cunningham26 Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 So I spent the weekend at the Newport Folk Festival, it was absolutely amazing even on friday when it poured buckets. Martin seems to hand out guitars to all the acts, even some tried and true gibson guys swapped out to try a D28 or 42 on stage. I also saw for the first time in person a banner gibson, a great looking LG2 played by the guy accompanying Michael Hurley in the family tent. Colin Meloy of the Decemberists rocked on a Montana Gold, and a few others made appearances, but Martin dominated including a demo tent with a contest to win a mini if you played a song. So even I, gibson man that i am, had to play martin on my cover of Billy Fury's Wonderous Place. NPR has a lot of the sets available to stream. One of my favorite acts of the weekend was John McCauley of Deer Tick, who played a solo show in the tradition of folk heros- just a chair and an acoustic. That is, until his mom joined him onstage to do Margheritaville, which was fun. He's known to be a real rocker, so it was really wonderful to hear his stripped down and singing some of his songs that are really quite beautiful in that setting: http://www.npr.org/event/music/204505243/john-mccauley-live-in-concert-newport-folk-2013 Overall it was a great weekend, any of you guys in New England should check it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 As someone who called Newport home for 30 years, I can attest that both the folk festival and the jazz festival are fantastic. The perpetual problem is unpredictable weather, since both events are largely outdoors at Ft. Adams now, which is where your photo was taken. Originally, both festivals were at the Casino, which is where the famous piece of footage was shot of Dylan borrowing a flatpick from a group of somewhat skeptical traditional artists, including Doc Watson. Other venue was Festival Field, which no longer exists. Big open-air venues are not the best place to listen to music with a critical ear, but they often have a vibe that can't be beat. Newport is one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 I have a Phil Ochs song book from the 60's where he did some essay writing too. He writes that is was easy to spot the cops at Newport. They were wearing black shoes and carrying Harmony guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cunningham26 Posted July 29, 2013 Author Share Posted July 29, 2013 I never knew the original location of the fest, have seen the photos but was never sure of the spot, thanks for the info! While the weather was a little unpredictable, it's one of the best things about a festival. NFF is the perfect size and attracts the right crowd, and it's definitely the best run and best quality festival i've attended. Even the sound quality has gotten a lot better. Since they're dealing with mainly acoustic acts, they seem to have made a point to hire the right sound people. Another great thing they've done is teamed up with Senneheiser to do acoustic sessions in the ruins of the old fort for a small audience. Basically they mic up the band and their instruments, then those watching listen through sennheiser headphones, and the sound is absolutely amazing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVOBN5rY8iw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted July 29, 2013 Share Posted July 29, 2013 City and Colour and John McCauley (Deer Tick) damn, I'd love to be there. I love both those bands. Ironically enough Dallas Green (City and Colour) just became a Martin ambassador yet in that video he is playing a old square shoulder (gasp) Gibson. Still sounds good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 City and Colour and John McCauley (Deer Tick) damn, I'd love to be there. I love both those bands. Ironically enough Dallas Green (City and Colour) just became a Martin ambassador yet in that video he is playing a old square shoulder (gasp) Gibson. Still sounds good... Looks to me like an early 70's J-50. Sounds good for a Norlin. Just goes to show there are good ones out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livemusic Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 I never knew the original location of the fest, have seen the photos but was never sure of the spot, thanks for the info! While the weather was a little unpredictable, it's one of the best things about a festival. NFF is the perfect size and attracts the right crowd, and it's definitely the best run and best quality festival i've attended. Even the sound quality has gotten a lot better. Since they're dealing with mainly acoustic acts, they seem to have made a point to hire the right sound people. Another great thing they've done is teamed up with Senneheiser to do acoustic sessions in the ruins of the old fort for a small audience. Basically they mic up the band and their instruments, then those watching listen through sennheiser headphones, and the sound is absolutely amazing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVOBN5rY8iw Never heard of that fellow, City & Colour. I like some of what I have heard now and will investigate his music further! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Looks to me like and early 70's J-50. Sounds good for a Norlin. Just goes to show there are good ones out there. Personally I think he can make any guitar sound good but that's just me. He used to play a bunch of old small Gibsons, wonder what happened to them. On a side note his 00-17 is a lovely guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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