newport folk festival

Newport Folk Festival - photo courtesy of Scotty B over at Hidden Track
There have been many festivals that have come and gone over the years, but only one can say they've been at it for over half a decade. George Wein's Newport Folk Festival has been going strong since 1959, and has witnessed year after year of quality performances. I mean, come on, Dylan first went electric at Newport! That's pretty freaking cool if you ask me. For the 51st edition of the storied festival, Wein has put together another excellent docket of bands to perform at the three-day event. Friday, July 30th is an abridged day, and will be headlined by actor/comedian/musician Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers. Saturday, July 31st will see performances from the likes of John Prine, Andrew Bird, Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket, Calexico and SXSW bust-out's The Low Anthem among others. The final day, Sunday, August 1st, will close the festival out in style with Levon Helm's Ramble On The Road, The Swell Season, The Avett Brothers, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Richie Havens and one of my current favorites, The Felice Brothers.

Check out the full line-up for the 2010 Newport Folk Festival after the jump.

The more and more I listen to The Avett Brothers, the deeper my infatuation grows. I'm not sure what it is, but I've developed a serious man-crush on the Brothers. The Avett's music is stunning on record, but is a whole different animal in the live format. Their set at Mulberry last fall turned me into a true believer, and seeing them again earlier in the spring clinched them as one of my top five favorite live bands.

Recently The Avett's performed a set a the Newport Folk Festival, but also took the time to hang out with Paste Editor Jay Sweet and Ice Cream Man Matt Allen to perform a stripped down version of their new single (and freaking brilliant tune), "I and Love and You" from their forthcoming LP. Check out the clip below, but be sure to watch it full screen.

Toast and some friends had the opportunity to catch the Avett Brothers with Railroad Earth at Omaha's Slowdown last night. They had nothing but glowing reviews, and even were dealt a request for "Murder In The City," which I told them to ask for earlier in the day. The full Toastalicious review will be hitting the front page shortly.

Taking place this past weekend, the fiftieth rendition of the Newport Folk Festival featured a slew of top-notch acoustic-based performers over the course of the two day event. Many of my current favorites performed on the three stages of the Rhode Island festival, including The Avett Brothers, Deer Tick, Langhorne Slim, Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine, The Low Anthem and The Decemberists. Marquee acts like Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Gillian Welch, Billy Bragg and Guy Clark also took the stages to perform stripped down sets over the course of the weekend. NPR was there to document and live stream the events as they happened, and now have posted their recordings for everyone to hear. Only three shows from the entire weekend – Clark, The Campbell Brothers and Tift Merritt – are still yet to make the cut, but every other performance from the festival is being featured.

Check out setlists and links to each performance after the jump

While most hipsters were attending Chicago's main event this past weekend, the grandaddy of all American folk festivals was going on about a thousand miles away in Newport, Rhode Island. Over the course of August's first weekend, the Newport Folk Festival featured performances by Trey Anastasio, Brian Wilson, Jimmy Buffet, The Black Crowes, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Levon Helm, Gillian Welch, Cat Power, Richie Havens and dozens more acoustic guitar-toting artists and bands. National Public Radio took care of streaming and recording duties, and have kindly put several of the sets up for listen on their website.

Take the jump for links to the available sets.