E-Mail This Article to a Friend Download Classic cuts from the Newport Folk Festival BY MATT ASHARE

Some of the classic performances of all time — like Dylan going electric in ’65 — took place right down the road at the Newport Folk Festival. Audiolunchbox.com has a wide selection of live Newport MP3s for $.99 each. Here’s are four downloadable performances from that bygone era.

PHIL OCHS, "DRAFT DODGER RAG" VANGUARD

Ochs was a Newport regular who thrived during the Vietnam War but has forever been overshadowed by Dylan. This protest song is filled with cynical humor rather than didactic indignation ("I’m only 18/I got a ruptured spleen/And I always carry a purse").

BOB DYLAN AND PETE SEEGER, "PLAYBOYS AND PLAYGIRLS" VANGUARD

The name of the album from which this largely forgotten collaboration is taken — Newport Broadside: Topical Songs at the Newport Folk Festival 1963 — pretty much says it all.

SON HOUSE, "JOHN THE REVELATOR" VANGUARD

The witty spoken intro to this Gospel at Newport track by the great blues artist Son House is an irreplaceable slice of history. And then he takes it to a whole new level with his sacred-meets-secular acoustic guitar.

LESTER FLATT, EARL SCRUGGS & THE FOGGY MOUNTAIN BOYS, "SALTY DOG BLUES" VANGUARD

As the title suggests, Newport wasn’t just about politicking. With Legacy in the midst of a big Flatt & Scruggs reissue campaign, it’s worth remembering that the Dylan who emerged fully formed from the ’60s owed as much to the bluegrass greats and bluesmen like House as he did to Woody Guthrie.