[1] Wein envisioned the program to be "similar in scope and tone to the highly successful blues and gospel shows" that had taken place at the Jazz Festival in previous years.

Aware of his own limitations in the folk scene, Wein asked Albert Grossman, then Odetta's manager, to join him in planning and producing the festival.

[4] The inaugural festival, held at Freebody Park, included Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs, the Kingston Trio, John Jacob Niles, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Odetta, The New Lost City Ramblers, and more.

[6] The lineup placed an emphasis on music diversity, booking performers from Africa, Scotland, Spain, Israel, and Ireland alongside "traditional" folk musicians such as Pete Seeger, Ewan McColl, John Lee Hooker, Cisco Houston, and Tommy Makem.

In the '60s, the festival became a platform for artists who played a substantial part in the civil rights and anti-war movements, including Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and the Staple Singers, among many others.

[9] In 1962, two young members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) formed a gospel vocal quartet named the Freedom Singers.

Dylan performed a set consisting of particularly topical songs: "With God on Our Side", "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues", and "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall".

Amidst a "deafening roar of applause"[11] they brought to the stage Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Theo Bikel and the Freedom Singers.

The singers stood in a single line facing the audience with crossed arms and clasped hands and began to sing a variation on the Baptist hymn "I'll Overcome Some Day".

But Harry Smith, a member of a tiny subculture of obsessive, cranky collectors, put two John Hurt cuts on his influential 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music prompting many blues hobbyists to begin searching for him.

It is usually said that the reason for the hostile reception by a small number of fans was Dylan's "abandoning" of the folk orthodoxy, or poor sound quality on the night (or a combination of the two).

This performance, Dylan's first live "plugged-in" set of his professional career, marked the shift in his artistic direction from folk to rock, and had wider implications for both genres.

[17][18] Despite the musical transition, Dylan's growing status within the larger counterculture ensured that his place in the expanding movement would remain secure.

But his life in music began in Boston folk clubs with artists such as Joan Baez, Tom Rush, Eric von Schmidt, and Bob Dylan, and he first came to Wein's attention as a talent scout, traveling across the country with folklorist Ralph Rinzler to bring undiscovered artists of all kinds to the Newport stage.

[27] The festival inaugurated a Friday night concert, established Song Circles with songwriters such as Shawn Colvin, Sarah McLachlan, and Buddy Miller in the round, and expanded to three stages.

Other groundbreaking sets included a teenaged Alison Krauss's major festival debut, iconic blues performances from B.B.

King, Susan Tedeschi, and Bonnie Raitt, early incarnations of the Indigo Girls, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, and Joan Baez as Four Voices in Harmony, classic performances by Weir & Wasserman, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joan Armatrading, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, and Wilco, and in 2005, an extended collaborative set with Bright Eyes, Jim James and M. Ward.

[8] Backstage guests included Al Gore and Richard Gere, alongside dozens of other musicians who flocked to hear the set.

Dylan and his band (including Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton) launched into “Roving Gambler” then played a series of classics alongside his newer material: a set markedly in keeping with the rest of his tour.

Peter Stone Brown wrote, “The guy underneath the hat may have looked a little strange, but in the end it was the music that mattered and just maybe that’s what he’s been trying to say all along.”[31] In 2005, alternative rock band The Pixies came to Newport with an acoustic performance, a concept that referenced Dylan's going electric.

The set was recorded and turned into a feature film directed by Michael B Borofsky, titled Pixies: Acoustic: Live in Newport.

Under Sweet's direction, the festival has reclaimed its place at the center of American music, with surprise sets by Dolly Parton and Joni Mitchell among other standout performances.

[35] Instead, the program featured an array of more contemporary musicians, including Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Willie Watson, Hozier and Klara Soderberg of First Aid Kit, John McCauley and Ian O'Neil of Deer Tick, Robyn Hitchcock and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans.

Past instances include the 65 Revisited program (2015), in which Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, Dawes, and Willie Watson appeared unannounced.

Other surprise moments include My Morning Jacket (2015), James Taylor (2015), Kris Kristofferson (2016), Roger Waters (2017), Mumford & Sons (2018), Dolly Parton (2019), Paul Simon (2022), and Joni Mitchell (2022).

The festival is known for its beautiful setting- as the music blog Consequence of Sound writes: "Located at the gorgeously scenic Fort Adams, in Newport, Rhode Island, glimmering, clear blue water surrounds the small vivid green peninsula.

CWA worked onsite picking up trash and recycling, and set up composting stations to curb the waste generated during the event.

The festival also partnered with CLIF Bar, who set up a bike valet to encourage people to cycle to the event and participate in its two-mile challenge.

It worked with New England Wind Fund to offset power used during the festival, and Klean Kanteen to provide reusable water bottles.