently quipped. But she was also able to recognize the cognitive dissonance surrounding the weekend. “It’s the 60th anniversary and I feel the weight of all the energies of the past radiating around. I wonder what Pete Seeger would think about how we’re organizing now and the climate of how we’re enjoying music.” she explained.
Courtney Marie Andrews, who performed on Sunday at the Harbor Stage, could speak to that point. In fact, she did. During our interview with Andrews, she spoke about her most recent record, May Your Kindness Remain, explaining that it urges us to “try to find your goodness in a world that is always stripping you of it.” It gets back to the roots of folk, and her classic, marvel of Americana vocals certainly helps her listeners really feel it. The 28 year-old has created six albums thus far, and her most recent, she explained, is a Scorpio sun/Cancer moon’s way of navigating core values, which inherently intersect with mental health, in an ever-changing political climate. After performing with Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, and Dolly Parton during the surprise collaboration the evening before, Andrews’ agenda surrounded by kindness is at the forefront. She has seemingly secured her spot in pushing this genre forward.
As for what she believes could change about the festival itself? She answers: “You could let a few thousand more people in, but that’s not possible. It’s got to stay how it is. It’s great.”
There you have it; the advice from the future of folk.
View photos by Corwin Wickersham from the performances at Newport Folk Fest 2019 below.
