Coronavirus and this “new way” of living here in Rhode Island has certainly raised some concerns and doubts on just what will happen to our favorite festivals, events, and activities this summer.

We’re keeping an eye on all those things here – Here’s the status of major Newport County events in 2020

In the meantime, the Newport Folk Festival has announced a Newport Festivals Musician Relief Fund and continued to roll out their lineup because each artist announcement is providing financial relief to nonprofit organizations of the artists choice and/or musicians in the Folk & Jazz communities – all of whom are experiencing a loss of income as a result of COVID-19.

On March 31st, the Newport Folk Festival posted on Facebook, ” We will continue with artist announcements tomorrow morning, but today we wanted to take a pause to let you know that we understand these are uncertain times. However, as eternal optimists, we believe the most helpful thing we can do as a community right now is celebrate and raise awareness for the musicians we’d love to see at the Fort this summer. Go listen to their music, support a live-stream or buy a shirt. We’re all in this together. Thank you and folk on”.

We’re keeping track of the announcements here, if you have the means, support the artists and causes listed below in any way that you can.

We’ll continue to update this list as more announcements are made.

April 23 – Deer Tick

April 22 – The National

April 22 – Sylvan Esso

April 22 – Daughter of Swords

August 21 – Muzz

August 21 – Mandy Moore, Taylor Goldsmith, and Mike Viola

April 20 – The Secret Sisters

April 20 – Lee Fields & The Expressions

April 17 – Preservation Hall Jazz Band

April 17 – Early James

April 16 – Natalie Hemby

April 16 – Brittany Howard

April 15 – Resistance Revival Chorus

April 15 – Phoebe Bridgers

April 14 – Steve Gunn and William Tyler

April 14 – Alexi Murdoch

April 13 – Sampa The Great

April 13 – Andrew Bird

April 7 – The Ballroom Thieves

April 2 – Sharon Van Etten

April 1 – Watkins Family Hour

March 31st – Call to Support Musicians

March 30th – Newport Festivals Musician Relief Fund

March 26th – Drive By Truckers

March 24th – Barrie will perform

March 19th – Delta Spirit

March 17th – Waxahatchee

March 12th – Grace Potter

March 10th – The Marcus King Band

March 5th – Puss N’ Boots

March 3rd – Ian Noe

February 27th – Son Volt plays Trace

February 25th – Sunny War

February 20th – Nathaniel Rateliff

February 18th – Erin Rae

February 13th – CAAMP

February 11th – Joseph

February 6th – Randy Newman

February 4th – EOB

January 30th – Mandolin Orange

January 28th – Vagabon

January 23rd – Rainbow Kitten Surprise

January 21st – Tré Burt

January 16th – Yola

January 14 – Hawktail

January 7 – Big Thief

January 9 – Black Pumas

Ryan Belmore

Ryan Belmore is the Owner and Publisher of What'sUpNewp.  He has been involved with What’sUpNewp since shortly after its launch in 2012, proudly leading it to be named Best Local News Blog in Rhode Island by Rhode Island Monthly readers in 2018, 2019, and 2020 and an honorable mention in the Common Good Awards in 2021.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Potter League For Animals. He previously served on the boards of Fort Adams Trust, Lucy's Hearth, and the Arts & Cultural Alliance for Newport County.

In 2020, he was named Member of the Year by LION and won the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Newport County's Dominque Award.

He is a member of Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the North American Snowsports Journalists Association.

Born and raised in Rhode Island, he spent 39 years living in Rhode Island before recently moving to Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife and two rescue dogs. He still considers Rhode Island home, and visits at least once a month.