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Leon Bridges and Jon Batiste

Leon Bridges and Jon Batiste

Photo: Daniel Mendoza/Recording Academy

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Go Inside Newport Folk Festival 2018 go-backstage-us-newport-folk-festival-2018

Go Backstage With Us At Newport Folk Festival 2018

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Join us behind the scenes at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, R.I., for the country's most historic folk festival
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 27, 2018 - 8:05 pm

This year's Newport Folk Festival was full of fantastic music, friendly faces and special surpises right up to Sunday night's spectacular festival-closing "A Change Is Gonna Come" revue featuring soul star Leon Bridges and masterminded by Jon Batiste with the Dap Kings. They were joined on stage by a host of incredible guests - collaborations that could only have happened at Newport. You had to be there to believe it!

Newport Folk festival boasts an unmatched combination of tradition, innovation and good ole' fashion community. GRAMMY.com was on the ground in Newport, R.I., for one of the most eclectic — and electric — years in the festival's storied history. Take a look to see who rocked the stage and who dropped by to visit us backstage.

Brandi Carlile

Sunday headliner Brandi Carlile dropped in to discuss everything from the powerful messages of By The Way, I Forgive You to her love of fishing before she tore up the stage.

John Prine and Margo Price

Folk legend John Prine paid us a visit to talk about his wildly successful new album, The Tree Of Forgiveness, before rising star Margo Price dropped in to say hello. With a stellar album currently making waves in the americana music world and a recent cameo in Prine's "Knockin' On My Screen Door" video, we had plenty to talk about with the pair of master songwriters.

Amanda Shires

Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images

The incredible Amanda Shires wowed the audience by performing songs from her upcoming album, To The Sunset.

Lukas Nelson at Newport Folk Festival

Lukas Nelson and his band, Promise Of The Real, rocked Newport hard on Saturday. After their set, he stopped by to chat about the many, many projects he's working on and snap some portraits with us.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Newport Folk

New Orleans musical institution Preservation Hall Jazz Band arrived in style, dressed fresh in white and bearing instruments. We sat down with bandleader Ben Jaffe to talk about the musical message they take with them everywhere they go. 

JD McPherson

We asked JD McPherson all about his latest album, Undivided Heart & Soul, focusing on his fuzz-heavy single, "Lucky Penny" and the soulful "Crying's Just A Thing That You Do," with he co-wrote with fellow Newport Folk performer Butch Walker.

Bermuda Triangle at Newport Folk

Meet Becca, Brittany and Jesse of Bermuda Triangle, a new trio from East Nashville who turned an impromptu jam into a real deal band. The ladies came by to tell us how they started playing music together and talk about their experience at Newport Folk.

Mumford & Sons

Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images

Surprise! This year's suprise headliner on Saturday night of Newport Folk Festival was none other than Mumford & Sons. The band made their first ever appearance at Newport, and called up a host of guest including Maggie Rogers, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, and more.

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Jazz/folk duo Tuck And Patti stopped by after they kicked off day one of the festival to talk about what makes Newport so special, their upcoming projects and even drop some advice on making it as a musical duo and a married couple.

Fantastic Negrito - Newport Folk 2018

Hot off the release of Please Don't Be Dead, Oakland, Calif., neo-blues hotrod Fantastic Negrito had some wise words to share backstage about true artistry, the good vibes at Newport and where he keeps the GRAMMY he received for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 59th GRAMMY Awards for The Last Days Of Oakland.

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Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius showed up in stunning matching blue to talk about their latest "acoustic" album, Nudes, why they love coming back to Newport and what they're working on next.

Paul Cauthen and Shakey Graves

While we were chatting with Alejandro Rose-Garcia, aka Shakey Graves, his friend and ours, Paul Cauthen, dropped in to talk about the Newport hijinks he'd been getting into so far and how the festival is the perfect setting for connecting with all of their closest musical friends.

St. Vincent

Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images

St. Vincent closed things down Friday night with a haunting set, proving Newport Folk is, and has always been, about pushing the limits.

Rachael & Vilray

Ever since college, Rachael & Vilray have shared a love for '30s and '40s traditional jazz. The duo came through to talk about the Newport experience, reveal what makes the music they love so enduring and pose for our cameras.

Sidi Toure

Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images

Sidi Toure tears up the stage on day one, bringing the Newport Folk Fest crowd to their feet.

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Hot off the stage, New Orleans' Tank And The Bangas pulled up to take a quick snapshot and tell us how excited they were to share their music with the equally excited – and receptive – Newport crowd.

