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.

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.

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.

Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images

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

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Photo: Douglas Mason/Getty Images

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

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.

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.

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."

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

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."

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.

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.

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

We may have known about Toby Keith's stomach cancer diagnosis for nearly two years, but that didn't keep the news of his Feb. 5 death from hitting hard. The oftentimes outspoken country music star enjoyed a three-decade career as one of the genre's beloved hitmakers, courtesy of unabashed hits like "Who's Your Daddy?," "Made In America" and "I Wanna Talk About Me."

Occasionally his in-your-face persona clashed with folks, particularly when it came to his political views in recent years. But for the most part, it was Keith's blue-collar upbringing and work ethic that shined through and resonated with his legion of listeners. 

It wasn't until his thirties that the future Songwriters Hall of Famer landed his first record deal in 1993, following years grinding away as a rodeo hand, in oil fields and as a semi-professional football player to make ends meet. The Oklahoma-born crooner would go on to record 20 No.1 hits, sell over 40 million records across 26 albums, and gross nearly $400 million touring — cementing himself as one of country music's most successful artists in the process.

As we look back on Keith's life and legacy, here are five essential cuts from the seven-time GRAMMY nominee, whose memory will live on in the hearts of country music artists and fans alike.

"Should've Been A Cowboy" (1993)

Few artists strike gold with their maiden release, but Keith did just that when his song "Should've Been A Cowboy" launched in February 1993. The upbeat track received widespread acclaim, eventually reaching No. 1 on the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart a few months later.

"Should've Been A Cowboy" takes on a distinctly traditional tone as Keith romanticizes cowboy culture by referencing classic westerns like Gunsmoke with nods to Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty in addition to six-shooters, cattle drives and Texas Rangers abound. The tune also reinforces the notion that cowboys just have more fun, whether its "stealin' the young girls' hearts, just like Gene [Autry] and Roy [Rogers]" or "runnin' wild through the hills chasin' Jesse James." 

By the looks of Keith's career, he certainly had his fair share of fun, and it may not have come if it weren't for "Should've Been A Cowboy."

"How Do You Like Me Now?!" (1999)

After a successful '90s run (which included two more No. 1s in "Who's That Man" and "Me Too"), Keith kicked off the 2000s with his fourth No. 1 hit, "How Do You Like Me Now?!" In signature Toby Keith fashion, he confronts his haters by asking the titular, rhetorical question, posed to his high school's valedictorian — who was also his crush. "I couldn't make you love me but I always dreamed about livin' in your radio," he sings on the brazen chorus.

The song is a stern reminder to never let anyone keep you from chasing your dreams; it's also a lesson of standing strong on your convictions. Its message also proved fitting for Keith's career: After Mercury Records Nashville rejected the song (and its namesake album) in the late '90s, Keith got out of his deal with them in favor of signing with DreamWorks Records, with whom he released the project a year later. Not only did the single go on to spend five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, but it became the singer's first major crossover hit.

"Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" (2002)

Keith was never afraid to share his opinion in public or in song, especially when it came to displaying his patriotism and appreciation for those who protect the United States. While the Okie approached this from a softer side on 2003's "American Soldier," his most renowned musings on the subject without a doubt came a year earlier with "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)."

On the angsty ballad — which was written in the wake of his father's March 2001 death and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — Keith channels a universal feeling of American hurt and pride. "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" inspired an equal outpouring of support and outrage that, for better or worse depending on where you stand, helped cement the song into the annals of country music lore.

"I Love This Bar" (2003)

We've all got our favorite watering hole full of its own quirks and characters, from winners to losers, chain-smokers and boozers. Keith taps into that feel-good, hometown hang feeling with "I Love This Bar," a lighthearted tale from 2003's Shock'n Y'all that makes dingy dive bars feel like the prime party destination.

The midtempo track — Keith's 12th No. 1 — further plays into country music drinking tropes as Keith proclaims, "I like my girlfriend, I like to take her out to dinner, I like a movie now and then" before making a hard pivot, adding "but I love this bar." 

