Newport Folk Festival 2026 brings Lauryn Hill, Hayley Williams surprises
Rolling Stone’s Newport Folk Festival 2026 recap highlights surprise sets, big guests and first-time standouts at the seaside fest.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
Newport Folk Festival 2026 leaned hard into its calling card: musicians turning up in unexpected places, songs changing hands and generations sharing the stage, according to Rolling Stone’s Jonathan Bernstein.
The weekend’s most talked-about moments included Lauryn Hill arriving 25 minutes after her scheduled start and still landing a closing stretch built around “Doo Wop (That Thing),” “Killing Me Softly” and “Ready or Not.” Rolling Stone reported that Hill opened with “Ex-Factor,” moved through material from “MTV Unplugged No. 2.0,” and led the crowd in a call-and-response during the finale.
What happened at Newport Folk Festival 2026?
Rolling Stone described the festival as a showcase for off-the-cuff collaboration at a time when mainstream music can feel more uniform. The recap cited Brandon Flowers and Lucy Dacus singing Jim Croce, Mavis Staples and Joan Baez closing with “America the Beautiful,” and Dave Matthews appearing without advance billing for a solo acoustic mini-set.
Father John Misty also used Newport for a surprise of his own. Added late after Tedeschi Trucks Band canceled for health reasons, he performed several unreleased songs in a stripped-down acoustic set, with David Rawlings joining for part of it, according to Rolling Stone.
Hayley Williams, Friday’s headliner, turned her set into a guest-heavy handoff. Rolling Stone reported appearances by Jenny Lewis, Karly Hartzman, Lucy Dacus, Annie DiRusso, Joy Oladokun and Remi Wolf, with Wolf debuting an unreleased song. Williams closed by bringing collaborators together for a Bill Withers singalong.
CMAT made one of the weekend’s strongest impressions with a six-piece band, a set that moved from the campy “I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!” to a duet with Brandi Carlile on “I’d Want U,” which CMAT called a “sapphic torch song,” Rolling Stone reported.
- Wednesday brought feedback, a folk-fest mosh pit and a cover of Gary Stewart’s “She’s Acting Single (I’m Seeing Double).”
- This Is Lorelei, the project of Nate Amos, emphasized the roots and bluegrass side of his songwriting in a daytime set.
- Brother Wallace opened the weekend with soul songs from his debut album, “Electric Love.”
- Tom Morello played a full-band set that included Rage Against the Machine material, an Audioslave nod and “The Ghost of Tom Joad.”
The festival also made room for long-awaited debuts and veteran returns. Kathleen Edwards played Newport 23 years after her first record, according to Rolling Stone, performing songs from across her studio albums and joining Madi Diaz for “Soft Place to Land.”
Peter Rowan, 84, led a bluegrass revue with Sierra Hull, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams and Sam Grisman. Rolling Stone reported that David Rawlings and Gillian Welch joined Rowan for “Walls of Time,” while the set also included “Deep Elem Blues,” “Mississippi Moon,” “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” and “Old Dangerfield.”
Regular Newport names were all over the weekend as well. Rolling Stone cited sets from Deer Tick, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, the Lumineers, Brandi Carlile, Lucy Dacus and Dawes, and reported that the Lumineers drew the biggest crowd of the festival.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.