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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026 Lineup
Three free days in Golden Gate Park: six stages of bluegrass, country, folk and soul, endowed in perpetuity by the man who started it.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is expected back October 2027 (dates aren't announced yet). Until then, here's the full 2026 lineup and the acts you would have loved.
Find the acts you'll love at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
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About Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has been free since 2001, and it stays free because founder Warren Hellman endowed it before he died. No tickets, no wristbands, no upsell. Three days across six stages at the west end of Golden Gate Park, running October 2–4 in 2026.
The 2026 bill reads roots music broadly. My Morning Jacket, Emmylou Harris, Mavis Staples, Los Lobos, Robert Plant and Gillian Welch & David Rawlings anchor the three days, with Punch Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Rilo Kiley, Steve Earle, Molly Tuttle, Marty Stuart and Hot Tuna behind them. Toward the edges it gets stranger, and better: Yemeni music played on instruments built from scrap by El Khat, Salinas Valley cumbia from ¿Qiensave?, an Iraqi oud recital from Rahim Alhaj, a queer line dancing party, and a storyteller with no band at all.
Expect americana, folk, country and bluegrass across 71 acts.
At a glance
- Dates
- –Friday to Sunday, three days
- Where
- Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
- Lineup
- 71 acts
- Tickets
- Free
- Website
- Official site
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026 lineup & schedule: all 71 acts
Search it, filter by day, stage or genre.Browse all 71 acts
Search it, filter by day, stage or genre.
Jim James's reverb-drenched howl over southern rock that keeps drifting into something cosmic and unhurried, with jam-scene trust earned two hours at a time.
Psych-rockSouthern rock
Gospel and freedom song royalty out of Chicago, and still the most reassuring voice in American music.
SoulGospel
Two voices and two guitars, writing songs that sound a hundred years old and were finished last year.
AmericanaFolk
Jenny Lewis's early-2000s indie band, with sharp, sardonic songwriting that a whole generation grew up inside, and 'Portions for Foxes' still perfect.
Indie rockAlternative country
Punch Brothers
Five string players treating bluegrass instrumentation as a chamber ensemble, led by the most restless mandolinist alive.
BluegrassProgressive-bluegrass
Led Zeppelin's singer in his rootsy later life, trading the stadium howl for hushed folk, blues and gospel reworkings with a small acoustic band.
Folk rockAmericanaBlues rock
The voice that carried Gram Parsons's idea of country music into every decade since, and the finest curator of other people's songs.
CountryAmericana
A mandolin virtuoso since childhood, now writing songs that justify the technique, with a bluegrass pedigree stretched into something personal.
BluegrassNewgrass
Todd Snider Rules!
Nashville's great shaggy storyteller, half standup comic, whose between song rambles sometimes outlast the songs.
FolkAmericana
Country music's great custodian, rhinestones and a Telecaster, fronting one of the sharpest bands anyone has put on a stage.
CountryHonky-tonk
Two-time IBMA guitar player of the year, with flatpicking virtuosity fronting new-school bluegrass.
BluegrassIndieFolkAmericana
Lukas Nelson
Willie's son with a weathered tenor of his own, writing country rock that earns the Neil Young comparisons on guitar.
Country-rockAmericana
Kathleen Edwards
The Ottawa songwriter who quit music to run a coffee shop and came back sharper, plainspoken about the wreckage.
AmericanaAlt-country
Nashville songwriter with a glam streak and a Grammy nomination for American Roots Song; power-pop hooks and dry, self-aware lyrics dressed up in East Nashville sequins.
AmericanaIndieFolk-rock
A banjo player who arrived by way of jazz and a finance career, running a record label by day and rewriting what five strings do by night.
BluegrassNewgrass
Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady playing the country blues they were playing before Jefferson Airplane, and kept playing after.
BluesFolk-rock
Buddy Miller
Nashville's most requested sideman and producer, with a cracked voice and a guitar tone nobody has managed to copy.
AmericanaCountry
Steve Earle & The Hardly Strictly Dukes
Three chords and a hard opinion, the Texas songwriter who outlived his own legend and kept writing through it.
AmericanaCountry-rock
'Wagon Wheel' originators and old-time revivalists, a string band that plays with punk-rock urgency.
