{"id":5187,"date":"2026-07-22T21:42:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5187"},"modified":"2026-07-22T21:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:42:35","slug":"the-bay-areas-largest-music-festival-announces-lineup-of-bands-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5187","title":{"rendered":"The Bay Area’s largest music festival announces lineup of bands for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has announced its initial lineup for 2026, which runs Oct. 2-4 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

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AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Hiss Golden Messenger, Kathleen Edwards, My Morning Jacket, Old Crow Medicine Show, El Khat, Tyler Ballgame, William Tyler & Yasmin Williams, and John Craigie with The Coffis Brothers are among the acts set to perform at this free three-day festival, which routinely draws hundreds of thousands of fans and ranks as the most highly attended music festival in Northern California.<\/p>\n

Additional Hardly Strictly Bluegrass performers will be announced in the weeks to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cHardly Strictly Bluegrass has been on our radar for years because it is a gift to the people of the Bay Area \u2026 a chance for all to enjoy the ritual of live music free of charge. We\u2019re honored to get the invite this year, and we can\u2019t wait to feel the energy of such a special event,\u201d says Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket.<\/p>\n

There will also be a tribute to Steve Earle \u2014 who has performed at each edition of the much-beloved San Francisco free music festival since HSB\u2019s second year in 2002 \u2014 taking place on Oct. 1 at The Masonic in San Francisco.\u00a0 \u201cAn Evening Honoring Steve Earle\u201d will feature Buddy Miller, Elizabeth Cook, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jackson Browne, Hot Tuna, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams, Molly Tuttle, Reckless Kelly, Greg Liesz and, of course, the man of the hour himself \u2014 Steve Earle. The organizers hosted a similar tribute to festival favorite Emmylou Harris last year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe can think of no better way to bookend our silver anniversary than celebrating 25 years of Steve Earle at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass,\u201d says executive producer Sheri Sternberg. \u201cWe are so fortunate to have legacy artists like Emmylou and Steve who have embraced our annual gathering since the beginning. We wanted to recognize their efforts with concerts benefiting charities that are important to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s proceeds go to the non-profit Sweetwater Spectrum, a community that provides adults with autism or similar intellectual\/developmental disabilities with innovative, community-based, long-term housing. Our final flourish is that Buddy Miller will be with us as musical director once again, bringing his unique, special sauce to this tribute,\u201d<\/p>\n

There will also be a full schedule of \u201cOut of the Park\u201d concerts for 2026, including such acts as Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Molly Tuttle, Old Crow Medicine Show & Ismay and Hiss Golden Messenger.<\/p>\n

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Here is the lineup for the Out of the Park concerts:<\/p>\n

Molly Tuttle \u2013 Bing Concert Hall Stanford \u2013 Sep. 28<\/p>\n

AJ Lee & Blue Summit & Bandits on the Run- Sweetwater \u2013 Oct. 2<\/p>\n

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings \u2013 The Fillmore \u2013 Oct. 2<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

John Craigie & Anna Moss \u2013 GAMH \u2013 Oct. 2<\/p>\n

Tyler Ballgame \u2013 Cafe Du Nord \u2013 Oct. 2<\/p>\n

El Khat \u2013 The Freight \u2013 Oct. 3<\/p>\n

Old Crow Medicine Show & Ismay \u2013 Sweetwater \u2013 Oct. 3<\/p>\n

Kathleen Edwards \u2013 The Guild \u2013 Oct. 4<\/p>\n

Jimmie Dale at HopMonk (Novato) \u2013 Oct. 5<\/p>\n

Hiss Golden Messenger \u2013 The Little Saint (Healdsburg) \u2013 Oct. 6<\/p>\n

For more information on the festival and related shows, visit hardlystrictlybluegrass.com.<\/p>\n

Read more This anti-theft auto system makes it easier to steal cars, UC San Diego professor finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s the initial lineup for the 2026 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bay Area’s largest music festival announces lineup of bands for 2026 - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5187\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bay Area’s largest music festival announces lineup of bands for 2026 - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here's the initial lineup for the 2026 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5187\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-22T21:42:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5187#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5187\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"The Bay Area’s largest music festival announces lineup of bands for 2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-22T21:42:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5187\"},\"wordCount\":562,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5187#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/288455a20075358c9b1b43ddef38ec1a.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Things To Do\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5187#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5187\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5187\",\"name\":\"The Bay Area’s largest music festival announces lineup of bands for 2026 - 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