Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has expanded its 2026 lineup again, adding Miko Marks, Alison Brown, Crosby Collective, Fantastic Cat, The Record Company and more to the annual free music festival returning to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco from October 2 through October 4.
The latest Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026 lineup announcement also includes Tony Kamel & Kym Warner, Wreckless Strangers, Steve Poltz, The Third Mind and Martha Scanlan & Jon Neufeld. More artists are still expected to be announced ahead of the three-day festival.
Now entering its 26th year, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass remains one of San Francisco’s largest free annual music festivals. Despite the name, the Golden Gate Park event has long stretched well beyond traditional bluegrass, bringing together artists from folk, country, Americana, rock and other corners of roots music.
For Oakland-based country and Americana artist Miko Marks, the 2026 festival marks a return after making her Hardly Strictly Bluegrass debut in 2024.
“Hardly Strictly Bluegrass happens right across the bridge from me, as I live in Oakland, CA. It’s been a longtime dream of mine to play HSB, and that dream came true in 2024!” Marks said in the festival announcement.
The newly announced artists join an already substantial Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026 lineup featuring Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, My Morning Jacket, Mavis Staples, Old Crow Medicine Show, Los Lobos, Lukas Nelson, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Sierra Hull, Kathleen Edwards, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Hiss Golden Messenger and more.
Other previously announced performers include AJ Lee & Blue Summit, El Khat, Tyler Ballgame, William Tyler & Yasmin Williams, John Craigie with The Coffis Brothers, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Darrell Scott String Band with Rob Ickes, Dug, Mama’s Broke, Kam Franklin, Ismay, Jesse Welles, Bandits On The Run, Tift Merritt, Meels, Moonalice, Anna Moss and ¿Qiensave?.
The festival will also feature A Tribute to Joe Ely with The Flatlanders and Friends.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026 officially takes over Golden Gate Park Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4, but this year’s festivities begin a night earlier with “An Evening Honoring Steve Earle” at The Masonic in San Francisco on Thursday, October 1.
The benefit concert will honor Steve Earle, who has performed at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass every year since the festival’s second edition in 2002. Earle will be joined by a sizable group of longtime friends and collaborators, including Buddy Miller, Cait O’Riordan, Elizabeth Cook, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jackson Browne, Joan Baez, Hot Tuna, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams, members of Los Lobos, Lukas Nelson, Molly Tuttle, Peter Rowan, Shawn Camp, Stacey Earle and Victoria Williams.
Buddy Miller will serve as musical director, with Reckless Kelly featuring Greg Leisz as the backing band.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass will also continue its “Out of the Park” concert series around the Bay Area, with participating shows benefiting Sweet Relief’s Bay Area Musicians’ Fund. Announced performances include Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at The Fillmore in San Francisco, Molly Tuttle at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford, Old Crow Medicine Show and Ismay at Sweetwater Music Hall, and Hiss Golden Messenger at Little Saint in Healdsburg.
The expanding lineup arrives as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass celebrates more than a quarter century in San Francisco. The festival marked its 25-year history with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at 25: The Big Twang!, a photography and essay collection featuring photographs by Jay Blakesberg and writing and interviews from contributors including Aidin Vaziri, Frances Dinkelspiel, Sylvie Simmons and Tricia Hellman Gibbs.
The book includes a foreword from Emmylou Harris and an afterword from Steve Earle. A September 13 event at Book Passage in Corte Madera featured Tricia Hellman Gibbs, Avery Hellman of Ismay, Blakesberg and author Michael Shapiro in celebration of the release.
With less than three weeks until the festival, the 2026 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass lineup is still not complete. Additional artists are expected to be announced before the free festival returns to Golden Gate Park on October 2.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026 lineup additions: Miko Marks, Alison Brown, Crosby Collective, Fantastic Cat, The Record Company, Tony Kamel & Kym Warner, Wreckless Strangers, Steve Poltz, The Third Mind, Martha Scanlan & Jon Neufeld.
Featured image credit: Jay Blakesburg
