15 years in, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is now as much a part of San Francisco’s musical fabric as The Fillmore and the San Francisco Sound of the 1960’s and 1970’s that introduced the Grateful Dead, Sly & The Family Stone, Santana and a festival’s worth of other iconic bands to the nation. Those groundbreaking acts defined the music of San Francisco; it was rich in sound and texture, pushed the boundaries creatively and fostered a strong sense of community between artists and fans, with bands frequently throwing free concerts in parks around the city. It is a musical tradition that continues to let its freak flag fly every year, as tens of thousands of people flock to the easy vibes of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival to ring in the first days of October.

In a lot of ways, HSB is what you would want if you planned your dream festival. It is nestled in the lush groves of trees and meadows in Golden Gate Park, and people are welcomed to bring in their own food, liquor and other amenities to enjoy the shows. The crowds are friendly and accommodating, happily watching spots while you are away or handing out free chips and salsa, and there is a general sense of looking out for one another. Oh, and it is completely free. Yes, FREE.

This is thanks to philanthropist Warren Hellman, who started the festival in 2000. His small, one-day festival, initially titled Strictly Bluegrass, has since blossomed into a multi-day extravaganza with over a hundred artists playing across seven stages. Despite his death in 2011, the family continues the festival with the money that he left behind.

Hellman would certainly be proud of the lineups the festival is still building. 2015 saw veteran acts like Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Los Lobos and Steve Earle & The Dukes give great, career-spanning sets alongside young-guns like Fantastic Negrito and The Stone Foxes, who are just starting along their musical paths. True to its roots, the festival’s bill leaned slightly more towards Americana, bluegrass, and folk acts like Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear, Lee Ann Womack, Conor Oberst, Chatham County Line and Pokey LaFarge. But lots of variety still existed, with standout sets from Flogging Molly, DeVotchKa, Chicano Batman, ALO and The Oh Hellos.

The weekend truly was a three-day dream that was filled with delightful performances, but here are the ones that stood out a little more than the rest.

– Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds

Looking for a band to start off your Hardly Strictly experience, you couldn’t have done much better than Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds Friday on the Swan Stage. The band’s bluesy, soul-punch was the perfect way to warm-up those hips for the weekend, beginning with an enchanting “Don’t Be Jealous” from the band’s latest album The Weather BelowArleigh Kincheloe is a tenacious frontwoman who shimmied and shook to the music when she wasn’t leading the charge with her busty pipes, especially on a roaring “Borderline”. A drum jam between Kincheloe and drummer Dan Boyden spiraled into a spirited take on Paul Simon’s “Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes” that had the whole band and crowd in smiles. It was a fantastic set that set the tone for the rest of the day.

– The Punch Brothers

The virtuosic talents of the members of the Punch Brothers stretch in so many directions, their set on the main Banjo Stage Friday afternoon epitomized what it means to play hardly, strictly bluegrass. Though mandolinist Chris Thile, guitarist Chris Eldridge, banjoist Noam Pikelny, violinist Gabe Witcher, and stand-up bassist Paul Kowert all have some sort of background in bluegrass music, they are a musical entity that is so much more complex than that. They showed-off stunning harmonies on “My Oh My”, pop sensibilities on “I Blew It Off” and classical intricacy on a cover of Claude Debussy’s “Passepied”. They have amazing versatility and control of their instruments, and it is quite a sight to see a band play with such confidence in their abilities. To cap the set, the band ripped into the searing “Magnet” before Thile traded his mandolin for a mic stand and the band stopped on a dime to launch into a stringed attack of The Strokes’ “Hard To Explain” with Witcher on drums, seamlessly flowing back into “Magnet” by the end. It was a move that stunned just about everyone and proved the Punch Brothers can master just about anything.

– The New Mastersounds

Saturday proved to be a slightly overcast day with winds moving through the Arrow and Banjo stages in a firm breeze. The slightly balmy weather must have left British funk quartet The New Mastersounds feeling right at home because they laid down a solidly funky set that seemed easy and comfortable. The band is a collection of beautifully cohesive players, with guitarist Eddie Roberts, drummer Simon Allen, bassist Pete Shand and organist Joe Tatton all focusing their energy on holding down the groove. They played a handful of songs of their most recent release, Made For Pleasure, which had been released only the day before on Friday, fresh material for a lot of fans.

The energy they threw into the title track and the silky smoothness of “Cigar Time” indicates the band must had been itching to play these songs in front of audience. At times throughout the set the band was joined by the West Coast Horns, featuring tenor saxophonist Joe Cohen and trumpeter Mike Olmos, who threw some brassy weight behind “San Frantico” and “High and Wide”. By the end of the set, all people who had been sitting down were up dancing and the whole crowd was a joyful mass of twirling hips and elbows. The band was powerful and sleek like an Aston Martin and they could have toured through the city all day like that if they wanted; everyone would have joined along for the ride.

New Mastersounds Announce Fall Tour, Presented By L4LM, With New Album And Single

– The Brothers Comatose

The festival always looks to give up-and-coming Bay Area bands a larger audience and San Francisco’s The Brothers Comatose took full advantage, drawing a very sizeable crowd to its afternoon set at the Arrow Stage. The bluegrass outfit charmed the crowd with guitarist Ben Morrison’s California-cowboy croon and hefty servings of churning breakdowns from fiddlist Phil Brezina, mandolinist Ryan Avellone and banjoist Alex Morrison. The songs ranged from barn-burners on “Feels Like The Devil” to heartfelt folk on “Me and My Brother” to a crowd-sing along of Ryan Adams’ “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)”.

