This was my eigth Newport Folk Festival, over the span of a decade now. I stood on our blanket on Friday night, watching David Crosby join Jason Isbell on stage for a rendition of "Ohio" that will never be heard anywhere else, and thought about how familiar it all felt. The surprises are all expected by now, whether it be David Crosby, Mumford and Sons covering Radiohead (that was something I never thought I'd see), Mavis Staples showing up everywhere. But it feels like home. I've stood on that blanket, in between the sun setting on the Newport Bridge and the Fort Stage a million times now and I'll stand on it a million more. It's a familiarity that I think all 10,000 other people there feel too.
So here's some highlights -- evidence of a family that grows a little every year, one that's blissfully happy for at least three days a summer.