All joking aside, the song, and all of the unique individuals described within it, have a harmony to them inside those hallowed walls. It's a kinship that seems more and more difficult to find in today's world, and a sentiment best captured at the song's conclusion: "come as you are."

"As Good As I Once Was" (2005)

Your best days may be behind you, but that doesn't mean you can't still live your best life and thrive in the present — even if you don't get over hangovers as quickly as you used to.

That youthful wisdom is distilled into every lyric of "As Good As I Once Was," a reminiscent story in which a then-44-year-old Keith recounts his prime as a lover, drinker and fighter humbly. That being said, his pride is still quick to take charge with convictions like "I still throw a few back, talk a little smack, when I'm feelin' bullet proof."

Lasting six weeks at No. 1, "As Good As I Once Was" was the biggest of the 15 chart-toppers Keith tallied in the 2000s. And though he scored one more in the following decade (along with several other hits, including the playful drinking song "Red Solo Cup"), "As Good As I Once Was" will live on as one of Keith's quintessential messages of fun-loving confidence: "I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once, as I ever was."

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As October unfolds, influential artists from across the globe continue to share new, dynamic sounds.

Friday, Oct. 13 is turning out to be anything but scary, with highly anticipated releases from megastars, newcomers and fan favorites. Among the day's biggest releases are Bad Bunny’s Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana, Offset's Set It Off,  a new EP from Ringo Starr, Troye Sivan's first album in five years, and a new EP rising K-pop stars IVE.

Elsewhere, K-pop group TXT explore the melodramatic moments of teenagehood on their new album, while pop singer/songwriter Holly Humberstone does some self-exploration on her debut album. 

This Friday, dive into seven new releases and consider adding these tracks into your monthly musical rotation.

TXT - The Name Chapter: FreeFall

K-pop group TOMORROW X TOGETHER, explore the depths of teen angst in their latest chapter LP, The Name Chapter: FreeFall. Following collaborations with Anitta and the Jonas Brothers, TXT have returned with a nine track album that navigates away from youthful optimism and dives into the harsh reality of adolescence.

One of TXT's Chapter series of releases, this latest release follows January's The Name Chapter: Temptation. "Our music contains this one story of growth and so we basically talk about the process of growth," member TAEHYUN told GRAMMY.com earlier this year. 

Tracks like "Growing Pain" and "Chasing That Feeling," guide listeners through the journey of growth, through melodic lyrics and punk-rock percussion. TXT member BEOMGYU showcases his own producing skills in the R&B, pop song, "Blue Spring." Through creative storytelling and embracing emotional vulnerability, this album isn’t one to miss. 

The Menzingers - Some Of It Was True

Four years after their last release, Pennsylvania punk outfit the Menzingers dropped their latest Some Of It Was True. The group's seventh album is a nostalgic journey about growing up and longing for a certain someone.

"I'm all alone in Dublin, searching for something / Wishing you were here with me," they sing in "Along in Dublin."

While tracks like "I Didn’t Miss You (Until You Were Gone)" stay true to the group's traditional indie punk feel, songs like "Ultraviolet" explore the Mezingers' calmer, Springsteen-esque sensibility. Some Of It Was True shows the band’s evolution and versatility, as they transition from self-reflective songs to addressing maturer, universal issues.

Holly Humberstone - Paint My Bedroom Black

After opening for Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour tour and being awarded BRIT’s 2022 Rising Star, Holly Humberstone offers her debut record, Paint My Bedroom Black. The highly personal album explores themes of uncertainty and confusion, unpacking the array of emotions she experienced while on the road.

Each track is an odyssey of relatable Gen-Z experiences; songs like "Antichrist" and "Lauren" that talk about  experiencing conflicts in relationships, but with total honesty. Tracks such as "Room Service" employ folksy instrumentals and a mellow beats that pay homage to her family and friends. 

Humberstone's authenticity in lyrically discussing themes like love, friendship and identity make her debut  a relatable self-reflective anthem. 

REZZMAU5 - "Infraliminal" 

Spend your Friday night head-bopping to another powerful electronic collaboration from REZZ and deadmau5. Their latest song, "Infraliminal,"remixes deadmau5’s "Superliminal" by adding a deeper bass and creating new energetic arrangements.

