Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival offers variety for San Francisco music lovers

SAN FRANCISCO - The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is underway in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

For the 24th year, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival kicked off in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. As fans of all ages and backgrounds began streaming in to watch some of their favorite musicians live, Jessica Pratt kicked off the festival. 

"Well, she's from San Francisco," said Jaclyn Hersh. "So, she's playing in her hometown. She has like a super sultry, moody vibe to her."

"Oh, my gosh, who am I not looking forward to?" asked Tay Ducey. "Yo Lo Tengo, Sleater-Kinny. We've got Patti Smith. Oh my gosh, she brought down the park the last time she played."

"I want to see AJ Lee and Blue Summit," said Patti Black. "They're a young bluegrass band out of the Santa Cruz area and they are amazing."

Concert organizers say in addition to the headliners, the draw for music lovers is the chance to discover their next favorite artist. "I love it that people are motivated to come because of big well-known artists like this year, some of them are Patti Smith, Sleater-Kinney, Emmylou Harris as you mentioned, Steve Earle, Greensky Bluegrass, I could go on and on with those bigger names," said curator of music for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Chris Porter. "But so much of the essence is music discovery."

Organizers say keeping the event free means it can draw all music fans together. "To have a free event like this that brings so many different types of people together of all different ages and all different demographics, that to me is really beautiful," said music fan Lauren Kennedy.

This year in a city known for its fog, festival goers will have to be prepared for warm temperatures over the weekend. "Friday not too bad, but we're supposed to get hotter weather," said Porter. "We saw some really crazy hot weather earlier this week, right? Keep hydrated, it sounds simple, but keep hydrated. We have hydration stations all over the grounds."

Festival goers said they were prepared to enjoy the show and stay cool. "A lot of water, stay hydrated," said Norma Unfug. "You know, you can't put anything up like umbrellas so we have hats and sunblock and provisions."

The festival goes until 7 p.m. tonight and gets underway again tomorrow and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

As is the tradition, the legendary Emmylou Harris is set to close out the show on Sunday evening from the Banjo Stage. 

As in years past, parking is expected to be a challenge, so they're advising festival goers to use public transit to get to and from the shows.