Sisters Dissonance has a history of roadtrip-itis. It is not unusual for us to travel to a new place that is a decent distance away for a show at least once, if not a few times each year. The goal: eliminate the 400 mile gap between us, soak up music we love, find good food and drink and culture, and explore a new location.
2013 is a bit different. Last July after attending the 2012 Newport Folk festival, my sister Ady and I decided on the spot that all of our traveling pennies would immediately be stashed and we named the Newport Folk Festival our sole 2013 long-distance travel destination.
NFF 2012: Jim James/ My Morning Jacket, Fort Stage
{ Travel back in time to last year’s festival via our archive}
{ An Alphabetical Memoir of the 2012 Newport Folk Festival }
It’s no joke when I say the groundwork for our trip this year was laid less than a few weeks after we returned home from the festival last year. We also added a 2013 NFF countdown on this site back in August. Now here we are a mere 16 weeks away, bands are being announced on a rolling basis (that has been a bit like getting to open a giant gift every few days as the festival tweets and posts announcements as they are added to the schedule), and we are reveling in our decision. The excitement grows evermore!
The festival, despite the fact that the full line up was not announced before tickets were released, managed to sell out (very quickly) all 2 and 3-day passes, and single day passes for Saturday and Sunday. All that remains now is some single-day Friday tickets, which are still available via the Newport Folk Festival site (a-hemm-grab’em!). A testament to the adoration of the finest of festivals.
Among the line up this year are acts that fall into three categories: those that we have covered in the past including The Felice Brothers, Andrew Bird, John McCauley (Deer Tick), The Mountain Goats, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Spirit Family Reunion, and Shovels and Rope—all of whom we danced around in excitement as they were announced. We are looking forward to catching them all again.
Then there are the many acts that we have never had a chance to see live (Feist, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Justin Townes Earle, Colin Meloy, Lumineers to name but a few)—until now. For that we are equally excited. Finally, there are those that we’ve only just discovered thanks to NNF, that adds to this buildup of anticipation. (For me Bombino, Cold Specks, Lord Huron, and Trombone Shorty are among those calling!) I have no doubt every single act on the bill will be an amazing experience. The amount of energy and love and camaraderie that fills the air in Newport, RI on that very special folkin’ weekend is immeasurable and not fully defined on paper or in words. You just have to be there. And we anxiously await that moment when we have arrived there once again.
The 2013 Newport Folk Festival Lineup to date:
The Avett Brothers
Milk Carton Kids
Feist
Phosphorescent
Sarah Jarosz
Amanda Palmer
Berklee Gospel and Roots Choir
Old Crow Medicine Show
Blake Mills
Justin Towers Earle
Cold Specs
Bonny “Prince” Billy and Dawn McCarthy
Colin Meloy
Lord Huron
Beth Orton
Wheeler Brothers
Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls
Langhorn Slim and the Law
Bombino
Black Prarie
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue
Hey Marseilles
The Felice Brothers
Tiff Merritt
Rayland Baxter
Iris Dement
Father John Misty
JD Mcpherson
Kingsley Flood
Hurrah for the Riff Raff
Jim James
Jason Isbell
Nicki Bluhm and the Gamblers
Spirit Family Reunion
Michael Kiwanuka
The Lumineers
Houndmouth
The Last Bison
Andrew Bird
Shovels and Rope
The Lonely Bellow
(Yet to be announced are the NFF after shows…a whole other world unto themselves!)
Sisters Dissonance 