They even previewed a song from their new album that is due in March, a breezy number that featured the soft vocals of The T Sisters. It was obvious the band were thrilled to play for such an adoring group and they reveled in the fun of it all. By the end of their set, they had the crowd clapping and chanting “I’ll never grow old” to their song “The Scout”. It was all whooping and hollering from the band as they danced off stage triumphantly. It was a defining set for a band that has a lot of potential in its future.

– Nels Cline and Julian Lage

Some shows warrant being checked out just for the pure unknown factor. That was the case when Wilco’s sonic maestro Nels Cline teamed up with jazz guitarist Julian Lage for a set on the intimate Porch Stage, on Saturday. Cline is known to dip his toes into some interesting guitar territory with Wilco, so to see him freed from the confines of melodies and choruses with someone who can speak his eccentric language was a mesmerizing experience. The two engaged in a fluttering conversation on “Rosemary” that wound tightly around each other. “Descent of Light” pulled in and out, the tinseled notes Cline and Lage pricked from their guitars bending like fractures of light. It was not a set for the feint of heart, for the guitarists constantly indulged in abstract soundscapes and disjointed solos that could leave even the most hardcore fan getting lost. But it’s not every day you get to see something so unique and the risk was worth the reward.

– Sonny & The Sunsets

Waking up isn’t always easy, especially if it has been preceded by two full days of music in the city. However, the lazy, sunshine grooves of Sonny & The Sunsets were the perfect way to begin the final day of Hardly Strictly on Sunday. Taking the stage at 11 A.M., the band played to a crowd splayed out in lawn chairs and blankets and sauntered through its set at a relaxed pace, not wanting to disturb the crowd. In the blue skies and breeze, mellow, ditties like “Natural Acts” and “Secluded Estate” pleasantly drifted into the crowd, there to take or leave as you may. The simple rhythms and country-inspired melodies had an innocent way of getting you to sway along. It was a time to pause and just enjoy the fact you were laying in the park on a beautifully sunny day listening to free music, something that could be easily forgotten in the pandemonium of the weekend. Sonny & The Sunsets gave people a chance to relax and enjoy the moment before it passed to quickly into Monday.

– T Bone Burnett

T-Bone Burnett is a long, tall Texan that brought the scorching blues of the Lone Star State to the Bay to close out the Swan Stage on Friday night. For the past couple decades, Burnett has been known more for what he can do behind a microphone as a producer than what he can do in front of it as a musician. Bands and artists that he had produced albums for that played the festival this year include Gillian Welch, The Punch Brothers, Los Lobos, Steve Earle and Ralph Stanley. But Burnett got his start as a touring guitarist on Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue and he brought a lot of power to his gripping set.

He was loud and bare bones, with his band sending tremors through the crowd with every cymbal crash and guitar wail on “Anything I Say Can And Will Be Used Against You”. It was hot and gnarly like a ripped tin roof and showed a side of Burnett not many get to see when he is working his magic behind a soundboard. Temperatures rose higher in “Seven Times Hotter Than Fire” with the guitar rippling like evaporation waves in a desert. Burnett even brought out Punch Brothers violinist Gabe Witcher for a few songs to add a haunting, lonesome texture to his weathered music. Burnet put together an impressive set that burned hot right to the end, just as the golden sun collapsed on it through the trees

– Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires

When your band is called the Extraordinaires and is chock-full of members of Daptone Records, you got it pretty good as a singer. When your singer can move like James Brown, dress like Elvis and is the “Screaming Eagle Of Soul”, you got it pretty good as a band. Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires know they got it good together and played one of the most dialed-in sets of the weekend. Taking the stage before Bradley, the Extraordinaires played him in on a lively refrain that matched the color of his red, velour jumpsuit, and Bradley took the floor to ravenous applause and fell into the riveting “Heartaches and Pain”.

The band’s deep, soulful sound was the natural launching point for Bradley’s pleading growl, with continually floored the audience throughout the show. Like his idol’s before him, Bradley was a showman who drew you into the performance song after song, one minute dancing with sexual vigor and the next bearing the mic stand like a cross. The band was tight and clean and steamed through the set with non-stop 1960’s soul power. The members were given time to shine while Bradley left the stage, pumping out of a couple smooth, catchy grooves while Bradley left and prepared for his next show stopping entrance off stage. The two entities complimented each other extremely wel and together they create classic show that is witnessed as much as it is seen. For people who were lucky enough to see this set, they know they got it pretty good.

– Gillian Welch

“We’re in this big field playing with all these trees and wind and I am still getting hot boxed”, joked guitarist Dave Rawlings in between songs during his wife Gillian Welch’s Saturday afternoon set on the Banjo Stage. The smoke may have been a problem for Rawlings and the wind definitely created problems at times with sound quality, but none of it overshadowed the gorgeous set Welch put together with her husband. In matching rhinestone cowboy outfits, Rawlings and Welch took the stage with nothing but guitars, banjos and raw emotion.

Welch has of the most visceral voices in folk music and conjured up ghostly spitefulness in a stirring “Rock of Ages” that echoed across the trees, then welled-up in tenderness to sing “Elvis Presley Blues”. Welch and Rawlings have such a solid connection to the folk music of the past and a firm grasp of where these songs come from emotionally, they act more as our link to the past rather than contemporary artists. Music as intimate and stark as Welch’s usually does not translate well on bigger stages, but the crowd was transfixed by her and Rawlings. She managed to touch more people with a few simple stories and a guitar than most musicians did that weekend with a whole band.