AmericanaOld-time
Tift Merritt
A North Carolina songwriter with a soul singer's phrasing, writing about staying put and about leaving.
AmericanaCountry-soul
Yasmin Williams & William Tyler
Two instrumental guitarists meeting in the middle, one tapping a lap-held harp guitar and the other bending Nashville drone.
FingerstyleInstrumental
The internet's protest-folk bard writes a new topical song every week, with Dylan-grade wit aimed at whatever the news cycle just did.
FolkProtest
A Tribute to Joe Ely with The Flatlanders and Friends
Lubbock's Flatlanders and guests saluting Joe Ely, the West Texas songbook played by the people who wrote it.
CountryAmericana
The Record Company
A Los Angeles trio playing stripped blues rock on borrowed gear, built for rooms with low ceilings.
Blues-rockRock
MC Taylor's North Carolina band, gospel-shaped folk rock about faith, doubt and getting through the week.
AmericanaFolk-rock
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams
A husband and wife duo out of Woodstock, Dylan's old bandleader and a singer who can hold a room with one line.
AmericanaFolk
Shawn Camp
A songwriter's songwriter with a fiddle, whose cuts pay other people's mortgages all over Nashville.
CountryBluegrass
Big-hearted showman-rock: a bar-band Springsteen for the group chat era, played with total sincerity, showmanship as its own kind of honesty.
Indie rock
Meels
Singer/songwriter
The Crooked Jades
San Francisco string band digging beneath bluegrass into old-time, banjos tuned low and the arrangements left haunted.
Old-timeString-band
Reckless Kelly
Idaho brothers who became an Austin institution, red dirt country with rock guitars and no Nashville gloss.
Country-rockRed-dirt
Mama's Broke
Two Canadians harmonizing in close, sour intervals, folk songs that sound dug up rather than written.
FolkOld-time
Wreckless Strangers
Blues
Stella Heath Quartet
Stacey Earle
Small, plainspoken folk songs sung beside her husband Mark Stuart, quieter by choice than the family name suggests.
FolkAmericana
Alex Amen
Houston-born songwriter, raised on jazz piano, who started out in an Anaheim commune with the psych-folk band American Slang before going solo.
Folk
The Crosby Collective
SF Porchfest
Fantastic Cat
Four New York songwriters who each front their own band, swapping lead vocals and refusing to take any of it seriously.
AmericanaCountry-rock
Sweet Sally
Country
A duo pairing the Wood & Wire frontman with the Greencards mandolinist, two Texas-connected pickers trading songs in a stripped-back acoustic setting.
Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands
A California bluegrass institution, fiddle and a high clear voice, who taught half the Bay Area's pickers along the way.
BluegrassAmericana
Moonalice
A Bay Area jam band assembled from veterans of the psychedelic era, with its own poster art tradition attached.
JamPsych-rock
Anna Moss
Pop
Martha Scanlan & Jon Neufeld
A Montana songwriter and a Portland guitarist, spare old-time songs about land, weather and staying put.
Old-timeFolk
The Deslondes
New Orleans five piece trading lead vocals around, country and soul and swamp pop rubbed together until they blur.
Country-soulAmericana
Brooklyn trio that met busking in the subway: cello, guitar, accordion and found percussion under three-part harmonies, with an NPR Tiny Desk Contest nod for Love in the Underground.
FolkIndie-popBluegrass
Ismay
Avery Hellman writing hushed, searching folk on a Sonoma County ranch, songs that circle rather than resolve.
FolkAmericana
Elizabeth Cook
A honky-tonk voice out of rural Florida and a wit sharpened on satellite radio, equally at home telling the joke or singing the hurt.
CountryHonky-tonk
California bluegrass around a mandolinist who has been winning contests since childhood, with tight harmony and West Coast looseness.
Country
Dug
Irish-American folk duo of Lorkin O'Reilly and Jonny Pickett, joining traditional Irish folk with American old-time banjo on 'Have At It!'
FolkOld-time
Scuff: Queer Line Dancing
John Craigie
A Portland folk singer whose live records are half songs and half standup, and the crowd is in on all of it.