Hiss Golden Messenger at Newport Folk

MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger came through after his set to talk about the natural way his Halelujah Anyhow album came together and how being a father has meant everything to him as an artist.

Valerie June at Newport Folk

The ever-entertaining Valerie June stopped by to talk about the incredible vibes at Newport and breakdown one of her most cosmic songs, "Astral Plane."

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Thirty Tigers artist Tyler Childers shared his impressions of Newport Folk as well as some insight on his 2017 album, Purgatory.

Lone Bellow at Newport Folk Festival

The magnetic trio The Lone Bellow paid a visit to our corner of the fort to talk about Walk Into A Storm and tell the touching story of "May You Be Well."

The Wood Brothers

Apropos of being situated right on the water at Newport's Fort Adams State Park, the Wood Brothers discussed the various water themes and symbols that flow through their latest album, One Drop Of Truth.

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The musical journeyman Phil Cook swung by to see us and talk about why he loves Newport Folk Festival, his new - and first - solo album, People Are My Drug, and why now is a crucial time in music's history. 

Stay tuned for much more to come from Newport Folk Festival 2018.

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Dolly Parton At Newport Folk 2019

Photo: Douglas Mason/WireImage

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Newport Folk 2019: Relive The Music & Camaraderie newport-folk-2019-relive-all-surprises-highlights-exclusives

Newport Folk 2019: Relive All The Surprises, Highlights & Exclusives

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From Dolly's big surprise to Brandi's big weekend, join us at the 60th Anniversary Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, as we round up the moments you may have missed, plus peek in on our exclusive backstage access
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 29, 2019 - 5:35 pm

It’s hard to believe the first-ever Newport Folk Festival took place 60 years ago, mainly because the vibe at this year's fest feels so future-facing, so switched-on, and so decidedly in-the-now. But in truth, Newport Folk has been a breeding ground for revolutionary change since the beginning. On-the-ground and by-the-sea at Fort Adams, you can't get far without talking to someone about Bob Dylan going electric here in 1965, or Mississippi John Hurt bringing Delta blues to a whole new audience three years earlier in 1963, or Judy Collins introducing two young songwriters to the Newport crowd a few years later who just happened to be Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, or... or...

Newport Folk 2019: Recording Academy "On The Road"

History aside, the first force of nature you notice about this year’s Newport Folk is the powerful and dynamic female-driven lineup, highlighted by Friday’s headlining debut of the Highwomen, a new supergroup featuring Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires. Saturday’s surprise headlining slot, mysteriously marked on the schedule as four female symbols, turned out to be the first all-female collaboration in the festival’s history. Also, remarkable performances by Sheryl Crow, Kacey Musgraves, Jade Bird, Maggie Rodgers, I’m With Her, Lucy Dacus and more. 

But the surprise of the year—and each year at Newport there are many—was the Saturday night “Collaboration” when none other than Dolly Parton, joined by her frequent collaborator Linda Perry, jumped up on stage with Crow, Carlile, Collins and more, providing Newport ’19’s most memorable moment. 

yeah… no big deal…..#LEGENDS https://t.co/Gca5VY6H7b

— Newport Folk Fest (@Newportfolkfest) July 28, 2019

Not to be outdone, Sunday was magical in its own way, highlighted by Hozier’s soulful set with special guest Mavis Staples and Lake Street Dive’s Rachel Price. But the most chill-producing musical moment Sunday beloved to Carlile, the same way the entire arc of Newport ’19 seemed to belong to the incredibly warm, gracious and talented GRAMMY winner. She joined Hozier on-stage for a rendition of her GRAMMY-winning song “The Joke,” trading verses with Hozier, then silencing the crowd with her vocal delivery of the songs climax before an uproar of applause. 

Brandi Carlile On Forgiveness & "The Joke"

Festivalgoers had plenty to cheer for at this year’s Newport Folk, but what they didn’t see was the action backstage. It’s not uncommon to see impromptu rehearsals, joyous reunions and excited first meetings between artists while walking through the all-access areas of the festival. The Recording Academy setup shop to speak with some of Newport’s brightest stars, one-on-one, for exclusive interviews.

For instance, we caught up with Friday’s main event, The Highwomen, to hear about their new singles and forthcoming album. We spoke with well-traveled Texas country breakout artist Charley Crockett, who also came well-dressed in a brand-new bright-red suit. We sat down with rising star and Queen of Country Soul, Yola, who ended up making guest appearances everywhere during the weekend, winning over new fans in droves.

