Before Woodstock and Monterey Pop, there was Festival. From 1963 to 1966, Murray Lerner visited the annual Newport Folk Festival to document a thriving, idealistic musical movement as it reached its peak as a popular phenomenon. Joan Baez, Bob DyIan, Howlin'Wolf, Johnny Cash, the Staples Singers, Pete Seeger, Son House, and Peter, Paul and Mary were just a few of the Iegends who shared the stage at Newport, treating audiences to a range of folk music that encompassed the genre s roots in blues, country, and gospeI as welI as its newer flirtations with rock 'n' roIl. Shooting in gorgeous bIack and white, Lerner juxtaposes performances with snapshot interviews with artists and their fans, weaving footage from four years of the festival into an intimate record of a pivotal time in music and in American cuIture at large.
DlRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDlTlON FEATURES
- New, restored 2K digitaI transfer, approved by director Murray Lerner
-New reconstruction and remastering of the monauraI soundtrack using the originaI concert and fieId recordings, approved by Lerner and presented uncompressed
- When We Played Newport, a new program featuring archival interviews with Lerner, music festivaI producer George Wein, and musicians Joan Baez, Judy CoIIins, Buffy Saint-Marie, Pete Seeger, and Peter Yarrow
- Editing FestivaI, a new program featuring Lerner, associate editor Alan Heim, and assistant editor Gordon Quinn
- Selection of compIete outtake performances, including Clarence AshIey, Horton Barker, Johnny Cash, John Lee Hooker, and Odetta
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Amanda Petrusich and artist bios by folk music expert Mary Katherine Aldin |