Paul Simon made a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, joining Nathaniel Rateliff’s “American Tune Revue” set on Saturday afternoon (July 23).
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Rateliff and his band, the Night Sweats, dedicated their entire show to Simon as they covered a suite of his songs before Simon himself came out to sing “Graceland,” “American Tune,” “The Boxer” and “The Sound of Silence.”
Accompanied by the Night Sweats as well as Jerry Douglas on guitar, the 80-year-old icon kicked off his performance with “Graceland” before handing off the microphone to Rhiannon Giddens for an updated version of “American Tune.”
As they moved on to “The Boxer,” a whole host of friends and fellow musicians joined Simon on stage, including Lukas Nelson (whom Simon described as “an old family friend”). Simon took his bows and then closed out the set with a solo performance of “The Sound of Silence.”
“What a joy working with Nathaniel and his incredible band,” Simon said. “The atmosphere at the festival was nothing short of wonderful.”
“It’s hard to put into words the joy we felt bringing the great American songwriter Paul Simon to the Newport Folk stage,” Rateliff added. “Thank you, Paul, for your songs, your voice, and your presence.”
Simon wasn’t the only special guest in Rateliff’s revue. Lucius, Marcus Mumford, Courtney Marie Anders, Phil Cook, Natalie Merchant, Adia Victoria, and more joined in for a few numbers in the set.
Simon announced his retirement from touring back in 2018 but has since sporadically appeared on stage. Watch a video of the rare performance below.
Do you have a favorite Paul Simon tune? Let us know, and comment below.
Photo by Robert Mapplethorpe
