A few hours after their set at the Newport Folk Festival on Sunday afternoon, Providence's Brown Bird took some time to chat with the the Phoenix about their weekend at the festival. They also played a stripped-down version of "Fingers to the Bone" from their upcoming full-length Salt for Salt due out October 18.

Of course, the best thing about covering the NEWPORT FOLK FEST is that fancy-pants press pass they give you, which comes down to one thing: access. And by access we mean the Media Tent, where a fun little circle-jerk emerged right away among Boston-based music writers, bloggers, tweeters, photogs, radio weirdos, and rando others.

Day 2 of Newport Folk Fest was intense. We blasted out more than 40 tweets, twitpics, and instagrams yesterday alone, and here's a quick recap of the sights that accompanied the sounds. Above, JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE set down a spirited set of Nashville-flavored Americana-folk, the son of Steve no doubt ready to impress after bailing on last year's fest after a freak hand injury (check our phlip video of "They Killed John Henry").

Upon the recommendation of many, I pulled myself away from Middle Brother's early introductions on the Quad (before they'd morph into a three-song Dawes set) and stopped, for a second, about thinking about Elvis Costello at the Fort a few short minutes later, and swung by the Harbor stage to catch THE HEAD AND THE HEART

It was no small order following Trampled By Turtles on the Quad stage this afternoon at Newport Folk -- what with their packed-out, continuously-growing crowd overflowing far beyond the shaded tent space and deep into the grass, their spirited bluegrass ease, and cover of The Pixies "Where Is My Mind." But JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE did that and then some, making up for last year's cancellation after he apparently cut up his hand in some freak accident (Elvis Perkins filled in.

Considering its eclectic line-up, this year's Newport Folk Festival proves that in 2011, it's hard to define what is and is not part of "folk culture." By purist definitions, music made by a major-label pop group like TEGAN AND SARA wouldn't qualify. But if more loosely, "folk" can be applied to any "folk group" that maintains distinct traditions, and boasts visible customs, music, dress, etcetera, then Tegan and Sara fit the "folk" label, based solely on the customary culture amongst the fans at their shows.