Yola On Being The Queen Of Country Soul

We were also honored to talk with Judy Collins about her rich history at Newport dating back to the days of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. We even got to talk with Our Native Daughters, the powerful new group featuring Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell to hear about their moving debut album and performance.

For all of this coverage and much, much more, including interviews with Amy Ray, Molly Tuttle, Lukas Nelson and many more, visit our exclusive photo gallery and see who else stopped by to say hello and snap some pics in our portrait studio.

.@molly_tuttle, @iamyola, @lukasnelson, @adiavictoria, and many more artists came through to discuss music, life, culture what makes @Newportfolkfest feel like home. https://t.co/48X4Pm5ghW

— Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@RecordingAcad) July 28, 2019

At the end of the day, Newport is about the music and the people, and backstage in a beautiful side room of the Fort, artist after artist tells us how attentive the audiences are and how well the staff treat everyone. This is the spirit behind the festival that — 60 years after it’s inception — continues to bring the music community together, push the boundaries of artistic conventions, give a voice to artists to fight for what they believe and build lasting friendships and connections with all those who make the journey to Newport. See you next year!

Backstage At Newport Folk Festival's 60th Anniversary

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Courtney Barnett

Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images

List
9 Female Acts Who Rocked 2018 Newport Folk Fest 2018-newport-folk-fest-9-fierce-women-who-rocked

2018 Newport Folk Fest: 9 Fierce Women Who Rocked

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The iconic fest features rising star women from the future of folk and beyond
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 29, 2018 - 6:22 pm

Newport Folk Festival has been the destination for cutting edge cultural commentary through music since 1959. This year the festival's lineup included a wide variety of wonderful women from all over today's musical landscape. Let's take a look at seven of the female artists who rocked Newport.

Margo Price Talks 'All American Made'

Amanda Shires

Amanda Shires blew the tent away above the Quad stage, treating the Newport Folk audience to material from her forthcoming album, To The Sunset. Her soaring vocals in the album's opener, "Parking Lot Piroughette," echoed off the stone walls at Adams Fort State Park, announcing a new musical phase for the already well-accomplished singer/songwriter/violinist.

Valerie June

The versatile and delightful Valerie June dazzled the waterside crowd on Saturday afternoon, delivering songs from her fourth album, The Order Of Time, just in time for the ocean breeze to push out some of the heat.

Margo Price

With her bold and brazen new album, All American Made, Margo Price has arrived. Her set on the opening day of Newport Folk did not disappoint, including a masterful turn with John Prine on his classic duet, "In Spite Of Ourselves." This day belonged to Price, and her set proved she's one of music's next great voices.

St. Vincent

Newport Folk Festival has always had a strong streak of something new and different. Enter St. Vincent. This year, the GRAMMY-winning artist closed opening day of the festival with haunting acoustic performances, peeling back to the bones of her unique songs and giving the festival crowd a fresh angle on what folk music can sound like.

Tank And The Bangas

The success story belonging to Tank And The Bangas is part modern magic and part destiny. The New Orleans eclectic collective were "discovered" last year when they won NPR's Tiny Desk Contest, but Tank and Co. have been cultivating their honest, quirky and lyrical sonic vibe into a monster. They let the beast out at Newport, opening their Saturday set with an electrified "Star Spangled Banner" and turning the energy up to match the heat.

Brandi Carlile

A true class act, Brandi Carlile's Sunday set put the perfect punctuation on a weekend of community, acceptance and fun. Not only did she blare her unforgettable signature hit "The Story" out to a roaring crowd, she treaded into rarely charted territory with her soaring cover of Led Zeppelin's "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You." Wow.

Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius

With a bunch of buzz mounting for the dynamic duo of Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, Lucius made their return to Newport for a triumphant set Friday, filled with their masterful vocal dynamics and harmonies. The songs echoed with the purity of their latest album, Nudes, and teased the promise of what's to come for the duo as they move toward a fourth album.

Courtney Barnett

Perhaps no other artist on Newport's bill falls simultaneously as close to the American folk tradition and further away from it than Courtney Barnett. Coming all the way from Australia, her word-heavy verses and blunt choruses harken back to the days of Dylan while her electrified Newport set burned with a new fire, one that is all over her latest album, Tell Me How You Really Feel.

