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Rhode Island Music
The state of Rhode Island in the US has a large independent music scene throughout the state, but concentrated for the most part in Providence, Newport and Cape Verdean. Located in the New England area of the United States, the state also holds one of the most famous art schools in the country, The Rhode Island School of Design.
Providence
The Capital of Rhode Island holds the largest independent music scene and is best known for the many noise rock musicians, which have originated from Providence. It is also the city from where the well known Les Savy Fav group hails from, who met and joined up at the well known Rhode Island School of Design. Providence is also the hometown of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones front man Dicky Barret. The city has many popular bands that all have contracts with the larger independent record companies, like The Low Anthem and Zox, to name but a few of the many popular bands.
Its famous School of design has produced many famous artists and is the place where the members of the famous Talking heads also met for the first time. It was not until after they moved that they formed the legendary Talking Heads. Among other well known artists that graduated in Providence are Wendy Carlos and Duncan Sheik.
Newport
With a significantly smaller scene, Newport is the second city in the state, which is well known for its musical contributions, with Throwing Muses as the most famous one. The band was founded in 1981 and was active in the music industry until 2003.
Other significant artists hailing from Newport are The Cowsills, who were doing well during the late sixties, and Belly, which was founded by Tanya Donnell, who is most known for her work with Throwing Muses. Newport has a small but well developed ska punk music scene, spearheaded by Big World and Badfish since 2000.
Festivals
Newport is also well known for its many music festivals such as the Newport Jazz Festival, which was founded by George Wein in 1954 and has featured many famous artists from the Jazz scene like John Coltrane, Billie Holiday and many others. The original festival has since moved to New York City, but has been re-instated in Newport and now called: The JVC Jazz Festival.
In 1959 the Newport Folk Festival was founded, also by George Wein and it was also moved to New York City. In 1986, this was reversed and the festival was moved back to Newport.
For classical music enthusiasts there is the Newport Music Festival, which started in 1969. Though the festival has seen many well known musicians, its function is mainly a stepping stone for young upcoming artists in the genre.
Since 1997 Newport has been the home of the Sunset Music Festival, where popular rock, punk and ska bands performed. It has been the stage for many popular bands, like Cheap Trick and popular artists like Bruce Hornsby, to name a few. It is also the stage for many of the popular local bands to perform their material to a larger audience.
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