FEATURES
MONITOR OCTOBER 8, 2015
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Emmylou Harris headlined the Banjo Stage with Rodney Crowell on Sunday, the last day of the three-day free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Photos and story by Manika Casterline // Music correspondent
Above: Fantastic Negrito is arguably Oakland’s current “it artist” since he won the opportunity to perform at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert earlier this year after submitting his original track, “Lost in a Crowd.”
While Outside Lands is the preeminent festival held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a different affair with an audience all its own. HSB over its 15 years can boast of staging not just legendary country acts, but also serving as an outlet to showcase artists outside the genre. This year’s crop of performers include Conor
Oberst of Bright Eyes, Celtic punk band Flogging Molly and bluesy Fantastic Negrito, which was slated to play Outside Lands in August. Unlike OSL, HSB is a true music festival of the people and offers three free days of music. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is just simply that: hardly strictly bluegrass. It redefines festival stereotypes to be truly inclusive of what makes the Bay Area so diverse.
Above: Duo Mandolin Orange, made up of Emily Franz and Andrew Marlin from North Carolina, released its debut album in 2010 and has penned a song called “Rounder” about the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Left and center: Chicano Batman is a four-piece band from Los Angeles that defines musical influences as from 1960s Tropicala, samba, psychedelia and soul jam with a pinch of surf-rock cumbia. Right: Vince Gill took the stage with The Blind Boys Of Alabama and The Time Jumpers because one of the acts canceled due to illness.