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NEWPORT — In closing the Dunkin' Donuts Newport Folk Festival yesterday evening at Fort Adams, Elvis Costello let his country side shine.
Costello sprinkled a few of his classics throughout his show, such as "The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes," "Mystery Dance," "Brilliant Mistake" and "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?" but the bulk of the middle of his set was devoted to country-esque ballads such as "Indoor Fireworks" and "Heart Shaped Bruise." Emmylou Harris, who has done several recent shows singing before Costello and joining in on a few songs of his set, canceled due to an emergency in her family. The duo of Gillian Welch and North Smithfield native David Rawlings took her place.
Early on, Costello and his band, The Imposters, did three songs in a row from last year's record, The Delivery Man — the ballad "Country Darkness," the sinister "Needle Time" (with theremin by keyboardist Steve Nieve) and the title track, which ranged from a sinister blues stomp to a delicate, sparse ending. Then came the long country segment, which included a guest appearance by Larry Campbell on fiddle and pedal steel guitar, but still dragged in places. The segue from "Mystery Dance" to a revved-up version of Hank Williams' "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do?" made the country connections in Costello's work clear, though.
In another daylong blizzard of music on three stages, there were several highlights:
Indie-rock singer-songwriters Bright Eyes (also known as Conor Oberst), M. Ward and Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) did a song circle of their own on the main stage, backed by Oberst's band. Oberst came out the best, while M. Ward's and especially James' stuff dragged. Oberst's voice and delivery are full of youthful high dramatics that can be off-putting, but his craft and wordplay are indications of an abiding talent.
The high points of the show came right off the top: Old Crow Medicine Show, which blew the roof off the second (Borders) stage last year, graduated to the main Dunkin' Donuts stage this year and continued apace. Its mix of old-time country bounce, breakneck fiddle and banjo tunes, tight vocal harmonies and plain old hollering woke up the crowd immediately. "It felt more like a Saturday night than a sober Sunday morning," banjo player-singer Ketch Secor said afterward, adding that "this was the year we graduated at all the festivals we've done." It's no surprise. Costello's country sojourn might have worked better if Old Crow (and others over the weekend) hadn't set the bar so high earlier in the day.
Simultaneously, the unsigned Krystle Warren, backed by her group The Faculty, was opening the second stage with a captivating mix of neo-soul and singer-songwriter songcraft, all combined with her deep, powerful voice. She went over great, and rightly so. She's one to watch.
The Australian country chanteuse Kasey Chambers split the difference between brash, rocking country and sweet balladry on the main stage, and singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale was backed by an excellent five-piece string band on the second stage.
And The Mammals wrapped up the string-band stage with its usual rollicking mix of old-time country and bluegrass, often set to contemporary rock rhythms, finishing up with a mass of special guests, giving the stage a living-room feel. "This," Mammal Mike Merenda said later, pointing to the string stage, "is the Newport Folk Festival." The area was packed for most of the day.
Welch and Rawlings, who weren't listed on the schedule at the beginning of the day, ended up having the busiest day of anyone. They played with Old Crow (Rawlings produced their record and is working on the next one); Rawlings played with Buddy Miller and they did their own set as a replacement for Harris before playing with Costello. "We're happy to be able to help out," Rawlings said in the afternoon. "We were open to the possibilities of playing anyway."
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