NEWPORT -- It was sunny and hot, and about 4,000 people stuck it out yesterday at the first day of the Dunkin' Donuts Newport Folk Festival, at Fort Adams, for eight hours of various twists on the elastic definition of folk.

David Gray headlined the main stage with his trademark modern-day singer-songwriter fare, including his breakthrough hit "Babylon" and songs from last year's album Life in Slow Motion. Gray's goal is to entrance, and he occasionally managed that, especially on the elegant, piano-driven "Please Forgive Me" with its elongated ending, but just as often he meandered ("Ain't No Love," "The One I Love").

As for the other main-stage acts, Rosanne Cash's performance was her usual high-class melding of modern country and adult contemporary, highlighted by her honeyed voice on the mid-tempo "Runaway Train" and "Seven-Year Ache" and the relaxed groove of her three-piece backing band. Guitar and slide-guitar master Sonny Landreth was loud and raucous, particularly on "Back to Bayou Teche." Chris Smither provided a classic singer-songwriter vibe, with lyrics including the personal and political; and The Duhks blazed through songs influenced by Irish and Appalachian music and hushed the crowd with the quavering closer, "Who Will Take My Place?"

But the star of the main stage was Bettye LaVette, the 60-year-old singer who may be enjoying the greatest success of her 45-year career with last year's I've Got My Own Hell to Raise album. She got a rise out of the heat-wrung crowd in the early afternoon with her classic soul shouting and her band's mix of '70s guitar funk with earthy, Memphis-influenced soul, particularly on "He Made a Woman Out of Me." She also turned Lucinda Williams' "Joy" into a classic stomp and gave harrowing readings of the ballads "Your Turn to Cry" and "Little Sparrow" by Dolly Parton.

Afterward, LaVette bemoaned the heat and the large venue, saying that "my show is kind of vicarious in this setting." The Newport Folk Festival might be an unlikely venue for a gritty soul singer, and LaVette agreed, but she called this and other festivals she's doing "a way to introduce myself to the millions of people who have never heard of me . . . like any young artist doing it for the first time."

As for her late-career resurgence, she said, "Isn't it about time? . . . At my age, I can't be excited about it. Gratified and relieved, yes, but not excited."

LaVette was philosophical about the delay: "Every year I didn't make it, I learned to sing more things."

Meanwhile, the revelation of the second stage was 17-year-old Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter Sonya Kitchell. Her lyrics occasionally betrayed her youth, but her jazz-influenced compositional maturity and her deep, chanteuse-like voice, which occasionally gave way to a strong falsetto, are signs of talent way beyond her years. And her band, some of whom looked even younger than Kitchell, were nimble, sensitive accompanists, throwing in touches such as bowed acoustic bass and a feathery touch on brushed cymbals.

Through much of the day, the side stages were the place to be. Jim McGrath, of Lincoln, set up his lawn chairs at the main stage early on, but spent most of the day at the side stages, saying they were "great. You sit in the shade and see some great acts close-up. You think you're going to stay for five minutes, and you stay for two hours."

Rosalie Sorrels, 73, who played at the Newport festival 40 years ago, opened the second stage with an acoustic guitarist and an electric guitarist-bassist in tow and singing songs that merged the singer-songwriter tradition with country blues. "This is a song about things I haven't done," she joked by way of introducing Utah Phillips' "I Remember Loving You." "I've never hopped a train. If you've ever tried to hop a train with five children, you'll understand why." She barely waved at her acoustic guitar, but her matchless voice -- without a lot of coloration, but plain and clear and full of strength and dignity -- hasn't lost a thing.

While Sorrels sang the sweet "Apple of My Eye" for her daughter, Hot Toddy's Tom Easley was telling the third-stage crowd "This is a song for my dog. It's called 'My Dog'," before attacking his dobro on a fleet instrumental.

The third stage was like that. It rocked throughout the course of the day. The theme of the bill was traditional music from the East Coast of Canada, and that brought together the trio Hot Toddy, who mixed in elements of country and rockabilly; Blou, who played an accordion-driven French-Canadian version of zydeco -- Cajun with more aggressiveness; and Beolach, who played a Celtic blend of music driven by fiddle and whistle, adding piano and step-dancing duo breakdowns.

Rhode Island's own Pendragon headlined the stage, with their trademark blend of Celtic, French-Canadian and American songs. The group's Bob Drouin announced he was "thrilled and honored" to play at Newport; bassist-guitarist Ken Lyon added that "I never dreamed that I'd get here," prompting Russell Gusetti to crack, "That's because of his car."

"It's nice to have someone from Rhode Island play here," Drouin said afterwards, "and I hope they keep doing it."

rmassimo@projo.com / (401) 277-7206