"A lil fact - the original "superliminal" by deadmau5 is one of the songs which inspired me to create music. Fast forward to now, we have a project together & are releasing a version (technically two versions, you’ll see) of what I consider one of my favorite tracks by Joel ever," REZZ shared in an X post. 

The Libertines - "Run, Run, Run"

UK rock band the Libertines are back with their latest single, "Run, Run, Run," an energetic tale about running from the past and enjoying the present.

The quartet recently announced their new album All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade, which will drop in March 2024. The album will feature 11 songs, produced by GRAMMY-nominated Dimitri Tikovoï. "Run, Run, Run" and the forthcoming album are the Libertines' first projects since their 2015 album Anthems for Doomed Youth. The group celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2022.

Margo Price - Strays II

Nashville singer/songwriter Margo Price continues unveiling authentic tracks in Strays II, which takes listeners through her tales of trauma, loss and self journeys in three acts: "Topanga Canyon," "Mind Travel" and "Burn Whatever’s Left." Strays II focuses on life’s everchanging tapestry, marking her a true artist in storytelling.

The album features "Malibu," a collaboration with GRAMMY-nominated artists Big Thief's Buck Meek and Jonathan Wilson. The song brings listeners to the scenic West Coast, as Price serenely sings about chasing a dream all to end up stranded in the titular. 

On the other hand, the title track has more of an upbeat tempo with catchy guitar riffs that seem to echo the sounds of the '90s. This song paints a story on her early moments with husband Jeremy Ivey. 

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Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

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He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Tyler Childers has made a career out of doing things differently. The Lawrence County, Kentucky native first built a grassroots following with his left-of-center country style, becoming a cult figure respected for his traditionally informed take on the genre and his unabashed authenticity. Now, he's one of country music's favorite outsider voices — and he continues to move the needle with his Elvis-inspired sixth album, Rustin' in the Rain.

While Childers first gained acclaim with his second studio album, 2017's Purgatory, his 2011 debut, Bottles & Bibles, hinted at what was to come. That record was raw and stripped-down, with spare production putting the spotlight firmly on his narrative-driven lyrics and his now-beloved soulful drawl. In the years between its release and Purgatory's, Childers further honed his songwriting and his singing by touring relentlessly with his band, the Food Stamps, which also helped build the fan base that would rabidly support Purgatory.

Childers was one of the first of a new generation of country artists to reject the traditional machinations of Nashville's Music Row in favor of building grassroots support for making music on their own terms. He did so following in the footsteps of another Kentuckian, Sturgill Simpson, who also famously avoids media, shares little about his personal life, and can be unpredictable with the timing and scope of his projects.

It's fitting, then, that Simpson (alongside David Ferguson) would produce Purgatory, with his own critical clout and cult success functioning like a stamp of approval for the then-relatively unknown new artist. Purgatory tied together Childers' many influences, which span bluegrass, gospel, blues and outlaw country. The LP opens with the hardscrabble old-time of opener "I Swear (to God)," whose Biblical allusions ("workin' on a building outta hand-hewn brimstone") won't be the last we hear from Childers in his work.

To Childers' seeming dismay, Purgatory resonated more with Americana audiences than the country music industry — even despite his unabashedly country sound and heavily narrative songwriting, much of which nods to traditional country themes like labor, poverty and faith. That conflict came to a head when he won Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2018 Americana Honors and Awards, where he reluctantly accepted the award and told the audience, "As a man who identifies as a country music singer, I feel Americana ain't no part of nothing and is a distraction from the issues that we're facing on a bigger level as country music singers. It kind of feels like purgatory."

That purgatory is faced by many country artists who don't fit the genre's mold, which traditionally prioritizes straight, white, cisgender men or artists who hew closely to the Music Row formula du jour. And though Childers may fit the demographic, he decidedly doesn't adhere to the genre's clichés: Nowhere in his discography will you hear lyrics about back roads or pickup trucks, or the pop-heavy country fusion popular on current country radio.

