The album that our very own Rashad Randolph, Assistant Principal for Student Life, and his team at the Newport Festivals Foundation put out this past summer, “Joni Mitchell: Live at Newport (Feat. Joni Jam),” just recently won the Grammy for Best Folk Album!
In the off season (or whenever Randolph can get a moment away from the ECFS world), he is in charge of stage crew and all the stagehands for Newport Festivals Foundation (including, but not limited to, The Newport Folk Festival and The Newport Jazz Festival). A stage inhabited by artists like Dolly Parton, Lana Del Ray, Billy Joel, Caamp and much, much more is, according to Randolph, “[his] stage.”
In a recent interview with Randolph, he explained the thought process behind Mitchell’s performance, “the idea was to really honor and pay tribute to Joni and all that she’s done in the music industry over the decades.” This was Mitchell’s first time performing live since the brain aneurysm she suffered from in 2015, and it was evidently a monumental moment. He explained that it was Brandi Carlile’s idea to bring Mitchell to the Festival to rightfully recognize all that she has done for the music industry. Randolph noted “that the tribute included a ton of stars – including Wynonna Judd, Marcus Mumford (from Mumford and Sons), Celissse, Brandi Carlile and more.”
Mitchell’s performance was received extraordinarily well from the exuberantly attentive audience.Her setlist blew everyone away: “Big Yellow Taxi,” “A Case of You,” “Amelia,” “Both Sides Now,” “Just Like This Train,” “Summertime,” “Carey,” “Help Me,” “Come in from the Cold,” “Shine” and “The Circle Game.” She rocked a playful beret and cool pair of shades as the audience rocked along to her rhythmic tunes. The iconic sung-along “Circle Game” ended her time on stage that summer and the album as well, encapsulating the euphoric combination of performers and audience alike. In the digital age we all live in today, an album for a live concert is a way to memorialize and preserve a shared historic moment: a feat that Randolph’s team successfully accomplished.
Counterintuitively, however, the performance actually occurred in the summer of 2022. “It was a moment in Newport,” said Randolph, “we just loved so much that we decided to put it on wax (on vinyl/record), and we released it last summer, July 2023. And that’s how it became eligible for a Grammy.” And not only did it become eligible… it took that gramophone home!
Mitchell, now a ten time Grammy winner, went up on stage to accept the Grammy saying that the album successfully captured the joy of the concert. Randolph similarly noted that the concert “was magical.”
This awesome accomplishment is especially unbelievable for him. As he said, “I don’t think anybody walked into this project/tribute thinking about a Grammy, which makes it even more surreal.”