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John Prine

Photo: Daniel Mendoza/Recording Academy

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Exclusive: John Prine On 'The Tree Of Forgiveness' exclusive-john-prine-tree-forgiveness-protest-music-more

Exclusive: John Prine On 'The Tree Of Forgiveness,' Protest Music & More

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Riding high on the widespread success of his latest album, the folk icon reveals a songwriting secret or two backstage at Newport Folk Festival
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 28, 2018 - 7:20 am

John Prine may not be a household name – unless you're a songwriter. Since Prine released his groundbreaking self-titled debut album in 1971, he's written some of the most heartfelt, clever, quirky, and enduring songs of his generation. In April of this year, the 71-year-old unleashed his first new batch of original tunes in 13 years with The Tree Of Forgiveness. The songs feel as natural and essential as Prine's classics, and to no one's surprise — except maybe his own — the folk and country music communities have taken quite a shine to his new material.

John Prine On 'The Tree Of Forgiveness'

Prine stopped by backstage at the Newport Folk Festival to talk with us about how the album came together, the importance of imagery in lyrics, folk music's power of protest, and a few of his songwriting secrets.

The new music video for "Knockin' On My Screen Door" features tons of all-star cameos, [including Margo Price, Sturgill Simpson, Amanda Shires, Jason Isbell, Dan Auerbach, and more]. How did the video collaboration with all of those folks come together?

I'd worked with everybody in the video, and some of them were really good buddies of mine. It just felt like a normal day for me because I go to lunch with half of those people, and I co-own a studio with Fergie [David Ferguson] and that's where Sturgill cut his record, and we cut Tyler Childers over there, felt like old home week. The fact that we got a video out at the end of the day, I thought that was pretty good.

Your latest album, The Tree Of Forgiveness, felt like a gift to your fans; to get all-new music from you was a real treat. How did it feel to write and record a new collection of songs for the first time in quite a while?

It was actually one of the easiest records I've ever made. It wasn't that I didn't believe in all the songs, I just I thought I was going to the studio to get maybe four songs that I liked, get them recorded, then take a break and write some more. But things were going so good. I kept remembering songs I hadn't done ... and that would turn out great, one after another. But the big surprise for me is that my records usually get received by my audience really good, but this record is something that's crazy. It's got stardust on it or something. It just keeps [going]. It's got legs and it keeps on running around, and we do all 10 songs every night in our show. … It's just a great feeling.

I've noticed a lot of younger songwriters are using tools out of your toolbox, and you can hear it in the songs of Kasey Musgraves and Margo Price, who both name you as an influence. What does it feel like to influence this next generation of songwriters?

Both these people that you're talking about are so good anyway, and then when they tell me that they took certain things from the way I wrote, it's such a huge compliment. It takes me awhile to hear what it is that they think is like John Prine that they put in their song, but after a while, I can tell. And it's just a big compliment really.

One of those devices I've always loved about your writing is your incredible use of imagery.

Thank you. I try to include stuff that everybody can relate to. If you're talking about a subject or an emotion that's hard to put your finger on while you're talking about it. If you mention there's a chair and an ashtray in the song, then everybody starts relating to the ashtray and the chair, and pretty soon they get caught up in the emotion, and boom you got them.

We're learning all the secrets here today.

That's it. That's my one secret. [laughs]

It's a good one. When we were driving to the festival today here in Newport, we saw a billboard with you and some lyrics from "Summer's End." Can you talk a little bit about writing that song?

I wrote it with my good buddy Pat McLaughlin. Pat and I have been buddies for going on 35 years, and we didn't write together maybe the first five years we knew each other, we were just buddies. And then, with The Missing Years, we started writing together. By the time we got around to just writing "Summer's End," when we go to write, we almost finish each other's sentences. So, it's hard to tell even after you sing the song where my mind left off and Pat's came in or vice versa. ... On that particular thing, we were throwing images back and forth and we both liked them so much. The only thing we had to stop for was to see if they phrased or occasionally rhymed. We went for this general mood. We didn't talk about what we were going for, we just kept throwing images back and forth at each other to see if we were on the same plain, and it just worked out to be a really beautiful song.

Folk music has always had a mainline into the protest sentiment. What does the song "Caravan Of Fools" mean to you?

I wrote it with Pat McLaughlin, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and our good friend David Ferguson that has the studio that I was talking about. We wrote six songs in two days. We were just hanging out. ... They could have said, 'Come on over, we're gonna play cards.' Instead, they said, 'Come on over we're gonna write songs.' … I knew Dan Auerbach was getting ready to do his first solo record, and so I thought that the songs were supposed to be for Dan. And we wrote, like I say, six songs in nothing. I made everybody break for an hour to go get White Castle hamburgers, and then we went back to writing.

