
7 must-see acts at this weekend’s Newport Folk Festival
From Conan O’Brien — yes, that Conan O’Brien — to Taj Mahal and Brittany Howard, this year’s fest is stacked.

Newport Folk Fest, that veritable Disney World for music fans, springs to life again July 26-28, bringing A-list musicians, local stand-outs, crafters, artisans, and fans from all over to storied Fort Adams State Park for three days of peace, love and folk-rock.
If you scored tickets to this sold-out feast for the senses, I’m here to guide you through a jam-packed weekend. And if you didn’t, but want to know what to Google for this weekend (“conan obrien newport folk” might be a trending search) welp, I’m here to help you too, friend.
First, a disclaimer. From Joni Mitchell’s resurrection in ’22 to Bob Dylan going electric in ’65, from Kermit the Frog popping up for Jim James, to Animal playing “Animal” with Goose — Newport is known for its surprises. Please don’t blame me in a Monday email saying, “Wow, I can’t believe you missed Big Bird on roller skates eating birthday cake with Dolly Parton.” I mean, sure. That could happen. This is Newport Folk after all. But hey: I’m working with the schedule I got, friends. Now let’s folk-rock.
1. Conan O’Brien
Kids, he’s not just the best guest “Hot Ones” ever had. As a ’90s kid, I’m old enough to remember staying up past bedtime to watch NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brian” in real time at 12:30 a.m., laughing at “In The Year 2000” bits, Conan’s Max Weinberg burns, and hoping for a pull on the “Walker, Texas Ranger” lever. Hence, I can’t help but hear his name as “CO-nan o-BRI-an.” (I’m also crossing my fingers that someone introduces him that way at Newport.)
Sometimes on that show — and on TBS’s “Conan” — the Harvard alum would break out his guitar. Dude’s got chops. At 61, the Brookline native makes his Newport Folk Fest debut with “Conan O’Brien and Real Musicians.” The “real” musicians include Dawes, his TBS show band leader Jimmy Vivino, and “very special guests,” according to billing. (See above for evidence that when this fest says “special guests,” my expectations are high.) Sunday
2. Joan Baez
This looks to be powerful. Retired now from singing, the living legend will read original poetry from her debut 2024 collection, “When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance,” published by Boston’s Godine. The revelatory collection was largely written while undergoing therapy in the ’90s for dissociative identity disorder and working through childhood trauma. It’s a side of Baez she hadn’t revealed until last year’s doc, “Joan Baez I Am Noise.” I interviewed Baez on the book and overcoming trauma here.
The one-time Belmont resident performed at the very first Newport Folk Fest in 1959. In 1963, already a star, she duetted with some new kid on the scene named Bob Dylan. (And yes, was also on the bill when he went electric in ’65.)
Whether in guitar, voice, protest sign, or march, Baez, 83, has long been outspoken against injustice. When I interviewed Baez on her political portraits — from Kamala Harris to Dr. Anthony Fauci in 2020 — she told me, in what I’ve come to think of as a quintessential Baez quote: “In these times, there are bastards and there are heroes, and painting the heroes is a no-brainer.”
Given the political climate, I’m betting she’ll have some things to say this year. Saturday
3. Brittany Howard
Show-stealer. Howard is a powerhouse vocalist, a thunderous talent, who steals the spotlight from every star-studded stage she’s on. For example, she was my favorite part of “The Weight,” sung with Elton John, Sheryl Crow, and Chris Stapleton to honor The Band’s Robbie Robertson at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2023. You really only need to see the below clip to know that the four-time Grammy winner and front woman/guitarist for Alabama Shakes will have the crowd, dancing and shouting, in the palm of her hand. Sunday
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4. Taj Mahal
Beep beep beep! Legend alert. Do not miss.
Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. grew up in Springfield, and studied agriculture at UMass Amherst, graduating in ’63. But instead of working the farm, he’s made a career of barn-burners and back porch blues. The four-time Grammy winner has gigged with a Who’s Who of legends — Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins and more. While his older stuff is classic, I can’t get enough of the gruff, bluesy patina his voice has taken on now at 82. My favorite track might be his cover “Diving Duck Blues” with Keb’ Mo’ off their 2017 “TajMo” album. And I’m hoping we get some good ol’ Taj harmonica. Sunday
5. Rhiannon Giddens
Renaissance woman. A two-time GRAMMY winner, Pulitzer Prize-winner, MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, Giddens’s resume is stacked.
Aside from playing banjo on Beyonce’s country album “Cowboy Carter,” and being the cofounder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, she’s also a children’s book author, played a recurring character on the show “Nashville,” and among other gigs, scored music to a ballet and an opera. She’s also one helluva singer/fiddler and banjoist. Winner of the 2016 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, she’s also won multiple Living Blues Awards, and been nominated for Grammys in Roots and Americana. Any genre she tries, she masters. Get a sense below. Saturday
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6. Allison Russell
A day one highlight. The Grammy winner — who typically plays with the Rainbow Coalition Band, an “ensemble of Black and POC, queer, and historically marginalized musicians from across the U.S.,” according to her website — has a voice that will have you nodding your head in silent hymn one minute, and dancing the next. Listen to “This Is to Mother You,” her duet with Hiss Golden Messenger/tribute to Sinead O’Connor, for a sense of the former, and her cover of the Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks classic “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” — with Hozier and Sista Strings — for the latter. Friday
7. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
I could listen to Welch sing all day. In fact, I think her rendition of “I’ll Fly Away” from the Coen Brothers’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack was the most played song on my first-ever iPod. I’ve been a fan ever since. Rawlings — a Rhode Island native and former Berklee student — has long partnered with her on guitar. The two were nominated for a 2018 Oscar for “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from another Coen Brothers movie, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. They also won a 2021 Grammy for Best Folk Album for “All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone).” Between Welsh’s made-for-bluegrass voice, and Rawlings’ guitar, the chemistry is palpable: Folk magic. Saturday
Also of note:
I told you I’d give you seven, and a promise is a promise … but if I could make it 14?
- De La Soul, Sunday. Just seeing those words, I have “The Magic Number” stuck in my head.
- Billy Bragg, Saturday
- Black Pumas, Friday
- Guster, Friday
- Killer Mike, Saturday
- The War on Drugs, Saturday
- And for all you Dropkick fans — Murphyheads! Can I coin that here? — Dropkick Murphys are shipping up to Newport on Sunday.
The Newport Folk Festival runs Friday, July 26 – Sunday, July 28 at Fort Adams State Park. Gates open at 10 a.m. See the full lineup here, and check back to Boston.com all weekend for updates from the fest.
Lauren Daley is a freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
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