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Hardly Strictly Announces Final Lineup with Patti Smith, Lucinda Williams

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Patti Smith performs during the New York premiere of 'mother!' at Radio City Music Hall on September 13, 2017 in New York, New York.
Patti Smith performs during the New York premiere of 'mother!' at Radio City Music Hall on Sept. 13, 2017 in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

Update, Sept. 10, 2024:

Hardly Strictly announced the final additions to its lineup today. “Punk poet laureate” Patti Smith, Americana singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams and Songs From a Gravel Road (Kelly Willis, Chuck Prophet, Ismay and Steve Earle) are among the two dozen-plus new acts joining the bill. The festival brings bluegrass, blues, country, indie rock and more to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Oct. 4–6. Its daily lineups are as follows.

Friday, Oct. 4:
Cat Power Sings Dylan ’66
Charlie Overbey
Devendra Banhart
Glen Hansard
Ibibio Sound Machine
Jessica Pratt
Lindsay Lou
Matt the Electrician
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
Sean McConnell
Sgt. Splendor
Sleater-Kinney
Songs from a Gravel Road: Kelly Willis, Chuck Prophet, Ismay & Steve Earle
The Milk Carton Kids
Viv & Riley
Wonder Women of Country

Saturday, Oct. 5:
Alison Brown
Buddy Miller’s Cavalcade of Stars: The Red Dirt Boys, Jobi Riccio, Teddy Thompson, Dom, Flemons, Carlene Carter, & Buddy Miller
Cunningham Bird
Dave Alvin
Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Guilty Ones
Dry Branch Fire Squad
Fruition
Greensky Bluegrass
Haley Heynderickx
Jackie Greene & Anders Osborne
John Cooper Clarke
Jon Langford & The Far Forlorn
Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands
Levitation Room
Marco and The Polos
Mavis Staples
Moonalice
Nigel Wearne & The Spectres
Oakland Rising featuring Melodious & Friends
Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Robyn Hitchcock
Sam Reider and The Human Hands
Steve Earle featuring Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
Willi Carlisle

Sunday, Oct. 6:
Abby Posner
AJ Lee & Blue Summit
Alice Gerrard
Alisa Amador
Aoife O’Donovan with Hawktail and The San Francisco Girls Chorus
Bobby Rush
Brandy Clark
Big Star Quintet’s “Radio City” 50th Anniversary
Cedric Burnside
Chaparalle
DakhaBrakha
Combo Tezeta
Emmylou Harris
James Hunter
Jon Muq
Patti Smith
Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam
Miko Marks
Raining Chansaws
Rambler Jack Elliott
Songwriter Circle featuring Peter Case, Carsie Blanton, Teddy Thompson and Melissa Carper
The Bones of J.R. Jones
The Infamous Stringdusters
The Wood Brothers
Ustad Noor Bakhsh
Wreckless Strangers
Yo La Tengo

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Update, Aug. 21, 2024:

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass announced a third update to the lineup for the annual, free festival coming to Golden Gate Park Oct. 4–6. Joining rock heavy-hitters Sleater-Kinney is soul, R&B and gospel powerhouse Mavis Staples, as well as Cat Power, who will perform a Bob Dylan tribute set in homage to his famed 1966 “Royal Albert Hall” concert.

Psychedelic cumbia band Combo Tezeta, folk singer-songwriter Jessica Pratt, Hardly Strictly mainstay Steve Earle, Cunningham Bird, Wonder Women of Country, Matt the Electrician, John Cooper Clarke, Carlene Carter and Wreckless Strangers have also been added to the bill.

Update, Aug. 7, 2024:

Sleater-Kinney will perform at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. The concert, now in its 24th year, announced new additions to its lineup today.

The influential group — whose guitarist, Carrie Brownstein, has another claim to fame as the co-creator of Portlandia — emerged from the riot grrrl scene of the ’90s in Olympia, Washington and went on to become a force of indie rock in the 2000s. The band is still going strong in 2024 with their new album, Little Rope, full of punchy grooves that invite listeners to dance and mosh out grief and other heavy emotions.

Venezuelan American singer Devendra Banhart also joins Hardly Strictly this year. He began his career busking on the streets of the Castro after dropping out of the San Francisco Art Institute, and became a star of the freak-folk movement of the aughts.

The 2024 lineup also offers a few standout international acts. London’s Ibibio Sound Machine will bring the dance party with their high-energy electronic pop, which draws heavily from West African music. And Kyiv’s Dakhabrakha promises to mesmerize with an experimental sound that builds upon Ukrainian folk music to create something completely new and surreal.

The lineup also features AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Emmylou Harris, Sean McConnell, Levitation Room, Jobi Riccio and Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam. More artists will be announced as the festival approaches.

Original story, July 24, 2024:

San Francisco is on a hot streak of free concerts this summer, but Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was always ahead of the curve. The annual festival has brought admission-free live music to Golden Gate Park every October for the past 24 years, and it just announced the first phase of the lineup for this year’s event, Oct. 4–6.

The intergenerational lineup of roots musicians ranges from millennials to nonagenarians. Expect foot-stomping Americana from Greensky Bluegrass; power pop band Big Star celebrating the 50th anniversary of their influential album Radio City; original bluesman and 2024 Grammy winner Bobby Rush; harmonizing folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Alice Gerrard; folk bands The Wood Brothers and Fruition; English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock; introspective lyricist Haley Heynderickx; folk-meets-art pop singer The Bones of J.R. Jones; and Glen Hansard, who’s currently on a sold-out tour with Pearl Jam.

Hardly Strictly will announce even more artists in the coming weeks.

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