Bluegrass

Brothers Comatose: Show Preview

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

R.I.P. Earl Scruggs, Banjo Legend and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Regular

Earl Scruggs, the North Carolina-born banjo legend who was a regular at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival, died at a Nashville hospital this morning, according to news reports. He was 88. Known as part of a seminal duo with guitarist and mandolin player Lester Flatt (who died ... More >>

R.I.P. Warren Hellman, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Founder and Eccentric Banjo Player

Jay BlakesbergWarren Hellman at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass​ Warren Hellman, the billionaire banjo-picker and eccentric who founded the free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival, lost his battle with leukemia on Sunday. He was 77. Hellman was a successful investment banker a beloved philant ... More >>

Sunday at Hardly Strictly: Gomez, Justin Townes Earle, and Bela Fleck Help Fuel the Good Vibes

Gomez Justin Townes Earle Zakir Hussein, Bela Fleck, and Edgar Meyer Devil Makes Three The Swanson Family Band October 2, 2010 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Better than: Smuggling vodka into Outside Lands. "This is so much better than Outside Lands!" a girl squealed Sunday after exiting a line of por ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: 10 Bands to See for Free

Gomez Justin Townes Earle Zakir Hussein, Bela Fleck, and Edgar Meyer Devil Makes Three The Swanson Family Band October 2, 2010 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Better than: Smuggling vodka into Outside Lands. "This is so much better than Outside Lands!" a girl squealed Sunday after exiting a line of por ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2011: Robert Plant, Thurston Moore, Broken Social Scene, and More

Broken Social Scene is one of more than 90 acts playing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this year.​ The lineup for this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is out, and good luck figuring out whom to call the "headliner." For the festival's 11th year, organizers have put together another insane ... More >>

Watch Billionaire Warren Hellman Play the Banjo at Slim's This Weekend

The Wronglers, with Warren Hellman on banjo.​Perhaps it's unfortunate for Warren Hellman, the wealthy San Franciscan who puts on the free, three-day Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival in Golden Gate Park every year, that the words "billionaire" and "banjo" begin with the same big, beautiful ... More >>

Warren Hellman talks about Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

The Wronglers, with Warren Hellman on banjo.​Perhaps it's unfortunate for Warren Hellman, the wealthy San Franciscan who puts on the free, three-day Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival in Golden Gate Park every year, that the words "billionaire" and "banjo" begin with the same big, beautiful ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2010: A Sneak-Peak at This Year's Lineup

​The lineup for this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival -- the free, three-day mega-bash that brings great artists of all sorts to Golden Gate Park -- hasn't yet been announced. Rumors have been swooshing through the tubes about this year's bill, with no official confirmation. But we heard ... More >>

Square Dancing Rules: SoEx Hosts a Hootenanny

Jug band The Goat Family leads a free-form dance after tonight's square dance at SoEx​In fifth grade, I dreaded the Square Dance Day. Not only did the logistics of switching partners and crossing hands to the right and walking backwards in a circle in front of thousands (exaggeration) of spectator ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Family Tree

Jug band The Goat Family leads a free-form dance after tonight's square dance at SoEx​In fifth grade, I dreaded the Square Dance Day. Not only did the logistics of switching partners and crossing hands to the right and walking backwards in a circle in front of thousands (exaggeration) of spectator ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass '09: Steve Martin, Neko Case, and more

Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy...who happens to dig bluegrass. The above video is from a performance he had last September with The Steep Canyon Rangers in that band's home state of North Carolina, with the white-haired comedian plucking away on the banjo. Martin will bring these boys and the ... More >>

The Devil Makes Three

Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy...who happens to dig bluegrass. The above video is from a performance he had last September with The Steep Canyon Rangers in that band's home state of North Carolina, with the white-haired comedian plucking away on the banjo. Martin will bring these boys and the ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Keeps Piling It On

Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy...who happens to dig bluegrass. The above video is from a performance he had last September with The Steep Canyon Rangers in that band's home state of North Carolina, with the white-haired comedian plucking away on the banjo. Martin will bring these boys and the ... More >>

Indie Rockers and Gypsy Punks Join Hippie Pickers at This Year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy...who happens to dig bluegrass. The above video is from a performance he had last September with The Steep Canyon Rangers in that band's home state of North Carolina, with the white-haired comedian plucking away on the banjo. Martin will bring these boys and the ... More >>

Carolina Chocolate Drops: A Treat from S.F.'s Bluegrass & Old-Time Fest

Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy...who happens to dig bluegrass. The above video is from a performance he had last September with The Steep Canyon Rangers in that band's home state of North Carolina, with the white-haired comedian plucking away on the banjo. Martin will bring these boys and the ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Pools Together Roots Music Enthusiasts

Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy...who happens to dig bluegrass. The above video is from a performance he had last September with The Steep Canyon Rangers in that band's home state of North Carolina, with the white-haired comedian plucking away on the banjo. Martin will bring these boys and the ... More >>

Plugged in -- ASD's music picks for Sunday, June 3

Steve Martin is a wild and crazy guy...who happens to dig bluegrass. The above video is from a performance he had last September with The Steep Canyon Rangers in that band's home state of North Carolina, with the white-haired comedian plucking away on the banjo. Martin will bring these boys and the ... More >>

Country Crossroads

The Avett Brothers keep their roots complex

Misc. Reviews

Flatt & Scruggs on DVD: Get with the OGs of bluegrass

Bluegrass Philanthropy

Warren Hellman takes S.F.'s free roots music festival into its sixth year

Bluegrass Buddies

Burning Embers bring honky-tonk to our local land's end

Freakwater

Thinking of You...

Shades of Bluegrass

Gillian Welch and Split Lip Rayfield celebrate -- and upend -- tradition at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Best Free Bluegrass

Gillian Welch and Split Lip Rayfield celebrate -- and upend -- tradition at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Dali's Folly

A Gala presentation

Wealth of Advice

A Gala presentation

Hear This

It may be "Hardly" Strictly Bluegrass, but it's free and there are big names you won't want to miss

Tim O'Brien

Traveler

Rhonda Vincent

One Step Ahead

Folk Explosion

The Waybacks strike a chord with fans of old-timey music

Stars and Stripes

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings elevate the concept of roots music

Hear This

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings proffer downtempo Americana

Walk a Crooked Mile

The Crooked Jades tread the thin line between bluegrass and old-time string bands

John Hartford

RCA Country Legends (Buddha); Gum Tree Canoe (Rounder); Hamilton Ironworks (Rounder)

Harmonic Convergence

Local folk/country group 86 creates a winsome debut album by following and escaping tradition

House Of Tudor

Stinky's Peep Show Four-Year Anniversary; The Gossip; "Live From the 215"

Digging Up Roots

How Chris Strachwitz sparked a music revolution by releasing obscure, vernacular music

Bad Livers

Blood & Mood
(Sugar Hill)

Finger-picking Good

Duck Baker explores uncharted territory with his acoustic guitar

Riff Raff

San Francisco Bluegrass Festival, Poptopia, and Requiem for Kevin Gilbert

Hear This

The Giblet Dribblers

Fingerpickin' Good

Bad Livers

Night & Day

Bad Livers

Night + Day

Bad Livers

Reviews

Bad Livers

The House of Tudor

Bad Livers

Recordings

Bad Livers

Delusions of Banjer

Bad Livers outgrow their "thrash/bluegrass" label; the countrified timbre of Richard Buckner