Mavis Staples Surprises Newport Folk Festival

Mavis Staples stopped by the Newport Folk Festival this past weekend and surprised audiences in spectacular fashion. Mavis joined many of the artists throughout the weekend including, most notably, Mumford & Sons to close Saturday with a star studded rendition of "The Weight" featuring Phobe Bridges, Brandi Carlile, Maggie Rogers, members of Hiss Golden Messenger and dobro legend Jerry Douglas.

Bandleader Jon Batiste and the Dap-Kings star-studded, protest themed "A Change Is Gonna Come" revue to close out the festival on Sunday night and the Boston Globe writes that "when reigning queen of gospel and Newport stalwart Mavis Staples made her entrance to lead the masses in a final “Freedom Highway,” all the walls came tumbling down." Rolling Stone agrees that "Four years after she closed out the festival for her 75th birthday, in 2014, there was once again no more fitting a host for this year’s Newport finale than Staples herself."

Check out Mavis' moving performance of "The Weight" from this fan video and read more about Mumford & Son's surprise performance on Rolling Stone