Lucy Dacus Brings Out The Killers' Brandon Flowers at Newport Folk Festival for a Jim Croce Cover

Lucy Dacus played a solo set at Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island on Friday, July 24, 2026, capping it off with a surprise appearance from The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers. The two performed a stripped-down duet of Jim Croce's 1972 folk standard "Time In A Bottle," a track Dacus included on the deluxe edition of her fourth album, Forever Is A Feeling. After the performance, she told the crowd: "You're gonna have to pinch me because I don't think I'm dreaming."

Guests at the Newport set

Before Flowers' appearance, Hayley Williams (Paramore's frontwoman) joined Dacus for a cover of Hozier's "Bullseye," and Madi Diaz lent her voice to "Heavy Metal."

Earlier the same day, Dacus also guested at Hayley Williams' own star-studded set, appearing alongside Jack Antonoff, Jenny Lewis, Remi Wolf, Wednesday's Karly Hartzman, and Joy Oladokun.

The collaboration with Flowers isn't out of nowhere: in August 2025, Dacus joined The Killers onstage at Montreal's Osheaga Festival for a rendition of "Read My Mind." Longtime Killers fans may also recall that boygenius — the trio of Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, and Julien Baker — publicly shared a live cover of the same song back in 2018.

What's next for Brandon Flowers

Flowers is currently working on his third solo album, Thrasher, set for release via Island Records on August 21, 2026. Recorded in Nashville, the album has already produced the singles "Plans" and "Paradise." Flowers has said the process helped him "trace the lineage of his father's music" and unlocked what he described as "a room that had been waiting for him." He'll tour the UK, Ireland, and North America following the album's release.

As for Dacus, Forever Is A Feeling came out in March 2025 and received a four-star review from NME. In April 2026, she also released a new song, "Planting Tomatoes," as a Record Store Day exclusive on vinyl.