FolkAmericana
Dry Branch Fire Squad
Ron Thomason's long-running traditional outfit, mountain gospel and old-time bluegrass delivered around a comic monologue.
BluegrassOld-time
Kam Franklin
The voice of Houston's The Suffers, Gulf Coast soul with a horn section at her back.
SoulR&B
Grace Cummings
An Australian voice like a storm front, singing folk rock that sits closer to theatre than to comfort.
Folk-rockPsych-folk
Joel Ben Izzy
Yemeni music rebuilt on instruments made from scrap metal and junk, played loud and deliberately unsteady.
YemeniExperimental
Steve Poltz
A folk singer with no off switch, co-writer of 'You Were Meant for Me' and a set that never runs the same way twice.
FolkAmericana
Dean Johnson
A Seattle songwriter with a low, unhurried baritone and songs that take their time getting anywhere.
FolkCountry
Miko Marks
A Black country singer Nashville turned away twice, back on her own terms and working out of the Bay Area.
CountryAmericana
Marco and the Polos
Singer/songwriter
Langford, Hogan & Timms
Jon Langford and Sally Timms of The Mekons in a songwriters' round, English punk instincts applied to country music.
Alt-countryPunk
¿Qiensave?
Salinas Valley cumbia from brothers raised around the fields, Spanish language dance music with a California accent.
CumbiaLatin
Darrell Scott String Band
A Nashville songwriter with a shelf of other people's hits, leading a string band back through his own catalog.
BluegrassAmericana
Willy Tea Taylor
A Central Valley cowboy with a four string tenor guitar, telling long stories about small towns.
FolkCountry
Cristina Vane
Slide guitar and clawhammer banjo from a songwriter raised between Italy and France, now working out of Nashville.
BluesOld-time
Rahim Alhaj
An Iraqi oud master exiled to New Mexico, composing pieces that carry the news from home.
OudWorld
Theo Lawrence
A Frenchman writing countrypolitan songs in English, pedal steel and all, and getting away with it completely.
CountryCountry-soul
The Third Mind
Dave Alvin's improvising psych outfit, taking sixties folk rock apart in the studio with the tape left running.
Psych-rockImprov
The headliners
My Morning Jacket · Jim James's reverb-drenched howl over southern rock that keeps drifting into something cosmic and unhurried, with jam-scene trust earned two hours at a time. Reverb, patience and a singer who can fill a meadow without trying.
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings · Two voices and two guitars, writing songs that sound a hundred years old and were finished last year.
Mavis Staples · Gospel and freedom song royalty out of Chicago, and still the most reassuring voice in American music. Gospel and the civil rights movement, still delivered firsthand.
Emmylou Harris · The voice that carried Gram Parsons's idea of country music into every decade since, and the finest curator of other people's songs. The keeper of the flame, on a stage that exists because of people like her.
Rilo Kiley · Jenny Lewis's early-2000s indie band, with sharp, sardonic songwriting that a whole generation grew up inside, and 'Portions for Foxes' still perfect.
Robert Plant · Led Zeppelin's singer in his rootsy later life, trading the stadium howl for hushed folk, blues and gospel reworkings with a small acoustic band. A rock singer who spent his later decades learning to sing quietly. His is the last set on Towers of Gold on Sunday.
Up-and-comers to catch early
Jesse Welles · The topical songwriter who built an audience one phone-filmed verse at a time.
