Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Last updated

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass logo.png
Hardly Strictly Crowd.jpg
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in 2015
Genre Bluegrass music
DatesFirst weekend of October (currently)
Location(s) Golden Gate Park
(San Francisco, California, U.S.)
Coordinates 37°46′11″N122°29′02″W / 37.7698°N 122.483848°W / 37.7698; -122.483848
Years active2001–present
Founded by Warren Hellman
Attendance750,000+ (over 3 days)
Website hardlystrictlybluegrass.com

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (HSB), originally Strictly Bluegrass, is an annual free and non-commercial music festival held the first weekend of October in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. Conceived and subsidized by San Francisco venture capitalist Warren Hellman, the festival has been held every year since the first event in 2001.

Contents

From its outset, the festival has been subsidized by Hellman. Various corporations have offered to sponsor the event over the years, but Hellman always turned them down, saying in an interview, "I want to keep it entirely free and noncommercial". [1] For some performers, the unique fact that the event is unsponsored is very important to character. In an interview with Hellman, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show said that part of what keeps the event focused on the music and the community is Warren's decision to ensure it is not "consumption driven" and the audience is not "bombarded with signage". [2]

Originally Hellman intended only to invite bluegrass musicians. But soon artists from other genres were invited to the event, and in 2004 the word "Hardly" was added to reflect its expanded scope. [3] The festival draws very large crowds, nearly equal in number to the entire population of San Francisco. In 2011, the festival drew an estimated 750,000 people over the course of the three-day event. [4] [5]

History

Hellman first mentioned his dream of holding a festival for bluegrass music in the park to Jonathan Nelson in 2001. Nelson had worked for Bill Graham Presents, and introduced Hellman to booking agent and executive producer Dawn Holliday, and production manager Sheri Sternberg at a lunch. Holliday and Sternberg agreed to help and would continue to produce the festival, respectively, each year thereafter. [6]

From the start, Hellman most wanted Hazel Dickens to perform at the festival but Dickens, who was known for political songs about workers' strikes, was wary of performing because of Hellman's wealth and background. She later agreed, and went on to perform at the festival every year from 2001 until her death in April 2011. [6] The 2011 festival was dedicated to the memory of Dickens, a personal friend of Hellman, who died five months earlier.

The festival name and scope was changed when, at the very first festival in 2001, Emmylou Harris played with her not-strictly-bluegrass band. Hellman was a fan of her bluegrass sound under the band name Nash Ramblers, but at the time she was touring as Spyboy. She played the festival as Spyboy, which had a New Orleans style rhythm section. [7] Hellman did not complain, and "Hardly" was eventually added to the name of the festival in 2004. [3] Before her set in 2009, Emmylou Harris was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music by the president of the college.

Coronavirus pandemic response

For the 2020 show, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, in response to the Coronavirus disease 2019, went digital and streamed a series of prerecorded performances. [8] Additionally, HSB worked with Artist Relief to administer $1 million in relief aid to musicians. [8]

Performing artists

The most frequent performers over the years, each with five or more appearances, have been:[ citation needed ]


See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Miller</span> American singer-songwriter

Steven Paul "Buddy" Miller is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter Julie Miller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmylou Harris</span> American singer, songwriter, and musician

Emmylou Harris is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. A highly regarded figure in contemporary music, she is known for having a consistent artistic direction. Harris is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana genre in the 1990s. Her music united both country and rock audiences in live performance settings. Her characteristic voice, musical style and songwriting have been acclaimed by critics and fellow recording artists.

HSB may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Welch</span> American musician

Gillian Howard Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, country and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazel Dickens</span> American bluegrass musician, singer, and activist

Hazel Jane Dickens was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro-union, feminist songs. Cultural blogger John Pietaro noted that "Dickens didn’t just sing the anthems of labor, she lived them and her place on many a picket line, staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her into the cause." The New York Times extolled her as "a clarion-voiced advocate for coal miners and working people and a pioneer among women in bluegrass music." With Alice Gerrard, Dickens was one of the first women to record a bluegrass album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Crow Medicine Show</span> Americana string band based in Tennessee

Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, Remedy, released in 2014, won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The group's music has been called old-time, folk, and alternative country. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs.

David Charles Olney was an American folk singer-songwriter. Olney recorded more than twenty albums over his five-decade career. His songs have been covered by numerous artists, including Emmylou Harris, Del McCoury, Linda Ronstadt and Steve Earle.

The Dry Branch Fire Squad is an American traditional-style bluegrass band from Virginia, which is fronted by Ron Thomason. The band is known for its showy performances and for Thomason's humorous interludes. The Dry Branch Fire Squad is the host band of Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, formerly called the Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival. The band also hosts the High Mountain Hay Fever festival in Colorado as a fundraiser for a local medical clinic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Douglas</span> American bluegrass musician

Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prolific." A fourteen-time Grammy winner, he has been called “dobro’s matchless contemporary master,” by The New York Times, and is among the most innovative recording artists in music, both as a solo artist and member of numerous bands, such as Alison Krauss and Union Station and The Earls of Leicester. He has been a co-director of the Transatlantic Sessions since 1998.

