NPR Music to webcast and broadcast Newport Folk Festival and JVC Jazz Festival performances

For the first time, NPR Music, together with NPR Member stations WBGO/Jazz88.3FM in Newark, NJ, and WFUV 90.7FM New York, will live webcast and broadcast four days of performances from Festival Network’s Newport Folk Festival and JVC Jazz Festival Newport in August, offering music by esteemed folk, rock, country, jazz, reggae and blues artists. All of the concerts will be streamed live and free, and archived for on-demand listening at NPR Music: www.NPR.org/music Select concerts will also be podcast.

As part of this festival coverage, NPR Music, WBGO and WFUV will also produce radio specials from the festivals, highlighting standout performances and interviews with musicians. The broadcast specials will air on NPR Member stations across the country. Throughout the festivals, NPR will also host a live web chat at www.NPR.org/music NPR Music is a media partner for both festivals, and is teaming with Festival Network on its webcasts and broadcasts of the concerts.

NPR Music and WFUV will webcast more than 10 performances from the biggest names playing the Newport Folk Festival over two days: Saturday, August 2 from noon to 5:00PM (ET) and Sunday, August 3 from 11:30AM to 3:00PM (ET). WFUV will also broadcast live from the festival on August 2. Confirmed artists include Jim James of My Morning Jacket; She & Him, the musical pairing of M. Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel; and folk-funk pioneer Richie Havens, who returns to the festival after 17 years. NPR Music will also webcast concerts by Gillian Welch, Steve Earle and Alison Moorer, Calexico, Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers, Cowboy Junkies and Brandy Carlile. The webcasts will be co-hosted by Bob Boilen, host and creator of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered, and WFUV host and music director Rita Houston. Updated artist lists and performance schedules are at: www.nprmusic.org/newportfolkfestival

The following weekend, August 9 and 10, NPR Music and WBGO team up to live webcast main stage acts from the JVC Jazz Festival Newport. WBGO will also broadcast live from 11:30AM to 2:00PM (ET) on both days. On the bill are legendary pianist Herbie Hancock; producer, performer and Jazz Festival founder George Wein; guitarist Howard Alden; along with rising jazz stars Esperanza Spalding and Guillermo Klein y Los Guachos. WBGO special projects producer Josh Jackson will host the Jazz Festival webcasts. Updated artist lists and performance schedules are at: www.nprmusic.org/jvcjazzfestnewport

NPR Music frequently live webcasts concerts from venues across the country as part of its continuing “Live in Concert” series, which has featured more than 100 live events to date. In March, NPR Music, WFUV and several other Member stations traveled to Austin, TX, to live webcast and broadcast 14 concerts from South by Southwest, among them R.E.M., My Morning Jacket and Yo La Tengo. Earlier this summer, NPR Music and WBGO launched the site’s first concert series of live jazz webcasts, “Live at the Village Vanguard,” which offers monthly shows from the legendary New York City venue. The NPR Music Concert Calendar lists all upcoming live webcasts, and calendar reminders for Google Mail or Outlook: www.NPR.org/concertcalendar

NPR Music launched in November 2007 as a free, comprehensive music discovery destination, featuring content from NPR, WBGO, WFVU and 10 other NPR Member public radio stations, as well as original-to-NPR Music features such as live performances, studio sessions, interviews, reviews and blogs. Specific sections of the site are dedicated to rock/pop/folk, classical, jazz/blues, world and urban music. The site culls from NPR’s and the stations’ extensive music archives to present thousands of features; its popular Concert section offers hundreds of regional and national web concerts, with more than 15 new performances added each month. NPR Music also offers dozens of original public radio music podcasts.