Newport’s Jay Sweet On The Folk And Jazz Festivals

Now in its sixty-fourth year, the Newport Folk and Jazz Festival is one of those true American traditions that we can sometimes take for granted. We know it’s there and appreciate it, but given how long it has been part of the fabric of our culture it’s easy to say, “I’ll go next year.”

But every so often, like when there’s an Aaron Judge chasing the home run record or Shohei Ohtani capturing national attention in baseball, something comes along and provides a jolt to the mainstream consciousness that reminds us of these great traditions we may have forgotten.

In the case of the Newport festivals it was last year when legendary singer Joni Mitchell made her triumphant return to the stage in a surprise performance. The return of Mitchell to the Newport Folk Stage for the first time in 53 years attracted international attention and put back into everyone’s mind the incredible storied history of the Newport festivals. After all it was in Newport July 26, 1965 that Bob Dylan went electric. This is a place of tremendous music history.

However, like all brands with a great history, the only way for Newport to stay relevant is by focusing on the present and future and not resting on that incredible history. This year’s folk and jazz festivals, to be held July 28 – 30 and August 4 – 6 respectively, have stellar lineups that are very much centered in the artists of today.

The folk weekend will feature Jason Isbell, My Morning Jacket, Lana Del Rey, Maggie Rogers, Danielle Ponder, Aimee Mann, Billy Strings, Los Lobos & Friends, Noah Kahan, Nanna, Remi Wolf, The Hold Steady and many more.

The jazz lineup the following weekend is just as impressive with Jon Batiste, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Samara Joy, Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Matthew Whitaker, Christian McBride’s Jam Jawn, Domi & Jo Beck and more.

I spoke with Newport festivals and foundation Executive Director Jay Sweet about the festival’s history, the appearances of Mitchell and Paul Simon last year, putting together this year’s lineup, the festivals’ philanthropic ventures and more.

Steve Baltin: Do you typically get a lot of people from all over?

Jay Sweet: Yeah, we do. From everywhere. It’s a worldwide thing, more than 50 percent drive, the other 50 percent are from beyond three and a half, four hours.

Baltin: You have a great lineup this year. Jon Batiste, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, so many great people. I’m focusing now just for a second on the jazz best, Big Freedia, Marcus Miller, talk to me a little bit about how you start to put together this line-up and when you do so.

Sweet: I’m 18 months out. Yeah, I’m building 24 while I’m building 23. Absolutely simultaneous [laughter]. It’s non-stop. You can’t stop really, to be honest with you. Yeah, we have at least a third of the offers out for Newport Folk for 2024. Don’t have that many out yet for 2024 Jazz. But we have a couple. It’s a never ending thing, man. It’s if we have no money, so we have to have time because right, time equals money. So you need one of those in the equation. And since we have no money, we use time.

Baltin: How long have you been there?

Sweet: This is year 17, 16. I started halfway through 2007. So I’m bad at math because I don’t know if that year actually counts, if you count the 2007. So yeah, 16, 17 years, it’s all a blur at this point. Once I got past 10 years, it kind of just all started to blur [laughter]. Honestly. I came up as the producer of folk and then became the executive producer of folk, and then I became the executive producer of both folk and jazz. And then I added the head of the foundation as well, the non-profit that runs the two festivals. So, yeah, it feels like it’s been a while.

Baltin: What are the biggest changes you have seen in the last few years?

