Features
Transatlantic Folk Festival Partnership
England’s Cambridge Folk Festival entered into a partnership with its older brother across the pond: the historic
Joe Giblin/AP, file – Newport Jazz Festival
Fort Adams State Park on Narragansett Bay in Newport, R.I.
Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959. Since then the festival has hosted most big names in folk, blues, country and bluegrass, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Arlo Guthrie.
Cambridge Folk Festival founder Ken Woollard, however, was inspired by another Newport staple, the Newport Jazz Festival. Woollard had learnt about the event in a documentary called Jazz On A Summer’s Day.
Since its formation in 1965, Cambridge Folk Festival welcomed Paul Simon, Shirley Collins, Christy Moore, Van Morrison, Sinead O’Connor and many more.
The twinning of both Cambridge and Newport Folk Festivals “will allow us to share ideas, experiences and some artists from two festivals that have grown up together and in their own way played a role in shaping the folk music landscape on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Newport Folk Festival Executive Producer Jay Sweet.
Cambridge Folk Festival Managing Director Steve Bagnall added: “Cambridge Folk Festival has always tested the boundaries of Folk with its program and we are excited to be working with and learning from a Festival that has the artistic heritage and ambition of Newport.”
Cambridge Folk Festival takes place July 27-30, Newport Folk Festival is scheduled for July 28-30.