Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

This last weekend there was a free concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. The primary theme was bluegrass (perhaps not my all time favorite music genre), but as the name of the event suggests it was not limited to that and the list of performers was across the board (MC Hammer appeared on Friday afternoon – hardly strictly bluegrass at all).

Emmylou Harris

I went down primarily to see Elvis Costello on the Sunday afternoon, but, due to my late start, the horrible traffic in the city and the dearth of parking near the event, I missed Elvis completely. Nevertheless, I did eventually find a parking spot to squeeze into and thankfully I had my bike with me to speed my way over to the park in time to see The Waybacks, Loudon Wainwright, Iris Dement, and Emmylou Harris. I was well satisfied. Actually The Waybacks were the most enjoyable in that open-air environment. I had heard bits of them before but they really did a great set and when they launched into the Grateful Dead’s Saint Stephen it was like the 60’s all over again except with old people (there was even lots of fragrant smoke wafting around and lots of people selling brownies and cookies).

I guess I had never been aware of this concert series before, but this was its 8th year. It is put on by the billionaire financier Warren Hellman (a kind of San Francisco Warren Buffet) who loves music and who has the means to put on a really good concert - for free. He also happens to be a banjo picker too (he played along with Emmylou Harris on one song.

Iris Dement at the Piano