Live stream available if you can’t make it!
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (HSB) has shared the initial lineup for its 2026 edition in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park from Friday 2nd October to Sunday 4th October 2026.
Now in its 26th year, the free music festival will once again present an eclectic bill of top performers spanning an array of genres, including AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Hiss Golden Messenger, Kathleen Edwards, My Morning Jacket, Old Crow Medicine Show, El Khat, Tyler Ballgame, William Tyler & Yasmin Williams, and John Craigie with The Coffis Brothers. The lineup is teased with a series of exclusive medleys streaming on the official Hardly Strictly Bluegrass app and website. The first of these is live now, with additional performers to be announced soon.
“Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has been on our radar for years because it is a gift to the people of the Bay Area…a chance for all to enjoy the ritual of live music free of charge. We’re honoured to get the invite this year, and we can’t wait to feel the energy of such a special event,” said Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass will kick off its 2026 edition with a very special festival eve benefit concert honouring legendary singer and songwriter Steve Earle, who has performed at each edition of the San Francisco free music festival since HSB’s second year in 2002. The tribute is set for Thursday, 1st October at San Francisco’s Masonic Auditorium. “An Evening Honouring Steve Earle” will see Earle joined by some of his closest friends and collaborators including Buddy Miller, Elizabeth Cook, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jackson Browne, Hot Tuna, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams, Molly Tuttle, and other guests. Buddy Miller will serve as the show’s musical director, with Reckless Kelly, featuring Greg Liesz as the backing band.
“We can think of no better way to bookend our silver anniversary than celebrating 25 years of Steve Earle at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. We are so fortunate to have legacy artists like Emmylou and Steve who have embraced our annual gathering since the beginning. We wanted to recognise their efforts with concerts benefiting charities that are important to them. This year’s proceeds go to the non-profit Sweetwater Spectrum, a community that provides adults with autism or similar intellectual /developmental disabilities with innovative, community-based, long-term housing. Our final flourish is that Buddy Miller will be with us as musical director once again, bringing his unique, special sauce to this tribute,” said executive producer Sheri Sternberg.
The tradition of “Out of the Park” concerts will continue this year, once again benefiting Sweet Relief, Bay Area Musicians’ Fund. Many of the artists listed in the initial lineup will be performing nighttime shows at some of the Bay Area’s favourite venues, including Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at The Fillmore, Molly Tuttle at the Bing Concert Hall, Stanford, Old Crow Medicine Show & Ismay at Sweetwater in Mill Valley, Hiss Golden Messenger at The Little Saint (Healdsburg), and more to be announced.
Those not making the trip to San Francisco should be able to see live streaming music from several of the stages (subject to artist consent) over three days via HSB TV. One of the features of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is the artist collaborations, and here is Steve Earle being joined by Emmylou Harris on Goodbye from last year’s festival.