The lineup by day
Friday lineup (October 2)
Los Lobos, My Morning Jacket, Lukas Nelson, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull + 11 more
Friday set times (17 sets)
- Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams · Banjo Stage
- Shawn Camp · Swan Stage
- Tyler Ballgame · Towers of Gold Stage
- The Crooked Jades · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Meels · Arrow Stage
- Sierra Hull · Swan Stage
- Reckless Kelly · Banjo Stage
- Todd Snider Rules! · Towers of Gold Stage
- Mama's Broke · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Wreckless Strangers · Arrow Stage
- Los Lobos · Swan Stage
- Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives · Banjo Stage
- My Morning Jacket · Towers of Gold Stage
- Stella Heath Quartet · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Stacey Earle · Arrow Stage
- Molly Tuttle · Banjo Stage
- Lukas Nelson · Swan Stage
Saturday lineup (October 3)
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Mavis Staples, Rilo Kiley, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Alison Brown, Buddy Miller + 22 more
Saturday set times (28 sets)
- Alex Amen · Rooster Stage
- The Crosby Collective · Swan Stage
- SF Porchfest · Arrow Stage
- Fantastic Cat · Towers of Gold Stage
- Sweet Sally · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Tony Kamel & Kym Warner · Rooster Stage
- Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands · Banjo Stage
- Moonalice · Swan Stage
- Kathleen Edwards · Rooster Stage
- Aaron Lee Tasjan · Towers of Gold Stage
- Anna Moss · Arrow Stage
- Martha Scanlan & Jon Neufeld · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Alison Brown · Swan Stage
- The Deslondes · Rooster Stage
- Mavis Staples · Banjo Stage
- Hot Tuna Acoustic · Towers of Gold Stage
- Bandits on the Run · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Ismay · Arrow Stage
- Elizabeth Cook · Rooster Stage
- Gillian Welch & David Rawlings · Banjo Stage
- AJ Lee & Blue Summit · Swan Stage
- Buddy Miller · Rooster Stage
- Rilo Kiley · Towers of Gold Stage
- Dug · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Scuff: Queer Line Dancing · Arrow Stage
- Steve Earle & The Hardly Strictly Dukes · Banjo Stage
- Old Crow Medicine Show · Swan Stage
- John Craigie · Rooster Stage
Sunday lineup (October 4)
Emmylou Harris, Punch Brothers, Robert Plant, A Tribute to Joe Ely with The Flatlanders and Friends, Hiss Golden Messenger, Jesse Welles + 20 more
Sunday set times (26 sets)
- Dry Branch Fire Squad · Banjo Stage
- Kam Franklin · Rooster Stage
- Grace Cummings · Towers of Gold Stage
- Joel Ben Izzy · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- El Khat · Arrow Stage
- Steve Poltz · Swan Stage
- Dean Johnson · Rooster Stage
- Miko Marks · Banjo Stage
- Tift Merritt · Towers of Gold Stage
- Yasmin Williams & William Tyler · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Marco and the Polos · Arrow Stage
- Langford, Hogan & Timms · Swan Stage
- Darrell Scott String Band · Rooster Stage
- ¿Qiensave? · Banjo Stage
- Jesse Welles · Towers of Gold Stage
- Willy Tea Taylor · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Cristina Vane · Arrow Stage
- A Tribute to Joe Ely with The Flatlanders and Friends · Banjo Stage
- The Record Company · Swan Stage
- Punch Brothers · Rooster Stage
- Robert Plant · Towers of Gold Stage
- Rahim Alhaj · Horseshoe Hill Stage
- Theo Lawrence · Arrow Stage
- Hiss Golden Messenger · Rooster Stage
- Emmylou Harris · Banjo Stage
- The Third Mind · Swan Stage
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026 lineup FAQ
When is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026?
October 2–4, 2026 (Friday through Sunday).
How much does Hardly Strictly Bluegrass cost?
Nothing. It has been free to the public since 2001, endowed by founder Warren Hellman so that it stays that way.
Where is it held?
At the west end of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, across six stages spread through Hellman Hollow, Marx Meadow and Lindley Meadow.
Does Hardly Strictly Bluegrass have headliners?
Not officially. The festival prints its lineup alphabetically within each day and bills nobody above anyone else. The largest draws in 2026 are My Morning Jacket, Emmylou Harris, Mavis Staples, Robert Plant, Los Lobos and Gillian Welch & David Rawlings.
Have set times been announced?
Yes. The festival posted the full schedule on September 22, 2026: 71 sets across six stages, each with a start and end time, and every one is on this page. Alison Krauss withdrew the same week; Rilo Kiley took her Saturday slot.
How many acts are playing in 2026?
71 across the three days.
How do I find the acts I'd like?
Type a few artists you love into the finder at the top of this page. It matches them against this lineup and explains each pick.
When is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2027?
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is expected back in October 2027; the festival has not announced the 2027 dates yet. The 2026 lineup stays on this page until it does.
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