Sweet: We’re a super unique organization though. On the folk side, we sell out all the tickets in under a minute without a lineup. We just go clean. Selling out Saturday and Sunday of jazz, this far in advance hasn’t happened since I think ’69 for jazz. And a lot of that has to do with all the work we do at the foundation level, because we’re a true non-profit and we’re not a nonprofit that’s a non-profit organization just trying to stay alive against the duopoly that is Live Nation and AEG. We actually are a proactive non-profit where we give back to, I think last year was over, something like 100 different non-profit organizations that range from music education to musicians relief, to teaching music and people who are incarcerated for low level crime. We put a lot of money and good back out in the world with everything we do. And I think that, yes, it starts with good line-ups and the trust, because again, if people are buying all the folk tickets without knowing who’s playing, there’s a trust thing. But I also think when people part with their money, they know that a vast majority of those funds are going towards making the world a better place. So I think in this day and age, with everything that’s happening in the world and the doom scrolling and everything that seems to be basically the world kind of spinning off its axis, I think these kind of moments of hope that we create, give people a sense of belonging to a community that’s have a positive community. And I don’t think there’s a lot of those left. So I think that’s why to answer your question is I think what’s changed is people need to be able to commune now in safe spaces more than ever. And I think those are becoming really difficult to find those safe spaces for people to commune. So that’s what I’ve learned. I’ve learned people need it now almost more than ever. And I think that’s the difference. And I mean that in the safe spaces because whether even artists, why artists come call us to play, is because we care a lot about mental health of artists. We’ve been doing it since before that was a thing. But we invest a lot of our energies into making sure that people have a safe space to come. Both see the shows and play the shows. And they get to come play, but they don’t have to live up to their own expectations. Jack White doesn’t have to play “Seven Nation Army” when he comes to Newport because no one bought a ticket knowing he was gonna be playing the festival. So he doesn’t have to play his hits. There’s a pressure off. He opened up with I think three or four deep blues cuts from Buck of White and Sun House and Mississippi John Hurt, and I think he liked that a lot. And I think it gives the artists a respite from the normal grind and wear and tear.

Baltin: Artists love any place where they can escape and be different than the expectation.

Sweet: Or Newport where they bought a ticket not to see anybody [laughter]. So yeah. you’re right. They don’t feel the obligation at Newport to have to play their hits. They don’t have to do it because the festival’s already sold out. Knowing their brand isn’t being co-marketed with our brand. It’s just Newport sells the tickets. It’s really our goal is to continually provide and reward the people who give us their trust. That’s it. It’s not that much more complicated and we have to hold the highest standard to ourselves because it’s not just get good artists, it’s get good artists providing incredible experience. Let people know that we’re doing good with the money that they gave us, and make sure that when they leave on the Monday morning they wake up covered in Newport Pixie dust thinking the world might be worth saving.

Baltin: And you sure did that last year. So, how do you top that?

Sweet: I’ve been answering that question more and more and my answer is becoming, I don’t want to say flippant, but you don’t try to top what happened last year. I still haven’t digested it, to be honest with you. I’m still sitting here wondering did it happen I think, part of it is, if anybody has an answer to how you top, Paul Simon coming out of retirement and Joni Mitchell kind of coming back into our lives, if there’s a part two to that, I don’t know quite what it is..

Baltin: Tom Waits.

Sweet: Tom Waits doesn’t play outside. He doesn’t play during the day and he doesn’t do festivals so. [But] he actually did play with Mavis Staples at Lagunitas Beer Hall, Mavis, who I’m friends with, I threw her eightieth birthday party five years ago and right after that. So yeah, it was less than five years ago. She’s like, “You never know who’s gonna join me in California tonight.” And I was like, “What?” And I didn’t believe her. And then sure as s**t, there was Tom Waits ugh. So yeah, I begged her, I said, “Mav, you gotta put in a good word.” She’s like, “Oh, I did sweetness. I put in a good word for you.” [laughter] So who knows?

Baltin; As you say, there’s the core base that sells out Newport Folk Festival automatically. But it’s like when Coachella has Beyonce a few years ago, then it attracts a level of people who may not be aware of it or who haven’t thought about it in a long time.

Sweet: Yep, that moment in particular when Dolly Parton came, it was fascinating because I have two examples that I’ll compare it to. When Dolly came, it trended in the United States for a full 24, 36 hours. It was trending in the top 10 things but it was truly the only positive thing. So there was a shooting at a Garlic festival in California. That was that same week. So we came out of that weekend and the only thing that was trending that would people could embrace and smile was Dolly Parton coming and singing with the Highwomen at Newport. And that it trended not just in music, it was a trending thing, it was on TV, et cetera, et cetera. And then last year it trended worldwide for at least four, maybe five days worldwide in the top five trending things in the world. So yes, you had the war in Ukraine, famine, wildfires and Joni Mitchell. It’s kind of like the Grateful Dead sold out every show and then they had “Touch of Gray,” and they went from doing that to stadiums. We’ve been doing this for six plus decades and we’re totally okay when the spotlight isn’t looking at us. And quite frankly, I think we do a little better when the spotlight’s not on us. We were selling out since I think 2013 or 2014. And so if the world’s just catching on now a decade or so later, totally great, totally cool, totally happy with it. But I know people say this and it sounds trite, we’re really not changing what we do..

