With this year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (HSB) festival now just a month away, the final acts have been announced — and the wait was well, well worth it.
The festival's organizers just released the "all the rest" final list after teasing out this year's acts in four previous installments over the last month. And it's a big list.
In addition to other acts we've mentioned in previous teasings (here and here), the following notables have been added to the festival's long, lauded lineup for 2019:
- Judy Collins
- Bill Frisell
- Grace Potter
- Fantastic Negrito
- Harmony F: Petra Haden, Hank Roberts, and Luke Bergman
- Michael Nesmith & the First National Band
- Shooter Jennings
- The Meat Puppets
- Joan Osborne
- Robert Earl Keen
- Punch Brothers
- New Pornographers
- Budos Band
- Moonalice
- Go to Hell Man Band
- Jon Langford
- Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands
- Nancy & the Lambchops
*over 40 acts in total were revealed yesterday, September 3rd
Judy Collins, specifically, is an eye-catching addition to this year’s roster of preformers. Forever-young at 80-years-old, the four-time Grammy winner is synonymous with folk music, famous for such recordings like "Someday Soon," "Amazing Grace," "Cook with Honey," and the Joni Mitchell covers "Both Sides Now" and "Chelsea Morning."
Oakland-based roots music singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito, a.k.a. Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, will be returning to Golden Gate Park with his unique blend of contemporary R&B and blues.
Joan Osborne — who’s perhaps best known for her soul-stirring rendition of the Eric Bazilian song "One of Us," featured on her debut album Relish — is expected to muse those in attendance with numbers from her ten studio albums. New York-born singer, serial collaborator, and seasoned violinist Petra Haden, too, will join the now 80-plus acts performing at HSB 2019, adding her mix of a capella and instrumental solos.
Regardless, no matter which acts you choose to attend during the free three-day roots-music-based festival, created by philanthropist and audiophile Warren Hellman in 2000, take note of this year’s more extensive security and safety measures. (Ready your clear plastic backpacks and leave those coolers at home.)
HSB 2019 will be put on from October 4th–6th, the festival (and its six stages) will crowd the same part of Golden Gate Park as years prior.
Check out this year’s full line up here, and listen through some of our favorite serenades from these newly revealed artists and acts, below:
Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