The reason that I'm saying that about "Caravan Of Fools" being taken as a political song is to me when I sing it. But I never asked any of those guys if they were writing about anything [in particular] or what their politics were or anything. It's just that the song to me has a connotation I would say of what's going on. And it's got more verses then there are original members of Trump's cabinet too. … When I'm singing it, it's a protest song.

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Yola

Photo: Daniel Mendoza/Recording Academy

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Meet The Queen Of Country Soul: Yola yola-ascends-walk-through-fire-become-queen-country-soul-newport-folk-2019

Yola Ascends To 'Walk Through Fire' & Become The Queen Of Country Soul | Newport Folk 2019

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Backstage at her Newport Folk Festival debut, Yola talks her new Dan Auerbach-produced album, transcending genre, her love for Elton John and more
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 28, 2019 - 1:09 pm

The spirit and soul of Yola's breakout album Walk Through Fire was nothing if not well-earned. Even the title came from overcoming hardship, as her kitchen literally caught fire before the project, a symbol of the adversity the Bristol-born singer/songwriter faced—and overcame to create her own masterpiece. 

Yola On Being The Queen Of Country Soul

Yola graced us with her infectious energy backstage at Newport Folk Fest after her show-stopping set and opened up about her breakout album, working with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and what it means to be the Queen of Country Soul.

Love love love @TheHighwomen https://t.co/l6GfrUvbOm

— Yola (@iamyola) July 27, 2019

More: Backstage At Newpork Folk Festival's 60th Anniversary

Congratulations on your album, Walk Through Fire. What are you most proud of in how this album came out?

I think how people are connecting with it. One of my specialist subjects is that connecting to what I'm saying. And I hope by doing that then that helps people connect as well with what I mean. And that gives us a relationship across airwaves, across oceans, across an arena.

And so, that's the most important thing, for people to be connecting and for things to be going crazy. We're not into six months yet and things are going super crazy.

But that's not just a hype machine situation. It's so down to people connecting in a real way and I think it's very easy for that to not happen. For people to get swept away with hype.

What can you say about the collaboration with Dan Auerbach? It sounds like you guys wrote a ton of songs together.

Yes, we did.

How was it working with Dan on this album?

He's just a machine. I always thought I was kind of a quick writer once I got into my flow, my flow state, if you will. Yeah, he's a machine and his sonic palette, his kind of delicacy in the mix is unrivaled, it's unbelievable what he can do.

I was actually a fan of his album that came out, his solo album that came out, "Waiting on a Song." When I listened to just all the layers and I was like, "I love this, wouldn't it be amazing if I could do an album like this with him?"

Anyway, that's what Dan and his people bump into me in '17. I must've just put that into the Ether or something, that was serendipitous at the very least.

He's a complete machine and the upside, especially when it comes to things like production means, I could be hands-off. I don't have to be concerned and idea of what you going to come across is going to be turned into something other than something utterly beautiful and so yeah... It's the most relaxing production experience I've ever had because you deliver your vocal and you know everything is going to sound beautiful.

It's in good hands. 

Very, very, very capable hands indeed.

"Faraway Look," I think that was the first song that I heard of yours. Can you tell me about how that came together in the studio with Dan?

When we were writing, Dan and I would be in the room and we'd invite a third party, if you will. And that third party would be the spice, so me and Dan had talked about our common ground musically. The things that we loved, even the things that we loathed. So, then that would form the kind of people he would invite.

And Pat McLaughlin is a dreamy kind of guy and so yeah, it became... we had, obviously Pat came in with this song and that we had Dan Penn and Joe Allen and Roger Cook. So, really kind of stellar writers and so the idea was to kind of bring in the spice would occur. And allow me to explore the range of things that I'm into like classic pop music, classic country, classic soul music.

And so, the way that lyrics tend to come with me... and thankfully with both Dan and Pat is, what I like to call the mumble write. Where you're kind of dowsing for the vibe and I think most of the songs came like this.

In this case, maybe Pat is strumming something and going [mumbling] and starting to mumble something and so then out of the mumble... and then you carry on, you pick up that mumble [mumbling], making no sense at all. But trying to decipher a more elegant meaning out of their aesthetic, out of the shapes that are coming to you. And really they're actually batting around the idea in the back of your mind.

