From Oct. 4 to Oct. 6, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass returned to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with an awe-inspiring, top-tier lineup of performers. For its 24th annual staging, the beloved Bay Area institution welcomed more than 70 renowned artists for a celebration of the vibrant diversity of American music, plotting a three-day program steeped in the tradition of bluegrass and lined with stars from a vast array of genres and styles. In keeping with the spirit of its founder, philanthropist Warren Hellman, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass continues to honor that wealth of American roots music and share it with the public completely free of charge.
Among those icons to take the stage for this year’s presentation were Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Ibibio Sound Machine, Jessica Pratt, Steve Earle, AJ Lee and Blue Summit, Dakhabraka, Wonder Women of Country, Fruition, Sleater-Kinney, Emmylou Harris, Greensky Bluegrass, Devendra Banhart, Robyn Hitchcock, The Wood Brothers, Patti Smith, Yo La Tengo, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, and the legendary soul star and activist Mavis Staples, a longtime festival favorite for the San Francisco crowd. In anticipation of her return to the event, Staples shared, “I love Hardly Strictly. It’s one of our favorite places to play in the world. I can’t wait to get back there this fall.”
Get an inside look at the festivities in the photo gallery below, courtesy of photographer Ari Cummings. For more information on Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, visit hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/
