Bleachers, Lucius, the Swell Season, Kenny Loggins and More Carry the Torch at the 2025 Newport Folk Festival

Every year for 66 years the Newport Folk Festival has conjured up a diverse array of magical musical moments that add up to a festival that is so much more than a sum of its parts. It is one reason the festival is legendary, and performers revere it as hallowed ground. It is also why some songwriters and artists return year after year, to re-connect with that invigorating sense of community and purpose upon which it was built.

The 2025 incarnation was no different. From day one’s headlining slot featuring Jack Antonoff and Bleachers hosting its Ally Coalition Talent Show with a parade of jaw-dropping guest performers including Rufus Wainwright, Weyes Blood, Hayley Williams and others through to the all-star closing jam, hosted by actor John C. Reilly, which featured pretty much everyone who performed throughout the weekend, the festival once again delivered on its many promises.

Legendary songwriters joined exciting newcomers in a symbolic passing of the torch. Kenny Loggins performed several of his classic songs, such as “Danny’s Song” and “I’m Alright” and brought the emerging singer-songwriter Hunter Hawkins to perform “Whenever I Call You Friend.” He then yielded the stage to let her sing one of her own songs and mentioned he had produced her new album.

Another legend, Mary Chapin Carpenter, returning after her first Newport appearance 30 years ago, got emotional talking about how much it meant to her. She performed some of her early-Nineties country hits such “Passionate Kisses” and “Down at the Twist and Shout” with recent selections from her 2025 album, Personal History, produced by Josh Kaufman, who joined her onstage. Kaufman returned to the stage many times over the weekend as a member of Bonny Light Horseman and as the closing night jam’s musical director.

Other ASCAP members performing on day one included alternative folk-rock fave Kevin Morby, who shared the Fort stage with his partner, fellow artist Waxahatchee; jam band giants Goose, 70s-inspired country songwriter Tyler-James Kelly; and the horn-driven Philly funk ensemble Snacktime.

When asked what appearing at the festival meant to him and his band, Snacktime’s Michael Spearman said: “There's so much history here. And to be able to be a part of that history by bringing our sound and to be accepted by this crowd was very special. This is really about community and coming together. I think one of the major problems we have in this country is there's so much separation. You have racism and sexism or homophobia - all this stuff - because people aren't used to being around other people. It’s not until you are around people of different cultures and understand them more that you can overcome your preconceived notions. So, community is super important by just bringing everyone together and helping everyone understand each other a little more.”

Newly announced this year was the appointment of ASCAP member Nathaniel Rateliff to Newport Folk’s first Stewardship Program, committing to three years of “artist advocacy, curation, fellowship and mentorship. Rateliff hand-selected several of the young musicians for this year’s fest and appeared at sets throughout the weekend, including his own opening day, early-morning performance.

Some of those rising stars making their festival debut this year included Jensen McRae, who delivered beautifully evocative and sharp-edged songs; Oklahoma-based Native American songwriter Ken Pomeroy, whose poignant and brutally honest songs sung in her sweet soprano voice hushed the Harbor stage audience; Obongjayar, a Nigerian singer-songwriter based in London, who delivered energetic African dance vibes on Saturday; Saya Gray, a Canadian pop songwriter and bassist who laid down some heavy grooves on the Quad stage; and Nova One, an “all gay” group led by Providence, RI’s songwriter, performer and music educator Roz Raskin, who kicked off day three on the Fort stage with lush music that celebrates self-expression, compassion and love.

Raskin, who grew up attending Newport for years with family and friends, said it was a little surreal to be here as a performer this year. “Aside from being in a band, I’m also a piano and songwriting teacher,” they said. “What I'm looking for is connection. You know what I mean? I think that if I could sustain a career where I could tour part of the year and then teach part of the year, that's the ideal for me - to be able to connect in these varying ways. Songwriting is that for me. To have someone hear a song and feel like they received something completely different from it than what I was thinking, or people singing the lyrics in the crowd, stuff like that blows my mind.”

Raising voices together in unison is what the Newport Folk Festival is all about. And many of this year’s artists did just that - superbly well. From folk supergroup Bonny Light Horseman, featuring singer-songwriters Anais Mitchell and Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats) and jack of all musical trades Josh Kaufman to another folk supergroup, I’m With Her, featuring Sara Watkins, Aoife O’Donovan and Sarah Jarosz, to the luscious vocals of Lucius (everyone’s favorite backup singers) and the acclaimed and electrifying Irish duo The Swell Season, great songs sung with exquisite harmonies abounded.

And Newport wouldn’t be Newport without a pull-out-the-stops all-star jam. This year’s closing set, musical-directed by Bonny Light Horseman’s Josh Kaufman and backed by Snacktime’s horn players, was overflowing with collaborations on songs of protest, fellowship and joy. It could all be summed up best in the Neil Young lyrics of one of the finale’s most searing cover songs: “Keep on rockin’ in the free world.”