And there's some deep meaning there that you're trying to discern through the fog and that's how much the songs came together, it was Dan or Pat strumming of the 30 songs and in some cases, me strumming. And just feeling out what we were doing. And then obviously something salient-like comes forward.

So, in this case it was the chorus melody, that was the first thing to come. And then we're starting to try to figure out where that goes but this whole process was like we were trying to unveil it, more than going in with a preconceived idea of the genre that we are going to have a look at that day or what the whole album was going to be. It was like we were going to write a whole bunch of songs and then we're going to figure out what the hell we'd done.

And see whether there was a sense of continuity through it, which there was. And so, that was the kind of saving grace with the writing of that song. I think of this record it was very open because people have been describing this as a country soul record. But then you listen to "Faraway Look" and it's not country or soul. It's classic pop.

While I think Queen of County Soul is really a perfect moniker for you, it captures a lot of what you do, but there's always so much more. How do you feel about genre today?

It's like you're trying to help people understand something they just need to listen to. And it's feels like we are dissecting to understand like we're in Biology and we're doing the frog dissection. And in that dissecting of the thing where it separating out, all of everything. Putting that over there, that over there, that over there. And they didn't start that way. They all started together.

And we're separating it out to be able understand the constituent parts and so that feels like the opposite of what I'm trying to do with music. I'm trying to find the common ground. I'm trying to bring all those constituent parts and show how they were linked to all the tissue all the fascia. And, so that's what I'm passionate about in music, is that gray area, that's why I love the band, that's why I love Little Feat, that's why I love staple singers, that's why I love Aretha. They didn't stick... that's why I love Elton John. C'mon, right?

There constantly listen to Honky Chateau, right? It's got this and then it's got this. Everyone I love, Bee Gees- Man, that early Bee Gee stuff, that "Run to Me." That's a bowl of soul. And I was thinking disco and I'm like, "Boo, there's more." "Run to Me" is a massive tune.

For sure. So, how does it feel to experience this type of accelerated rise to success, and did you ever think that was possible when you were going through some of the harder times in your life, dealing with homelessness and loss of your mother.

Well when I was four I saw this [passion for music]. I was like, "Yep. This is entirely feasible. Sure, why not? I feel ready. Let's do this." And so I'm kind of my 4-year-old self right now and I went kind of... I grew up and moved away from that person, which was a mistake. 4-year-old me was on point.

Yeah, instincts like that are usually correct.

Yeah. I nailed it, and I just got talked out of being that person. You should be ashamed of your dark skin, you should me ashamed of your natural hair. You should try and sing more R&B. You should drop some weight. All the kind of things that are shaming and the number of times that I get pulled up by women of color, certainly people darker than Oprah kind of, which is the line in the sand.

"Thank you, thank you for being upfront, thank you for not being in the back, thank you for just being, not being apologetic about it or shrinking in some way." And yeah, that's been a journey, that's been a long road to get it to that point.

So, in that process of being talked out of this willingness to just be myself, I went through bad company. And that bad company pushes you into that realm and when I was in that moment of homelessness, the thing that was making me sad was that, the bad company. Was that sense of lack of connection with the people around me, the people I was working with. People that I was social with who were also people I was working with. That's always been the thing, that has been the heartbreaker, as much as the loss of my mother.

That whole sense and period of neglect, so this period is very much been about that rise to accepting yourself and that's been reflected in how quickly this has risen that's what people want to see. They want to see love, love and connection, to people, to the people you're working with, to yourself.

Maybe it took the 30s to get to that, but yeah. It's been unreal and all the sparkly stuff aside, which there's lots of sparkly things. I didn't think I would be playing Bridgestone or Ryman multiple times or whatever. All of this stuff is mind blowing to me but the connection has always been top, that the most self-actualization.

You mention the Bridgestone, Kacey Musgraves, Maggie Rogers gig. Can you talk a little bit about preparing for that big of a show and playing an arena?

When I was early 20s, late teens, I had a little bit of arena experience but as kind of fronting other peoples' outfits. So, I was that fronting gun for hire. And so you'd have to learn to prowl the stage and all your gestures had to be super massive because people might not see you. If you're just doing this, no one is seeing that ten rows back kind of thing.

So, yeah that was one massive thing that I had to pick up that I'm going to be able to draw back on for this show and yeah and we got the full band, so we should be ready to kick booty.

Charley Crockett's Walk Through 'The Valley': "That's What Artists Do" | Newport Folk 2019​

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