Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

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

The Best of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: Saturday, Oct. 6

It's Red Baraat with the Saturday morning dance party This Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival definitely felt more hardly than strictly. Red Baraat kicked off the party on Saturday morning, and it didn't matter that they were a full-throttle, self-proclaimed "pluralism"-proselytizing funk band, rath ... More >>

Impromptu Demonstration Gets Out of Hand; Police Blame Protesters, Protesters Blame Police

Well, we know who didn't go to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass on Saturday. A group of 100 protesters descended upon Justin Herman Plaza that afternoon for what police are describing as an illegal march down Market Street, which ended with 20 arrests. Office Gordon Shyy tells us that these protesters wore ... More >>

Top 10 Reasons to Walk Out of Work Right Now and Go To Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Well, it's the Friday before the most event-filled weekend in San Francisco history (okay, probably not, but possibly so) -- and despite really wanting to be at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, you're still at work. That, friends, is a problem in search of a solution. We're here to help. Here are the top ... More >>

Your Guide to the WeekEnd of the World

The Transitpocalypse is upon us, and we have all prepared as much as we possibly can. Once the chaos descends, though, you'll want to have your resources all near at hand, whether they be food, apps, directions, mind-altering substances, or bingo.Here, then, we present all of SF Weekly's coverage of ... More >>

5 Essential Edibles for Your Hardly Strictly Experience

If you're hoofing out to Hellman Hollow for San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, I have some edible suggestions designed to avoid further burdening your already-bulging backpack. Because you're going to need that space for the chardonnay, chevre, and ciabatta that makes such great acc ... More >>

The Late Warren Hellman's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Wisdom

This year will be the first Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival missing the presence of Warren Hellman, the late billionaire investment banker and banjo aficionado who founded it. Hellman passed away of complications from leukemia last December, at the age of 77. Back in 2010, just prior to Hardly ... More >>

Here's How to Navigate the Transitpocalypse Coming This Weekend

San Francisco is expecting throngs of people to descend on the city this weekend, and when we say throngs, we mean tens of thousands of human beings milling around our compact city.While Mayor Ed Lee says there's no need to worry about traffic jams, we still think you have good reason to doubt him o ... More >>

The Traffic For Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Is Going to Be Insane: A Warning

Everyone, don't even think of bringing your motor-powered metal sled to San Francisco this weekend for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. Just please don't. Because not only is Hardly Strictly going to draw untold thousands of people to Golden Gate Park, but there are about nine major events ha ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2012: The Full, Final Lineup Is Gigantic

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is the music festival that just won't stop growing. We've posted pieces of the lineup as they've become public -- and thought we'd seen most of it -- but it turns out there have been even more artists added. This week, though, organizers promise that they've finally release ... More >>

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

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

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

Warren Hellman Tribute Concert Planned for Feb. 19 at Ocean Beach

Some weeks ago, we told you about a concert planned to honor the memory of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass founder Warren Hellman, who passed away in December. The show will feature performances by Emmylou Harris, Robert Earl Keen, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle, and others. And now, a location for the event ... More >>

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

Warren Hellman Tribute Concert Will Feature Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch, and More

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass founder Warren Hellman passed away at the end of last year, but the sprawling free music festival he started will continue. And on Feb. 19, Hellman's family and the festival's organizers will hold a sort of mini-Hardly Strictly as a tribute to Hellman. The bill -- which we' ... More >>

One Last Spin: A Look Back at the Year in Bay Area Music

Warren Hellman, Founder of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, Dies

RIP Warren Hellman ​The indelible Warren Hellman, founder of the popular Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival and the Bay Citizen, has died. His family told reporters that the 77-year-old San Francisco icon died Sunday from complications of leukemia. Public services are planned for Wednesday at Cong ... 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 >>

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

Saturday at Hardly Strictly: Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson Become the Great HSB Unifiers

Merle Haggard & Kris Kristofferson A.A. Bondy Robyn Hitchcock Hugh Laurie October 1, 2011 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Better than: Seeing Neil Young after he released Greendale, that's for sure. A man dressed in an official Hardly Strictly shirt walks out to say that the biggest set of the day will ... More >>

Robyn Hitchcock Looks Back on Looking Back on San Francisco

Nathan Gallagher​ This Saturday, Robyn Hitchcock plays a solo acoustic set at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. (Look for him at 12:25 p.m. on the Rooster Stage.) Since 1976, Hitchcock has been writing and performing top-flight psychedelic pop, first with the Soft Boys and then as a solo artist of ... More >>

10 Bands You Should See at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and More

From SF Weekly's latest print music section: ​ Your Guide to Hardly Strictly: For its 11th year, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass got even bigger, adding a full Friday lineup and pushing the usual pre-weekend festivities back to Thursday. That means you'll face an even more difficult time deciding wh ... More >>

