_Dean Budnick_

Newport Folk Festival’s 2018 offerings came to a close on Sunday with another day of collaborative sets including a couple of special performances, Nels Cline’s Curtis Rogers Memorial Resonator Excursion, which featured a guest spot from Warren Haynes, and A Change is Gonna Come, a revue of folk and protest tunes led by pianist Jon Batiste and his backing band for several dates this summer, The Dap-Kings.

Throughout the weekend, the collaborative spirit of Newport Folk Fest resonated throughout Fort Adams, with highlights like David Crosby joining Jason Isbell (Isbell also joined his wife and collaborator Amanda Shires on stage), Lake Street Dive’s Rachael Price sitting in with The Wood Brothers, Brandi Carlile with Lucius (Carlile also joined Margo Price, among others), an unannounced Mumford & Sons set with Mavis Staples and more, John Prine and Margo Price, The Suffers’ Kam Franklin with Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Courtney Barnett coming out during a set from her partner Jen Cloher—just a sampling of the many guest spots throughout the festival which has been known for collaborations for years.

On Sunday, the festivities continued with Wilco guitarist Cline leading his Curtis Rogers Memorial Resonator Excursion, which featured Warren Haynes and Cline offering a duet of Muddy Waters’ “I Feel Like Going Home.” Watch a video of that collaboration below.

For the A Change is Gonna Come set, Late Show bandleader Jon Batiste assembled a star-studded collection of musicians for a collection of classic folk songs with a focus on protest and cultural change. The first bit of the set featured Batiste and The Dap-Kings alone, playing songs like Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The first guest spot came from singer-songwriter Valerie June, who sang on Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free.”

Later, Batiste welcomed Gary Clark Jr. and Leon Bridges for “Ohio,” the classic Crosby Still Nash & Young protest tune that the modern trio came together to record last year. June returned for civil rights anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” which also featured Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s Ben Jaffe. Jaffe’s PHJB bandmates then joined—along with Bridges and Chris Thile—for gospel-folk standard “I’ll Fly Away.”

Thile and Batiste then offered a duo performance of “My Oh My,” before Brandi Carlile and her band took over for Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” along with Maggie Rogers. Back with Batiste and The Dap-Kings, Rachael Price came out for the performance’s namesake song, Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” Mavis Staples then led the way on the gospel cut “Jesus on the Mainline,” along with Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard and her Bermuda Triangle trio. The whole set was the rounded out with a collaborative run of The Staples Singers “Freedom Highway,” featuring most of the musicians involved in the performance and led by Staples herself.

_Dean Budnick_