Growing in notoriety on the strength of Purgatory, Childers returned with 2019's Country Squire. Another Simpson/Ferguson-produced joint, the album earned the singer his first No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, as well as his first Grammy nomination — in the Country Field, no less, as "All Your'n" received a nod for Best Country Solo Performance in 2020. Country Squire wasn't a far cry, sonically or thematically, from Purgatory, but it did establish Childers' staying power and laid sturdier groundwork for the more experimental projects he would later release.

Childers was only able to tour Country Squire for a few months before the pandemic shut down the music industry. Like many artists, the unexpected break led him into an introspective period, which birthed his 2020 record, Long Violent History, a political statement framed as a fiddle album. Written and recorded in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, Long Violent History is the most potent of Childers' early political statements, a middle finger to the establishment as well as a heartfelt rebuke of part of the singer's own complex Southern culture.

Childers caps Long Violent History with its title track, a biting rebuke of racial violence that seeks to bridge the empathy gap between white working Southerners and their Black neighbors. In one of the song's most affecting verses, Childers sings, "How many boys could they haul off this mountain, shoot full of holes, cuffed, and laid in the streets/ 'Til we come in to town in a stark ravin' anger, Looking for answers and armed to the teeth."

Long Violent History punctured any notion that Childers was an artist afraid to make a statement. And on its follow-up, the triple gospel album, 2022's Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?, Childers once again bucked the conservatism typically associated with country music. That's especially heard on lead single "Angel Band," on which Childers sings of his interpretation of heaven ("There's Hindus, Jews and Muslims/ And Baptists of all kinds") and the assertion that Jesus "ain't a blue-eyed man."

The structure of that LP is also unorthodox, as Childers recorded three versions — "Hallelujah," stripped down and live in the studio; "Jubilee," more fleshed-out production; and "Joyful Noise," remixed and including samples — of each of the record's eight tracks. In addition to the project's retro sonic palette, Childers again nods to his traditional country influences with a cover of Hank Williams' "Old Country Church," and even revisits his own material with an updated version of "Purgatory."

Rather than returning with a more typical full-length LP, Childers followed Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? with the rowdy and rollicking Rustin' in the Rain, which sits at a tight but potent seven tracks. Sonically, the album sounds almost vintage, as Childers has explained that he wrote and chose tracks as though he would be pitching material to Elvis. Even so, the music still connects back to earlier Childers releases: opener "Rustin' in the Rain," with its jaunty piano and soulful vocal, wouldn't sound out of place on Purgatory; "Luke 2:8-10" continues Childers' tradition of incorporating Biblical imagery into his music; and "Percheron Mules" is the latest in a long line of Childers tunes that celebrate rural living.

And in signature Childers fashion, Rustin' in the Rain features another major statement piece — this time with a lead single, titled "In Your Love." The track's accompanying video allows Childers space to advocate for LGBQTIA+ rights, as he tapped friend and queer Southern author Silas House to co-write a deeply tender video treatment telling the story of two men meeting in a coal mine and falling hopelessly in love. The clip is sweet and intense, with the kind of sweeping love story made for the movies and — in country music, especially — typically reserved for the depiction of straight couples.

The track was inspired by Childers' cousin, who was his "first tough critic." "[I was] just thinking about him not having a music video on CMT that spoke to him," Childers told NPR's Ann Powers upon the song's release. Throughout the interview, he stressed the need for making a statement — as he's done since the start of his career. "Even if you have the privilege of walking through this world unfazed, it's more important than ever to stand with and for and up for things, to be vocal," he added.

Although Childers has yet to break through on country radio, "In Your Love" proved to be one of his most effective statements to date. The song scored Childers his first top 10 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, also landing him on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in his career. And with a headlining arena tour — his first full arena trek — set for 2024, Childers is clearly continuing to grow his audience by simply staying true to himself.

Whether or not he becomes a commercial darling, Childers has cemented his status as one of country music's more interesting, boundary-pushing artists. That seems to suit him just fine, as he continues to show new sides of his artistry without pandering to the sounds of the day. Like he declared on Purgatory, he's creating his own lane: "right now, I am focused on the universal sound."

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