Andrew Bird May Invoke Bob Dylan at This Year's Newport Folk Festival

Andrew Bird fans who wish to catch the singer-songwriter live anytime soon are pretty much out of luck, unless they're planning on hitting up the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island this coming weekend. "Technically, I'm taking the year off, but I can't just go cold turkey from playing shows," Bird tells Spinner. "So anything I do this year has to be fun and collaborative, to avoid feeling like a record release year."

Fair enough. The Newport Folk Festival definitely fits that description; the long-running folk gathering is renown for being both fun and collaborative. Of course, its most famous moment wasn't particularly fun -- in 1965, fans booed Bob Dylan when he plugged in his guitar for his first-ever electric performance. Prior to that, Dylan's acoustic appearances at the festival introduced him to a national audience and, in some ways, helped launch his career.

"Dylan just reminded us to not get too uptight -- that the kind of guitar you pick up is immaterial," says Bird. "Though, if we all took that spirit seriously, there would have been a lot more hip-hop over the years."

In the spirit of the festival and in a nod to its past, Bird says he plans on collaborating with other artists on site -- he's hoping to bring up Calexico and to sit in with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. And, like most attendees, he's looking forward to seeing Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket) perform solo.

What's more, Bird is actually considering taking on a Dylan cover during his set, amidst a batch of his own new tunes. "I'm not one for topical songs," he says, "but I've got one about a hole in the ocean floor." In other words, this year's Newport Folk Festival is going to be as interesting as ever.