Newport Folk Festival Day 2

I enjoyed music from Richard Julian, Son Volt and Willie Mason, but it was the women that dominated the second day of the Newport Folk Festival, beginning with Brandi Carlile and her powerful lungs. I've probably seen her a dozen times now, starting with a performance at the first Paste Rock 'n' Reel in 2005, but it was fun to see her fill the big stage—and winning over the Parrot Heads who staked out their spots early for Jimmy Buffett. I spoke with Brandi before she went on and she said she's been recording the follow-up to The Story in Blackbird Studios in Nashville. They've already put 11 songs to tape, some keepers and some of which won't make the cut.

The "gorgeous female vocals" theme continued at the smaller Harbour stage with one of my all-time favorite acts. There seem to be two kinds of people in the world: those who've never heard of Over the Rhine and those who love them. On Sunday, I enjoyed watching the band turn the former into the latter. After 18 years, the husband/wife team of Linford Detweiler and Karin Berquist have such a deep catalog to mine for the appropriate songs. At the Newport Folk Festival, those included "If A Song Could Be President," getting hollers out of the crowd at mentions of Steve Earle as news anchor, Emmylou Harris as ambassador to the U.N. and Neil Young as a senator, "even though he came from Canada." They also played "Don't Wait for Tom," a Tom Waits-inspired tune complete with Karin beating on a cookie sheet, and the New Orleans romp, "On a Roll." Ex-Vigilantes of Love players Kenny Hutson and Jake Bradley are part of the recent lineup, and all of them could be seen enjoying Gillian Welch's set later in the day.

Buddy Miller once told me that his favorite acoustic guitarist was David Rawlings and his favorite electric guitarist was David Rawlings. Unlike Dylan in '65, Rawlings chose not to go electric today but man, was he fun to watch on acoustic. The local boy made good (he's from Pawtucket, R.I.) wowed the crowd as he and Gillian Welch delivered the best set of the day. When they closed their set with the Johnny/June duet "Jackson," with the sun shining and a cool breeze blowing in from the boat-filled harbour just behind the crowd, I just wanted to bottle the moment and take it home with me.

I'm definitely coming back for the 50th anniversary of this festival next year.