Back in July, the 59th-annual Newport Folk Festival returned, taking over Newport, Rhode Island’s Fort Adams State Park. The festival has long stood out as one of the premier music events in the Northeast, consistently curating one of the most expansive and highly anticipated lineups of the summer. Friday’s opening day lineup was star-studded, as Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit headed the bill along with Sturgill Simpson, Lucius, Margo Price, St. Vincent, Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite, The Wood Brothers, Amanda Shires, and others.
During Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit’s set, which closed down the Fort Stage on Friday evening, the band had a special surprise collaboration planned. While the beginning of the group’s set drew heavily on newer material off 2017’s The Nashville Sound as well as 2013’s Southeastern, toward the end of the performance Isbell and friends invited out the legendary folk and rock icon David Crosby to join them. Crosby first emerged for a rendition of his own “Wooden Ships”, which was featured on Crosby, Stills & Nash‘s self-titled 1969 release, and written by Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner.
Crosby stayed on stage, helping Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit in a rendition of the iconic fan-favorite 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young track “Ohio”, a protest song penned by Neil Young following the Kent State shootings on May 4th, 1970. At Isbell’s insistence, the crowd sang along for the ending choruses of the song.
Listen to David Crosby’s collaboration with Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit on “Wooden Ships” below:
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Newport Folk Festival – 7/27/2018
[H/T Jambase]