The Levon Helm Band Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, 8-3-2008 | Albums That Should Exist

 

Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, 8-3-2008 - The Levon Helm Band

Paul says: Here's another album from the 2008 Newport Folk Festival. This time, it's a set by the Levon Helm Band.

Levon Helm is best known as the main lead singer and drummer for the Band. But since the Band first broke up around 1977, he's had a long solo career as well. Unfortunately though, by the time of this concert, he was showing signs of physical decline, which can be heard in his voice. He would die four years later, in 2012, at the age of 71. He still generally sounded like you'd expect here, though. And he spread the lead vocals duties around a bit, letting some other members of his band sing a couple of songs, including one by his daughter Amy Helm. Generally, the songs were a mix of those from his solo albums, plus some classics by the Band.

As usual for this festival, the sound is excellent, while everything is unreleased. However, there was a problem with the first song, "The Same Thing," since the first thirty seconds or so were missing. I found another concert from the same year, at the Bonnaroo Festival, and used that to patch in the missing bit. That's why that one song has "[Edit]" in its title. 

This album is an hour and six minutes long. 

01 The Same Thing [Edit] (Levon Helm Band)
02 Ophelia (Levon Helm Band)
03 talk (Levon Helm Band)
04 Fannie Mae (Levon Helm Band)
05 talk (Levon Helm Band)
06 Love Played a Game (Levon Helm Band)
07 talk (Levon Helm Band)
08 Long Black Veil (Levon Helm Band)
09 talk (Levon Helm Band)
10 Got Me a Woman (Levon Helm Band)
11 Ashes of Love (Levon Helm Band)
12 Anna Lee (Levon Helm Band)
13 talk (Levon Helm Band)
14 Deep Elem Blues (Levon Helm Band)
15 Rag Mama Rag (Levon Helm Band)
16 The Shape I'm In (Levon Helm Band)
17 Chest Fever (Levon Helm Band)
18 talk (Levon Helm Band)
19 The Weight (Levon Helm Band with Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)

The Levon Helm Band - Ophelia - 8/3/2008 - Newport Folk Festival (Official)

The Levon Helm Band - Got Me A Woman - 8/3/2008 - Newport Folk Festival (Official)

(In fairness I did post this the other day but heck, I can’t resist it - Levon and band are having SUCH fun!

The Levon Helm Band - Fannie Mae - 8/3/2008 - Newport Folk Festival (Official)

I think pretty much the entire Newport 2008 set is on YouTube but heck you wanna download the whole lot you can’t better’n Pauls here!

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, 8-3-2008 | Albums That Should Exist

 Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, 8-3-2008 - Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

Paul he say: Here's another album from the 2008 Newport Folk Festival. This time, it's a set by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Technically, it was billed just as a Gillian Welch performance, but David Rawlings played a prominent role. Since they have usually been billed a duo in the years since, I did that here to be consistent with other albums I may post from them.

As usual, the music here is unreleased and the sound quality is excellent. However, there was a problem with the last song, "Jackson." I was able to patch the problem though. That's why that one song has "[Edit]" in its title.

Speaking of "Jackson," it's one of two cover versions here. The other one is "Gone at Last."

This album is an hour and one minute long.

01 talk by emcee 
02 Look at Miss Ohio 
03 talk
04 I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll
05 talk 
06 Lawman 
07 talk 
08 My First Lover
09 talk 
10 No One Knows My Name 
11 talk 
12 Throw Me a Rope 
13 Gamblin' Man 
14 talk 
15 Red Clay Halo 
16 talk 
17 Knuckleball Catcher 
18 talk 
19 Sweet Tooth
20 Orphan Girl 
21 talk 
22 Gone at Last 
23 talk 
24 Jackson [Edit] 

(all tracks Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Red Clay Halo - 8/3/2008 - Newport Folk Festival (Official)

The Levon Helm Band + Gillian Welch David Rawlings & friends - The Weight @ The Newport Folk Festival (Aug 3, 2008)

Calexico - Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, USA 2008 | Albums That Should Exist

 Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, 8-3-2008 - Calexico

Paul says: Here's another album from the 2008 Newport Folk Festival. This time, it's a set by the band Calexico. Keep in mind I don't know the order of appearance of most of the musical acts, so these are being posted in no special order, other than the festival dates. This is the second one I'm posting of the third day of the festival.

