Watch Aoife O’Donovan & Nickel Creek Perform Bruce Springsteen ‘Nebraska’ Classic In Newport

One week ago today (Friday, July 28) Aoife O’Donovan recruited a number of her musical friends for a Newport Folk aftershow benefit concert at Jane Pickens Theater in Newport, Rhode Island. Aoife O’Donovan & Friends performed Bruce Springsteen‘s iconic 1982 solo album, Nebraska. Guests included Madison Cunningham, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, Abraham Alexander, Danny Clinch, Nickel Creek, O’Donovan’s I’m With Her bandmates and more.

Bruce Springsteen recorded a batch of demos at his home in Monmouth County between December 17, 1981 aand January 3, 1982 for use to guide the E Street Band through sessions that he planned to yield the follow-up to 1980’s The River. While The Boss did assemble his longtime ensemble for what are commonly referred to as “the Electric Nebraska Sessions,” Bruce and manager Jon Landau felt issuing Springsteen’s original demos would be the best way to represent the more stripped-down material The Boss wrote. As such, Nebraska compiles nine of the demos Springsteen tracked on 4-track cassette recorder during the three-weeks surrounding NYE 1982 along with “My Father’s House” recorded on May 25, 1982.

Aoife O’Donovan performed Nebraska from her Brooklyn home in May 2020 for a livestream concert. The audio was mixed and mastered for release in 2021. O’Donovan has gone on to play a number of Nebraska shows, including last Friday in Newport.

Jim James adding to “Mansion On The Hill,” Abraham Alexander dueting with Aoife on “Atlantic City” and a solo take on “My Father’s House” were among the highlights from an intimate show to support Newport Festivals Foundation. The top moment came when the recently reunited Nickel Creek emerged with bassist bassist Mike Elizondo to accompany O’Donovan on “Johnny 99.” Nickel Creek — Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins — returned along with many of the evening’s other guests for “Reason To Believe,” the penultimate song of the show.

See Nickel Creek join Aoife O’Donovan for “Johnny 99” in Newport below:

Watch more from O’Donovan’s Nebraska tribute in Newport below: