LINEUP INCLUDES JOHN MCCAULEY, AMANDA SHIRES, PATRICK
SWEANY, AND MORE AS WELL AS JOE FLETCHER AND THE WRONG REASONS
Joe Fletcher – the Rhode Island native who has opened for
Deer Tick, The Low Anthem, and Lucero – will host, curate, and personally back
up Newport Folk Festival's Nashville To Newport. Fletcher, a veteran of the
2012 Newport Folk Festival, is planning a fall release for his new album 'You've
Got The Wrong Man.' Set for Saturday, July 27, Nashville To Newport features
Amanda Shires, Andrew Combs, Derek Hoke, John McCauley (Deer Tick), Joshua
Black Wilkins, Patrick Sweany, Shelly Colvin, Steelism, RayLand Baxter, and Joe
Fletcher & the Wrong Reasons. The hard-touring Fletcher says, "In my
travels I have spent a good deal of time in Nashville, and I have witnessed
some of the greatest musical moments of my life in smoky, little East Nashville
bars and Lower Broadway honky tonks."
Click
here for Fletcher's amazing Daytrotter session.
Click
here for Fletcher's music videos.
Click
here for press photos of Fletcher (scroll down for high
res photos).
Whether seeing her perform as fiddler for Jason Isbell,
Justin Townes Earle, or leading the band through her own gorgeous songs, Amanda
Shires is undoubtedly a performer who has been living and breathing her music
for a very long time. At age 15, she was playing fiddle in the legendary Texas
Playboys and since then her resume has only become more diverse and impressive.
I have worn out my copy of her third solo release Carrying Lightning and I
couldn’t be more excited to see her back at center stage this year in Newport.
Last October, I saw Andrew open for Jason Isbell in a park
in Birmingham, AL. I watched Andrew take the stage with only a guitar in front
of thousands waiting to see their headlining local hero. By the end of the
first song he had this crowd in the palm of his hand with his cool, measured
delivery and songs of a life and love gone sour. American Songwriter selected
his 2012 release Worried Man as one of the year’s best.
Derek has hosted me at the renowned $2 Tuesday at The Five
Spot in East Nashville countless times and each time he and his band
effortlessly stun the house with their special brand of “quietbilly.” His
latest record Waiting All Night features an impressive list of guests and has
earned the attention of NPR’s All Things Considered.
I first met John in 2007 when we were both booked to play a
mutual friend’s going away party on Smith Hill in Providence, RI. Word was
already flowing through the city that this was the man to see, and I was very
curious if not a little skeptical to know if he was deserving of the hype. That
night, the then 22 year old left me with no doubt that he was already a
musician and entertainer of the highest order and that I had a lot to learn
from him. Whether fronting Deer Tick, Middle Brother, Diamond Rugs or standing
alone with his guitar, you can’t help but know you’ve crossed paths with a man
that is truly one of a kind.
My first encounter with Joshua came a few years back when he
opened for Justin Townes Earle in Northampton, MA. I was immediately drawn to
his jarringly honest songs of heartache and betrayal and his take it or leave
it attitude. He is as direct and focused as you will ever find, and his brand
new record Fair Weather is only more proof that this man is a master of his
trade.
With his band or alone with a guitar and stomp box, Patrick
Sweany is a world class party starter. He summons Rev. Gary Davis, Joe Tex, and
Little Richard, but never loses sight of telling his own story. He is a true
blue rock n’ soul man to the core and one of the finest guitar players alive
today. With two Dan Auerbach-produced records under his belt and his new record
Close to the Floor coming July 15, there is no better time to board this train.
When you see Shelly take the stage, you may be reminded of
one of several of country music’s greatest. Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and
Emmylou Harris all jumped to my mind at last year’s SXSW. Her timelessness and
achingly beautiful melodies have attracted collaborators such as Old Crow
Medicine Show. Her 2012 record Up the Hickory Down the Pine is the perfect
document of this true original.
On their debut EP The Intoxicating Sounds of Pedal Steel
& Guitar, Spencer Cullum Jr. and Jeremy Fetzer take the pedal steel vs.
Telecaster bottle fight to the next level. You'll hear them effortlessly slide
from dreamy surf to 50's raunch to blown-out talk box psychedelia. You may have
seen one of these gentlemen backing up Jonny Fritz, Caitlin Rose, or Andrew Combs,
but on this day they will rightly be at center stage. They floored me this past
January at The Basement in Nashville, and I'll be surprised if this blend of
classic musicianship and fresh adventures is not one of the most talked about
sets at the festival this year.
This past March I wandered into a friend's sock shop in
Manhattan just as RayLand was plugging in his amplifier to play a few songs.
Before this, I had only met him in passing and had never heard him sing. Within
seconds I was drawn in by his undeniably honest manner and songs that sound as
though they were delivered in a dream rather than written. His debut record
Feathers and Fishhooks is a perfect document of a man who is clearly more
interested in the journey and unconcerned with the destination.
As we put the finishing touches of our third album You’ve
Got the Wrong Man (fall 2013), The Wrong Reasons and I are very grateful to be
returning for our second straight Newport Folk Festival appearance. It is made
all the more special that we will be backing up some of our favorite Nashville
musicians as well as collaborating with them on our own material. The
possibilities set by this particular collection of artists guarantee a magical
atmosphere that is, to me, what the true spirit of the Newport Folk Festival is
all about.