Brady L Blade Jr. is an American rock, pop and country drummer, record producer and composer, who currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emory Gordy Jr.</span> Musical artist

Emory Lee Gordy Jr. is an American musician, songwriter and music producer. A former member of Emmylou Harris' backing band The Hot Band, he is best known for his association with country singer Patty Loveless, to whom he has been married since 1989. Gordy has produced and played bass guitar on nearly all of her albums, in addition to producing albums by Steve Earle, George Jones, and Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Townes Earle</span> American musician (1982–2020)

Justin Townes Earle was an American singer-songwriter and musician. After his debut, EP Yuma (2007), he released eight full-length albums. He was recognized with an Americana Music Award for Emerging Artist of the Year in 2009 and for Song of the Year in 2011 for "Harlem River Blues". His father is alternative country artist Steve Earle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry and Holly Tashian</span> American country, folk and bluegrass duo

Barry and Holly Tashian are an American country, folk and bluegrass duo. They are both singer-songwriters and musicians. They have performed and recorded together since 1972. The Tashians have recorded seven albums since 1989, and they have been awarded the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD) award for their album "Straw into Gold". Barry has three CDs out with the Remains. They received a Boston Music Award for Best Country album for "Straw Into Gold". In 1998 their album, "Harmony" was nominated for Bluegrass Album of the Year by the Nashville Music Awards. As songwriters, Barry and Holly have written for Kenny Rogers, Solomon Burke, Ty England, Daniel O'Donnell, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Roland White, Kate Brislin and Jody Stecher, Niall Toner, and many others. Barry Tashian first won acclaim as a member of the Remains. Barry made his TV debut in 1958 on "American Bandstand". He then later was a member of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band. Barry and Holly have recorded with Tom Paxton, Charlie Louvin, Nanci Griffith, Iris DeMent, Suzy Bogguss, and Delia Bell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Hellman</span> American businessman and philanthropist

F. Warren Hellman was an American billionaire investment banker and private equity investor, the co-founder of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. Hellman also co-founded Hellman, Ferri Investment Associates, today known as Matrix Partners. He started and funded the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. Hellman died on December 18, 2011, of complications from his treatment for leukemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Waybacks</span> American band

The Waybacks are an American four-piece band based in the San Francisco Bay area of California. Their style has been alternately described as Americana, Progressive bluegrass, rock-n-roll, folk, and acoustic mayhem. They described themselves as a "power trio with a fiddler" in an interview with NPR.

<i>The Bay Citizen</i>

The Bay Citizen was a non-profit news organization covering the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded as the Bay Area News Project in January 2010 with money provided by Warren Hellman's Hellman Family Foundation. On May 26, 2010 the organization launched the website, baycitizen.org. In June 2010 The Bay Citizen began producing content for the newly added biweekly two-page Bay Area Report published in The New York Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Tuttle</span> American musician

Molly Rose Tuttle is an American vocalist, songwriter, banjo player, guitarist, recording artist, and teacher in the bluegrass tradition. She is noted for her flatpicking, clawhammer, and crosspicking guitar prowess. She has cited Laurie Lewis, Kathy Kallick, Alison Krauss and Hazel Dickens as role models. In 2017, Tuttle was the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's Guitar Player of the Year award. In 2018 she won the award again, along with being named the Americana Music Association's Instrumentalist of the Year. In 2023, Tuttle won the Best Bluegrass Album for Crooked Tree and also received a nomination for the all-genre Best New Artist award at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. Also in 2023, Tuttle and Golden Highway won International Bluegrass Music Awards for album Crooked Tree and the title track in the categories of Album of the Year and Song of the Year, respectively, while Tuttle won Female Vocalist of the Year.

Isaias William Hellman was an American banker who served as president of the Union Trust Company and, briefly, of Wells Fargo Bank shortly before his death.

References

  1. ↑ "Strictly Awesome". East Bay Express.com. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ "A Bay-Area Billionaire's Annual Gift of Music (Transcript)". NPR. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass". Official Website. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  4. ↑ Peter Lattman (December 19, 2011). "Warren Hellman, 77, Investor Who Loved Bluegrass, Dies". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ Harrington, Jim (October 2, 2011). "Review: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass honors a legend". mercurynews.com . Retrieved October 2, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Big Twang Theory". The Bay Citizen. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
  7. ↑ John McChesney (October 6, 2006). "A Bay-Area Billionaire's Annual Gift of Music". NPR. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass announces full lineup—and $1 million artist relief". 48 hills. September 25, 2020. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.