Suzanne Took Us Down

Set Times for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Treasure Island Music Festival Are Out Now

The crowd at Hardly Strictly​ Hey everyone, it's set-time-o'-clock: The point at which you can start planning which acts you'll see (along with every other mobile human on the planet) at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (Sept. 30 to Oct. 2) and Treasure Island Music Festival (Oct. 15 and 16). Often ... 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 >>

R.I.P. Hazel Dickens, American Legend, Feminist Folk Singer, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Fixture

Jay BlakesbergHazel Dickens with Dolly Parton and Warren Hellman​Hazel Dickens, a bluegrass singer who played every Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival since the free event began in 2001, died today at age 75.Described by the Washington Post as "a living legend of American music," Dickens use ... More >>

Turns Out Songbirds Can't Fly: Joan Baez Falls Out of A Treehouse

Sleeping in trees is nice (yes, we've tried it!); falling out of them is not. Joan Baez discovered that songbirds can't fly earlier this week, when she fell 20 feet out of a treehouse at her Woodside (Peninsula) home, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

You Saw It Here First: Pole-Climbing Bike Harness to Solve S.F. Bicycle Parking Problems

Easy parking is, more often than not, one of the advantages of using a bicycle as your primary form of transportation. But that's not always the case. San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival has become notorious for its lack of adequate bike parking. Even the office buildings of SOMA, fil ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Day 1: This Is About Coming Together

​Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Day 1Oct. 2, 2010 @ Golden Gate ParkBetter than: chasing a fox out the hen house.  San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
festival sings America. The annual outdoor concert is about coming together:
scores of rootsy musicians, a half-million or more conc ... More >>

Warren Hellman's Hebrew Jacket Explained

Jim HerdDefinitely not last year's model...​When Elvis Costello's in town, people can be forgiven for missing some peripheral details and focusing on the artist formerly known as Declan McManus. That being said, it was hard to miss Hardly Strictly Bluegrass impresario Warren Hellman's Semitic Serg ... More >>

So What Did Warren Hellman's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Jacket Say?

Jim HerdIt ain't last year's model...​Maybe you saw the rather wild, sequined jacket that the free-music-festival-wearing Warren Hellman was wearing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this weekend.Maybe you thought it looked cool, and wondered what exactly the Hebrew writing on the back meant.Maybe you' ... More >>

Harldly Strictly Bluegrass, AIDS Wolf, World Veg Fest, Castro Street Fair and More

Autumn De WildeJenny and Johnny are among 80 acts at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2010​Hardly Strictly is here! But before you blow your figurative load over the biggest free concert of the year, keep in mind that there are plenty of other fun and cheap events in the city this weekend. Here's our lis ... More >>

Missing From this Year's Bluegrass Festival: Hundreds of Bikes Hanging From Trees

This year, no pick-your-own bike farm ​The San Francisco Department of Recreation and Parks has taken steps to prevent a repeat of one of the most distinctive features of the 2009 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival: Tree branches festooned with hundreds and hundreds of bicycles left by concertgoin ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: 10 Bands You Should Not Miss

​San Francisco's annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure novel. You could pick any number of themes to select the acts you want to see -- old punk pioneers, roots music up-and-comers, etc.-- and follow one through all three day's lineups. You coul ... More >>

Not Really Only Punk

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 >>

Look At Me, I'm As Helpless As a ... Doggie Up a Tree?

Sam Hamady​This tree, which offered a view of the Star Stage at last weekend's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, was usually stocked with hippies. But at one point it was occupied by a nimble Border Collie (we think.) While the dog seemed not at all freaked out, prancing around the branch and th ... More >>

10 Things To Do This Weekend For Under $10

Caroliner @ the Lab (Sat. and Sun.)​Hardly Strictly Bluegrass @ Golden Gate Park (Fri.-Sun.)Wait, what? Steve Martin and MC Hammer and Neko Case and Steve Earle? Yeah, it's the city's biggest free hootenanny with a cross section of roots music fans. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass kicks off today at 10: ... More >>

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Family Tree

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 >>

Another Planet/Superfly Will Host Outside Lands V.2

Photo by Christopher VictorioBack in December there was something of a bureaucratic struggle over hosting a big festival in Golden Gate Park as Another Planet (and their promotion partner Superfly) attempted to start work on year two of Outside Lands. The city put the promoters through a big to-do ( ... More >>

Gogol Bordello Adds Post-HSBF Benefit Show at Slim's

IAMINDUST Fest Brings Experimental Sounds to Oakland

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Keeps Piling It On

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

Bonds' Steroids Satire Prompts Laughs, Snarls: New Stories Published

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Pools Together Roots Music Enthusiasts

Bluegrass Philanthropy

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

Shades of Bluegrass

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