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The Low Anthem, Punch Brothers Play Newport Folk Festival; NPR.org to Broadcast Live

Newport Folk Festival 2010: The Low Anthem, Punch Brothers

The famed Newport Folk Festival gets under way at the beautiful Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, this weekend, featuring performances by two Nonesuch artists: The Low Anthem on Saturday followed by Punch Brothers on Sunday. For those unable to make it to the festival, NPR will provide complete coverage of the weekend's events streaming live online at NPR.org and via the NPR Music iPhone app.

Bob Boilen, host of NPR's All Songs Considered and no stranger to the festival scene, says: "What we love about Newport is that it's very musician-friendly, so you get a surprising mix of artists playing on stage with each other. Also, the lineup features both old favorites and young unknowns, who stretch the definition of folk music to include everything from heavy-metal bluegrass to Nigerian-inspired hip-hop and reggae."

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Before returning to their home state of Rhode Island, the members of The Low Anthem play the third in a series of shows opening for The Swell Season, tonight in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, a free concert for the Celebrate Brooklyn! series. The quartet heads next to Newport for its second annual Newport set, and its first on the main stage, on Saturday, a day that closes with a performance from John Prine. Newport Now, in a preview of the festival, says that The Low Anthem “should be one of the bigger draws for the folk fest,” and calls the band’s live set “a mix of ecstatic and contemplative energies.” After this weekend, the band has two more performances in the US before embarking on an extensive European tour for the remainder of August and into September.

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Punch Brothers' Sunday afternoon performance in Newport comes in the midst of a US tour featuring music from their recent Nonesuch release, Antifogmatic, and stop at the Evans Amphitheater at Cain Park in Cleveland tonight. The Plain Dealer previews the show, noting "Thile's pitch-perfect, multi-octave voice on lead vocals and his gift with words, which is just about as great. Haunting tunes, rollicking tunes, lyrical tunes, spiritual tunes. They all pack plenty of Punch."

In addition to NPR.org's coverage of their Newport performance, Punch Brothers are due to be featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday. The show airs on public radio stations across the country Saturday and can be heard after it airs at npr.org.

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For more on the festival, head to newportfolkfest.net. For more tour information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

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