Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Music Festival in SF's Golden Gate Park has been held in early October for the last 26 years. Admisssion to the family friendly event is free and the diverse line-up offers tunes that are hardly, strictly bluegrass music, hence it's name. Bluegrass to folk, country to rock, blues to soul and just about everything in between, like the city that hosts it, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass welcomes it all.
I had the privilege of working the festival from 2017 - 2024 (minus the Covid years) and it was one of my favorite ones to work: the staff is chill, the setting is beautiful, vibes are high through out the park, the weather is usually sunny and warm(er), the music ends at 7:00pm when the sun starts to set and it takes place in SF, the heart of the Bay Area of which I am a native. Before I started working HSB, I attended it. Over the years I'd meet up with my dad, who'd be there all day, to catch a set or two with him. In 2014 my cousin and I saw Social Distortion play the Towers of Gold Stage and by no surprise, it was super packed. That was the coolest, biggest non-bluegrass/bluegrass adjacent band that have played HSB that I've seen.
Sadly, I wasn't able to work it last year but this year was a different story. My schedule allowed me to go to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and I was delighted!
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Lukas Nelson at HSB 10/2/2026
photo by Curtis DeMartini |
The line-up is announced in waves leading up to the festival with single day schedules usually dropping a week beforehand. With six different stages sprawled across Golden Gate Park's Hellmen Hollow Area it can be a daunting task to navigate through thick crowds that the free fest draws in order to see different acts. I searched for one or two artists I'd be interested on seeing and when my eyes landed on the name Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson's son, that was it. He was the one I wanted to see.
Of course there were a few others over the weekend like Mavis Staples, Emmylou Harris and Roger Waters, who was announced last minute, but after seven straight months of working shows, I couldn't risk burn out. Plus, the last time my dad and I saw Lukas Nelson live is when he joined his dad on stage at The Fillmore. Unlike my dad who's seen Lukas' band, Promise of the Real, ten or so times, I myself had never seen him on his own.
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Mary Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives at HSB 10/2/2026
photo by Curtis DeMartini |
Lukas Nelson was scheduled to close out day one of HSB 2026 on the Swan Stage. Before his set started at 6:00pm, my dad and I caught another band that my dad really wanted to see across the way on the Banjo Stage, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. It was good to be back in GGP and not be working a music festival. As hoped, it was a sunny, warm afternoon but the absence of SF's notourious micro-climates, especially around the park, was a little unsettling.
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Mary Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives at HSB 10/2/2026
photo by Curtis DeMartini |
Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives had a fun, animated, engaging set and sounded great. That's another thing about HSB, it's plain to see that all of the artists are genuinely happy to be there, having a grand ol' time time playing for the HSB crowd. They covered two Rolling Stones songs "Shake Your Hips" and "Wild Horses".
I'd learn later that apparently those were two of Dolly Parton's favorite Stones songs and they covered them in honor of her that day. My dad is the biggest Stones fan that I know, so naturally I too am a fan and needless to say, we were both jazzed to be there for those covers.
I also learned that Marty himself was at one time a member of Johnny Cash's touring band and that he's a five time Grammy Award winner.
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Mary Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives at HSB 10/2/2026
photo by Curtis DeMartini |
There was plenty of time for us to leisurely stroll over to the Swan Stage in Marx Medow right off of JFK Drive. Since it was Friday evening there wasn't as much foot traffic as there would be on Saturday and Sunday.
Weaving our way through people who were camped out with blankets and lawn chairs which is a standard occurance at HSB, we were able to get a good viewing spot house left.
Moments before they took the stage, we could see Lukas and the band taking group photos and having a quick huddle before their set. That's how laid back this music festival is, fans can get behind the scenes glimpses and no one seems to cause a fuss about it.
His band, Promise of the Real, annouced a 15 year hiatus in 2024 so that Lukas could focus on his solo career but low and behold he opened with "Fool Me Once" which is a Promise of the Real song. In a camoflauge trucker hat, brown jacket, blue jeans and cowboy boots he looked the part of a modern day, unpretentious, country music singer. I couldn't help think about his dad, the legandary Willie Nelson, as I watched Lukas perform. How he had grown up watching his dad playing guitar and singing and now here he was doing the same thing, which got me thinking about how my dad's love of music influenced me.
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Lukas Nelson at HSB 10/2/2026
photo by Curtis DeMartini |
The set was filled with lots of songs about love: falling in love, being in love, falling out of love and being heartbroken. A different kind of love song about cultivating love rather than hate and fear "Turn Off the News (Build a Garden)" at the start of the set was well received given the frightful and often heart wrenching times America has faced during the second Trump administration that is wreaking havoc on American democracy. Visibly pouring his heart into his performance, Lukas' face contorted with feelings as he sang and intently played the guitar. Speaking of guitar, there was many rotations of different guitars and bass guitars throughout the set. Shout out to the gal who stood out as a guitar tech in the wings of house right who may very well have been the only female crew member.
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Lukas Nelson at HSB 10/2/2026
photo by Curtis DeMartini |
The crowd had multiplied in size since my dad and I had gotten there, filling the entire field back to the row of food vendors and spilling onto JFK drive. Lukas addressed the crowd directly a couple times, keeping his focus on giving us a robustly wholehearted show. The set that was filled with original songs including one of my personal favorites from Promise of the Real that I remember seeing him play when he joined his dad on stage at The Fillmore years ago "(Forget About) Georgia". He had the crowd cheering when he sang the lyric that mentions the city by the bay, "we made love for the first time in a hotel in San Francisco".
Highlighting the set though were two cover songs midway through: Tom Petty's "American Girl" which had the everyone around me, inlcuding me, singing along and his dad's song "Bloody Mary Morning" which was special to see him perform. There were moments when he'd let loose and get down by jamming with band mates, even giving us a little leg flail and jump near the end.
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Lukas Nelson at HSB 10/2/2026
photo by Curtis DeMartini |
Golden hour fell upon Golden Gate park, casting an amber hue over Lukas and his band as they wrapped up their set. It was a beautiful ending to show day one of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026.
I'm very grateful I got to see Willie Nelson and Willie Nelson's son live with my dad. He really wanted to see
Molly Tuttle who played at the same time but he saw Lukas Nelson with me instead.
As we all get older and life around us gets busier and busier, it's important to slow down and make memories with loved ones doing things that make us happy. Live music has always made my dad happy and that's something he passed on to me. Getting to go to shows together is something I don't take for granted, especially this one. A father and a daughter watching a son of one of the greatest country musicians of our time, priceless.
Save the dates! Hardly Strictly Bluegrass returns next year on October 7th, 8th and 9th!
set-list 10/2/2026
1. Fool Me Once
2. The Last Wild River
3. Pretty Much
4. Just Outside of Austin
5. Turn Off the News (Build a Garden)
6. (Forget About) Georgia
7. American Girl - Tom Petty cover
8. Ladder of Love
9. Bloody Mary Morning - Willie Nelson cover
10. Carolina
11. Die Alone
12. Find Yourself
13. Set Me Down on a Cloud
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