This is the first album I've posted by Calexico. But I've also promised myself to keep the write-ups for these festivals short, so here's their Wikipedia page if you want to know more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calexico_(band)

All the songs are originals, with the exceptions of "Alone Again Or" by Love and "Goin' to Acapulco," by Bob Dylan and the Band. For the latter, they were joined by Jim James, the lead vocalist for My Morning Jacket.

This album is 54 minutes long.

01 All the Pretty Horses - Frontera - Trigger
02 talk 
03 Across the Wire
04 talk 
05 Not Even Stevie Nicks 
06 Woven Birds 
07 talk 
08 Two Silver Trees 
09 talk 
10 Inspiracion
11 Slowness 
12 Alone Again Or 
13 talk 
14 Going to Acapulco (Calexico with Jim James)
15 talk 
16 Crystal Frontier 
17 Guero Canelo 
18 talk by emcee 

amazingly enough another new one for Paul and I don’t think we have posted any Calexico for an age so this will be nice I reckon 

She & Him : Newport Folk Festival Fort Adams State Park Newport RI USA 2008 (Zooey Deschanel and M Ward) | Albums That Should Exist

 New (ish!?) people might feature . . . . [7 albums later . . . . . ]

Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, 8-2-2008 - She & Him

Paul says : Here's another album from the 2008 Newport Folk Festival. This time, it's a set by the musical duo She and Him.

She & Him is an American musical duo consisting of Zooey Deschanel on vocals, piano, and ukulele, and M. Ward on guitar. They got a lot of attention starting with their debut album in 2008, because Deschanel was already an established movie star. But unlike a lot of movie stars putting out albums, this wasn't just a vanity side project. The duo has gotten consistent critical praise, and as I write this in 2026, they have been together for seven studio albums so far.

Most of the songs performed here were originals, with the covers "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" and "The Garden Rose." Jim James, lead singer for My Morning Jacket, joined them for one song, "Magic Trick." 

Halfway through the set, the crowd was hit by a heavy rainstorm. But the concert continued anyway. This got referenced some in the banter between songs. 

This album is 51 minutes long. 

01 talk by emcee 
02 talk 
03 Black Hole
04 I Was Made for You 
05 talk 
06 Change Is Hard 
07 Sentimental Heart 
08 talk 
09 You Really Got a Hold on Me 
10 Take It Back 
11 talk
12 The Garden Rose 
13 talk 
14 Lingering Still )
15 Got Me 
16 I Thought I Saw Your Face Today 
17 Why Do You Let Me Stay Here 
18 talk 
19 Magic Trick (She & Him with Jim James)
20 talk
21 This Is Not a Test
22 talk 
23 Sweet Darlin'

 (all tracks She & Him unless as stated otherwise) 

From the beginning

She & Him - I Thought I Saw Your Face Today on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

too sweet?

How about this?

She & Him - I Put A Spell on You (second album) Conan O’Brien show

Gal can SING yes?

They aren’t messing as Paul notes and after seven (7 count ‘em) albums they are still producing interesting pop IMHO

The Cowboy Junkies Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, USA 2008 | ALBUMS THAT SHOULD EXIST

 Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI, 8-2-2008 - The Cowboy Junkies

Paul says: (edited) Here's another album from the 2008 Newport Folk Festival. This time, it's a set by the Cowboy Junkies.

As I said in my previous write-up, I'm going to try to keep these write-ups short for the festival. But since I haven't posted anything from this band before, I have to say I'd thought this band was a one-trick pony, playing all their songs in a slow, sleepy style. But I was pleasantly surprised that there was a good amount of musical variety here, and even some rocking at times.

This album is 53 minutes long.

01 Miles from Our Home 
02 I Don't Get It 
03 talk 
04 Follower 2 
05 My Little Basquait 
06 Those Final Feet
07 Just Want to See 
08 Working on a Building 
09 Good Friday 
10 talk 
11 Murder Tonight in the Trailer Park 

(all tracks Cowboy Junkies)  

The cover photo of the band's Margo Timmins is from this exact concert.

I have edited Paul's entry here as he didn’t know Cowboy Junkies so posted info and wikipedia profile links. Unnecessary here but if you too don’t know them I really don’t know where ya bin and we have posted frequently covers songs from the band who we adore here at the Mansions

Cowboy Junkies Live in Liverpool Sun Comes Up It's Tuesday Morning 2004