Newport Folk Festival Ends With Star-Studded ‘Songs For The People’ Set

This year’s Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island wrapped up in collaborative fashion on Sunday with an all-star “Songs For The People” set put together by Josh Kaufman. The 16-song performance saw Kaufman and the house band back an impressive array of Newport Folk favorites that came on and off stage, including Nathaniel Rateliff, The Swell Season, Margo Price, Lucius, Mavis Staples, Jeff Tweedy and Lukas Nelson.

Josh Kaufman recruited drummers Joe Russo (Joe Russo's Almost Dead) and JT Bates (Bonny Light Horseman) along with bassist Bridget Kearney (Lake Street Dive) to form the rhythm section for a set filled with covers of protest songs. John C. Reilly served as the master of ceremonies.

Kaufman’s Bonny Light Horseman bandmates Anaïs Mitchell and Eric Johnson helped kick off “Songs For The People” with a take on Simon & Garfunkel’s “America.” Next, Hurray For The Riff Raff's Alynda Segarra fronted Tracy Chapman’s “Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution” before The Swell Season emerged to sing the Van Morrison classic “Into The Mystic” and Trombone Shorty, Lukas Nelson and Trombone Shorty starred on the Allen Toussaint-penned “Yes We Can Can.”

Nathaniel Rateliff came out next to sing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. Then, The National’s Matt Berninger and Ronboy channeled The Flaming Lips on “Waitin’ For A Superman.” The set rolled on with a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Eyes Of The World” that featured Goose guitarist Rick Mitarotonda, Eric Johnson, Trombone Shorty, Leslie Mendelson and Mt. Joy’s Matt Quinn.

Margo Price then took the stage and proclaimed “Fuck ICE” before singing Woody Gutherie’s “Deportee” with Logan Ledger. From there, Reilly introduced Mavis Staples as the “mother of Newport” to welcome her for a cover of Pops Staples’ “Friendship” she led with Jeff Tweedy. Next came Lucius to honor Brian Wilson by performing The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” ahead of a “Me & My Bobby McGee” featuring Maren Morris, Lukas Nelson and Sarah Jarosz.

Fresh off his Newport Folk debut, Stephen Wilson Jr. teamed with Lukas Nelson and Jesse Welles on the Beatles’ “Revolution” before turning the stage over to Mary Chapin Carpenter for a rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “All You Fascists Bound To Lose.”

The main portion of the set concluded with a rousing cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World” sung by Lukas Nelson. Mitarotonda returned for “My Generation” by The Who ahead of nearly all of the contributors loading the stage to end this year’s festival with the traditional “Goodnight Irene.”

Watch more audience-captured video of the “Songs For The People” set at Newport Folk 2025 below: