San Francisco’s epic Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival enters its 17th year on seven stages across three meadows in Golden Gate Park: Lindley Meadow, Marx Meadow and Hellmann Hollow. Hellman was renamed in honor of the late Warren Hellman, the benefactor and founder who made sure the free festival survived and will continue well into the future, as his gift to the city of San Francisco.
The best part of the festival? The bill is always astonishing; more than 90 acts ranging from “Trad Grass” and “Newgrass” (check out Alison Brown and the Compass Bluegrass Allstars), to twangy Americana (Robert Earl Keen, Joe Ely, Lucinda Williams). There will be a new generation of folk singer/songwriters this year, including Conor Oberst, who always brings a group of musical friends to the Friday show. You can catch rockers like Lukas Nelson (son of Willie) and Promise of the Real — oft seen backing Neil Young — and even out-and-out rage-rockers like Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra.
HSB always highlights plenty of women musicians too, like Acoustic Sunrise favorites Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlile, Gillian Welch, Laurie Lewis, The Secret Sisters and of course the ethereal Emmylou Harris, who closes the festival every year on Sunday night. And keep an eye out for the Swedish Sisters First Aid Kit, who back our Concert for Kids opener Van William on his hit song “Revolution”!
The vibe is uber-relaxed and polite; this is a Bay Area “friends and family” affair. A couple hundred thousand attendees move patiently through the highly congested passageways between stages. You will feel safe and respected at all times. I will say it’s not for the claustrophobic, but the crowd is so kind and chill that if you can stake out a claim at any one stage you can just stay there all day. No matter where you land, you’ll be in for a kaleidoscope of diverse, interesting and intelligent music! Thank you, Warren. And thank you Dawn: Dawn Holiday, the mastermind architect and booker of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass since it began in 2001!
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2017 Lineup
Friday, October 6
Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands
Dry Branch Fire Squad
Billy Bragg
The Bo-Keys featuring Don Bryant and Percy Wiggins
T Bone Burnett
Conor Brings Friends for Friday featuring: Mega Bog, Jesse Harris, Big Thief, The Felice Brothers, First Aid Kit, Conor Oberst
The Sam Chase & The Untraditional
Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors
Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
Brandi Carlile
Molsky’s Mountain Drifters
Tracy Blackman
Foy Vance
Terri Hendrix with Lloyd Maines
Saturday, October 7
Reed Mathis and Electric Beethoven
Blackfoot Gypsies
The Nth Power
Midnight North
Rising Appalachia
HSB Blues Revue featuring Sugar Ray Norcia, Annie Sampson, Steve Freund, Chris Cain, Austin deLone, Ruth Davies and Tony Braunagel
Robyn Hitchcock
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn
Tim O’Brien Band
Peter Rowan Dharma Blues featuring Jack Casady
Alison Brown and the Compass Bluegrass Allstars featuring Bobby Osborne
Gillian Welch
Steve Earle & The Dukes
Sam Outlaw
Nancy & The Lambchops
Tyler Childers
Colter Wall
Henry Rollins
Willie Watson
The Go To Hell Man Clan
Buddy Miller’s Cavalcade of Stars featuring Gurf Morlix, Bill Anderson, Lillie Mae, Dan Penn, Buddy Miller with The War & Treaty
Dan Auerbach
Poncho Sanchez
Justin Townes Earle
Ozomatli
Patty Griffin
Sturgill Simpson
The Brothers Comatose
Moonalice
The Wood Brothers
Jamey Johnson
Robert Earl Keen
Hardly Strictly Silent Disco featuring Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist, Steve Fabus, Deejay Theory, Tom Thump, DJ Phleck, DJ Tobiwan, Motion Potion, U9lift
Sunday, October 8
Jade Jackson
Marco & The Polos
Sisters Morales
The Well Known Strangers
Ghost of Paul Revere
Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer
The Sons of The Soul Revivers
Hot Tuna Electric
Dave Alvin & The Guilty Ones
The Flatlanders
John Prine
Emmylou Harris
Lila Blue
The Brothers Gibb
Norbert Putnam & Friends
Jello Biafra
Ciaran Lavery
Tyler Childers
Will Durst
The Secret Sisters
Kane Welch Kaplin
Aaron Lee Tasjan
Lampedusa featuring Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Lucinda Williams
Bob Mould Band
Junior Brown
Poor Man’s Whiskey
Randy Newman
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile (and the Sea Lice)
Lucinda Williams
Jon Langford’s Four Lost Souls
Big Freedia
Ornette’s Prime Time Band Reunion featuring Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Al MacDowell, Charlie Ellerbe, Badal Roy, Denardo Coleman with Special Guests David Murray, Wallace Roney & Marc Ribot
Cheap Trick
Hardly Strictly Silent Disco featuring 4NR, Gordo Cabeza, DJ Alarm, Mophono, DJ Tyme, King Most, Motion Potion