Judy Collins & Members Of Fleet Foxes, The Shins, Fruit Bats & More Perform ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ At Newport

Official video of members of Fleet Foxes, The Shins, and legendary vocalist Judy Collins performing “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” was posted by the Newport Folk Festival. The collaboration that featured an all-star backing band took place during the “If I Had A Song” closing set at this year’s festival at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island.

The set, for which official songbooks were distributed to the audience, came in honor of the late Pete Seeger. Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, The Shins’ James Mercer and Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson handled the three-part harmony on the song originally recorded by Crosby, Stills & Nash. Graham Nash wrote “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” about Judy Collins and the 80-year-old singer-songwriter emerged to accompany the trio.

Others on stage for the CSN cover were Isbell and The Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, Wilco bassist John Stirratt, and former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss. Watch the all-star collaborative “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” at the 2019 Newport Folk Festival below:

Eric D. Johnson discussed the Newport collaboration on a recent episode of The JamBase Podcast. Listen below to hear him describe his preparation for the performance and his memories of being on stage with so many fellow talented musicians: