Hardly Strictly Bluegrass announces full line-up of acts for return to Golden Gate Park

SAN FRANCISCO — Hardly Strictly Bluegrass on Tuesday announced the final additions to the full line-up of acts scheduled to perform at the end of September with Drive-By Truckers, Asleep at the Wheel and others joining the three-day fest.

The festival, which will take place from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, is built around the theme of coming “Back to the Park” after two years of virtual festivals due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers additionally provided the breakdown of who would be playing each day, though the full schedule with set times has not been released yet.

Among the other acts Hardly Strictly Bluegrass had already announced were the anticipated return of British rock icon Elvis Costello, legendary ’70s funk outfit Cymande, original Talking Head Jerry Harrison and guitar great Adrian Belew performing the classic album Remain in Light with a full band, rising country star Charley Crockett, Marcus Mumford (of Mumford and Sons fam), sacred steel guitarist DaShawn Hickman with local hero Charlie Hunter and festival mainstays Steve Earle & the Dukes, Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller.

The multi-stage dayslong festival has expanded from its beginning as a local single-day event when it was founded by investment banker and philanthropist Warren Hellman two decades ago. Hellman intended for the annual event, which is free to the public, to be a gift to San Francisco, celebrating American music.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass will be hosting its first in-person festival since 2019, with organizers expressing excitement to be back in Golden Gate Park after the hardships the pandemic brought.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass also continued philanthropy efforts for the music industry during the pandemic, with more than $4 million being distributed to the music and arts communities in the Bay Area and across the country, festival organizers said.

Esther’s Orbit Room Cultural Revival Project, Sweet Relief’s COVID-19 Fund and The Tenderloin Museum’s Sounds of the Tenderloin project received $1 million from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in 2021, event organizers said.

The 2020 digital event, “Let The Music Play On,” featured a three-hour broadcast that generated more than 1 million views. The “Come What May” festival in 2021 was also virtual, showing performances filmed in both New Orleans and San Francisco. Both digital festivals can still be viewed online.

The festival, while open to the public, will feature perimeter fencing with security screening at each entrance for safety purposes. Hard-sided coolers will not be allowed.

Event organizers encourage all attendees to be fully vaccinated and to test negative prior to the festival, with masks being encouraged whenever not eating or drinking.

More details about the festival can be found on the official HSB website.