Baltin: People respond to authenticity. Do you feel like that’s why you are thriving?

Sweet: Yeah, I think people long for it. I just think if we continually do the right thing and be on the right side of history that’s something… it’s funny, both Pete Seeger and Brandi Carlile have championed the same message at Newport, just half a century apart. We’re stronger when we sing together and just be on the right side of history and it’s a pretty easy mantra. When Pete Seeger was the guy who co-founded your festival, the DNA is very much based in that. But I think you’re absolutely right. I think it’s a community. I think it’s authentic as much as you can say that word. It’s weird because once you try to label it something like that, it kind of starts to take away from it. I think we just do what we do and just try to keep our head down. Man, I still haven’t digested that s**t from last year. I still literally can’t wrap my head around it. And I don’t know if I ever will. And I don’t take it for granted. I’ve been fortunate enough to have extra conversations with both Paul and Joni and, it was kind of a big deal for them too. It wasn’t just another gig for them. That’s what I mean, it’s not as big a deal as it is for us, but, it was a happening for them too. And something that Joni got discovered at Newport in ’67. She was a guest and played in ’69 and she hadn’t been back. And it was so amazing to have her come back at Newport, I thought was a very cool narrative and a very authentic thing to do. She could have done anything she wanted to come back and I think her coming back to the place where it all started was a real circle game using the pun.

Baltin: Talk about the newer artists that you put on there and what you look for in people that you champion. Because there’s that moment where Joni gets discovered there in ’67 and comes back 55 years later and is the queen of the festival.

Sweet: But surrounded by Celisse, Allison Russell not like Blake Mills as a newbie but Taylor Goldsweet. I was one of the first people to put Dawes on a festival. I was one of the first people to put Blake on a festival. I was the first person to give Allison Russell a headlining slot and I’m almost damn positive I was the first person to give Celisse a full set at Newport of on her own. And at Newport Jazz, she became one of those artists. So I completely agree with you that that’s just as much, if not a bigger part of the DNA. And when we go back, when Joni was brought, she was brought there by Judy Collins, who was given a small budget by Pete Seger and George Wein, the co-founders for a young singer songwriters stage. And she went and got this guy named James Taylor, this guy Leonard Cohen, this woman, Joni Mitchell, Kris Kristofferson. They all got like 50 bucks. And Judy Collins just picked them all. Talk about a batting average. So every time I see Judy, I’m always like, “bow down to her.”

Baltin: What do you look for in the people you book?

Sweet: I do think it’s part of the DNA of the festival. George basically discovered at least a dozen jazz artists, or gave them a spotlight in the stage that was 10 times their normal draw. And It’s a great question. The criteria I’ve simplified it for me is for discovery, it’s the artist has to want to play Newport. I have to want the artist to play Newport. And the audience has demands of me that the artist play Newport. If two of those three things happen, I’ll put the artist on the stage. If all three happen, it’s definitely going on the stage. If only one of those three things, then it doesn’t happen. So it’s a two out of three thing. And the favorite is when it’s obviously when I want an artist to do it and the artist wants to do it, that’s the fun s**t. My favorite compliment that I ever get on behalf of the team, was when we get a note or a letter or an Instagram message or a post that says there was this one from a few years back by a woman who was nearing late 70s early 80s who said, “This is my favorite lineup and I’ve been coming since ’64. That’s who we try to book for, not the people who are demanding or expecting. We book for the people who are the true music omnivores, the people who believe that coming to a festival and walking away with say, six new bands. It’s better than any radio station you could listen to over that same amount of time. If you listen to the radio for three days and walk away with six of your favorite bands, that’s a pretty good weekend. And sometimes our odds are better than that. And I also really, I think our team does an incredible job of not just going with what’s buzzing, but going with what we think people are gonna be part of our family. Because the only way we can survive in a lot of ways is when somebody like a Brandi [Carlile], Avett Brothers or Rhiannon Giddens and all these people that we booked when they were very young, Hozier, Sturgill Simpson, Leon Bridges, Courtney Barnett, When we booked them, this was the first festival that took a chance on them. And we have to do well because quite frankly, to stay relevant, we need those artists like Hozier to be able to come back. And the only reason he’s coming back for our pittance of a stipend is because we backed him when no one gave a s**t. It’s actually one of the few ways we survive, is we take bets on these artists early and they understand they can pay it back, and pay it forward.