Sunday's headliner, Patty Griffin, held her audience rapt throughout a career-spanning hour-plus set, even as the sky darkened and the wind whipped up, causing people to huddle under blankets. The former Bostonian, who relocated to Austin a decade ago, quipped that she'd had to forego her cute stage outfit in order to combat the chilly weather. Instead, she showed off her supple, emotionally charged vocals and emphatic acoustic guitar on melancholy ballads and blues-drenched rockers.
Her longtime backing guitarist Doug Lancio added wailing electric lines to her opening cover of Bessie Smith's ''Backwater Blues." Griffin threw herself into her guitar playing and vocals during ''Poor Man's House" and grew tender during the mournful ballad ''Long Ride Home" and the impassioned ''Let Him Fly," recorded in Boston. For her encore, she imbued old standard ''Moon River" with fresh feeling and elegance.
Earlier, on the Field Stage, folk stalwart Janis Ian delivered a politically charged solo set highlighted by her noble, understated vocals and percussive guitar.
Lori McKenna, everybody's favorite folk-singing soccer mom from Stoughton, was backed by two guitarists, including local folkie Mark Erelli. Her rootsy cover of Kasey Chambers's rousing lament about the current state of the world, ''Ignorance," drew cheers.
While the Coffeehouse Stage and Fresh Folk Showcase offered intimate sets by up-and-coming artists, the Pavilion Stage, located waterside, showcased song swaps. Old-time originals Work O' the Weavers and folk humorists Modern Man featured upright bass, banjo, and keyboards on their cover of the classic ''The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Roots rockers Ollabelle and folk trio Redbird had too many members onstage to indulge fully in their collaboration, but did unfold pretty, countrified versions of each other's songs.
