Robert's Review of Newport Folk Festival at Walnut Creek, 8/15/98

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The Newport Folk Festival came to Raleigh's Walnut Creek Amphi theater for one day of folk royalty and eclectic sounds. Headlines Joan Baez, Nanci Griffiths, and Lyle Lovett did not surprise and while Leo Kottke and John Hiatt didn't show - Lucinda Williams did and that was just fine.

Walnut Creek is billed as one of the South's premier outdoors amphitheaters and usually hosts major rock and country acts and also the traveling fairs - Hoard, Lilith, etc. This is the first year that Newport took to the road and Raleigh was lucky enough to get a date. Two stages were setup with very little distractions from the music - no internet or counter culture exhibits along the promenade. In fact only 1 tee shirt stand! Perhaps if the tour is successful next year we will see folk culture booths with candles, folk art, and Texas style clothes. Anyway this year was subdued - just the music - the early hours were lightly attended but it filled up by the time Joan Baez reached the stage.

Dar Williams a favorite songwriter for Joan Baez and others opened the main stage playing acoustic guitar and backed on cello by Stephanie Winters of the Nudes. Joan Baez joined them on 1 song which started the cross pollination of acts with performers joining in on other sets.

The second stage had a small lineup with a local Raleigh act opening up and then Olu Dara who plays a Blues / Caribbean flavor of music. He leads with a cornet, guitar, harmonica, and small wooden reed instrument backed by drums, bass and electric guitar. The guitarist plays in the afro-pop style popularized on Paul Simon's Graceland album. The band gets into a groove leaving Olu to sing in a rambling style on songs like "Shopping blues" . The guitarist added a couple of hot solos in their short set.

Lucinda Williams was one of the main reasons for going to the show based on the strength of her latest album and she didn't disappoint. She played her country power pop flavored songs about broken hearts and gravel roads. Mostly she played songs from her new album and opened with the title song "Car wheels on a Gravel Road". Other songs included "Metal Firecracker", "Greenville" with a tasty guitar solo, "Right on Time", "Can't let go" , and then rocked out with the Fleetwood Mac like "Joy." She leads the band with her throaty sexy voice singing about seduction and almost moaning on "Right on Time". Lucinda plays acoustic guitar and was backed by a tight rhytmn section and great guitar parts played by Kenny Vaughn and acoustic guitar and vocals by Jim Lauderdale who grew up in the area and has made himself a name as a songwriter.

Marc Cohn the piano playing songwriter famous for "Walking in Memphis" played was backed by Shane Fountaine on electric guitar but the songs were fuzzy with no clear edges to hang onto even Memphis - which was a great pop record was watered down and dragged out by a long intro and weak dramatics playing. It seems that he's tired of singing the song and is trying to hard to make it new. I also recognized "Ghost Trains" , but he needs a band and tighter arrangements.

Wilco played a number of tunes from their collaboration album with Billy Bragg and Woody Guthrie including "California" and closing with "Jesus for President". They also played "Forget the flowers" and others from the excellent Being There album. The group played a relatively short set and had a somewhat sameness to the songs. They seemed less involved then last years New York's Fleadh festival but Jeff Tweedy did manage to taunt the audience - "You don't know the words to all those songs I know you don't" "we're going to play another song because 1/15 of you stood up"

Bela Fleck and the Flec Tones were the first group to get the crowd going and they really got going with a human chain dancing across the lawn and the back of the seating area. Bela is a banjo player but saying that is misleading since the band reaches into funk music as well as electric bluegrass. And the band includes a electric bass, sax, and drum synthesizer and sometimes a wah wash pedal was brought to the sax and a synthesizer to the banjo. Songs included "Big Country", "Almost Twelve" and closed with last years pop Grammy winning "Sinister Minister." A fun band of wild music played by virtuosos and credible tunes (it wasn't all solos).

Joan Baez is the queen of folk music, regal but accessible backed by a band with bass, acoustic guitar, percussion, mandolin / fiddle / sax. Songs included a version of "The Night they drove old Dixie Down" with vocals only accompanied by a fiddle. "Dangling conversation" the old Simon & Garfunkel song was done in a duet with Dar Williams. And she closed her set with Dylan's "It ain't Me Babe" featuring vocals by Dar Williams and Nancy Griffiths and one verse by Joan doing a Dylan impersonation. The crowd adored her. Both original fans with short grey hair and young girls with long dresses listened in rapt attention.

Nancy Griffith came out with the Blue Moon Orchestra and was the glue that tied that show together as she brought out the fiddle player from BeauSoleil for one song, Bela Fleck for another, Darius Rucker from Hootie and the Blowfish (she joked "It's a hootenanny folks so we needed at least one Hootie") and nearly everybody for the closing number "If I had a Hammer". An energetic performance belaying the suggestion that she will retire from touring. She played mostly songs from her Other Voices albums 1 & 2.

Lyle Lovett closed out the show with a band that included drums, percussion, Upright bass, grand piano, cello, fiddle, and electric guitar. Together they performed with a powerful sound sometimes reaching the plushness of a small orchestra, sometimes like a Hot House jazz bluegrass swing group, sometimes cool like a straight jazz piano led band, and at times like an R&B group with punchy horn style riffs. Lead by Lyle on his acoustic guitar and highlighting his great voice and wry songs. They played "Fiona", "That's Right (You're not from Texas)", and he dueted with Nanci Griffiths on a song that allowed him to move to Austin clubs where he could play original music. A hot set by a solid group - a long day of music closed out with style.

The audience was larger than expected and seemed quite happy - Let's hope Newport comes back.



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