The third round of artist reveals arrived Wednesday for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026, and we learn that the great Mavis Staples, who continues touring at age 87, will be returning to the SF festival after last appearing in 2024.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is happening October 2 to 4 this year, and as is the habit of the organizers, the lineup for the free music festival has been doled out in batches, three so far. We already know that festival stalwarts Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle will be in attendance, and there will be a benefit tribute concert to Earle on the Thursday before the festival at The Masonic (for which only resale tickets are currently available).

Also on the lineup are other roots music greats Gillian Welch, Allison Krauss, and Buddy Miller, along with the bands My Morning Jacket, Moonlike, and the Old Crow Medicine Show.

Today's tranche of artists includes Mavis Staples, the multi-genre Latino group Los Lobos, Lukas Nelson, singer-songwriter Tift Merritt, and Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives. See the full lineup, as it stands, here. One more round of artists is likely to be revealed in two weeks, and it seems likely to include Jackson Browne, who is coming for the Steve Earle tribute on October 1.

Staples, a soul and gospel legend who is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and a Kennedy Center honoree, spoke to CBS Mornings in 2019, discussing how she continues finding the energy to keep performing. "I love what I'm doing," she said. "I try to keep healthy. I'm not eating a lot of pork chops no more."

I had the pleasure of seeing Mavis Staples at Jazz Fest in New Orleans this past May, and the sole surviving member of The Staples Singers still sounds feisty and full of life as ever. Staples has a fairly full schedule of ongoing tour dates which will bring her back to San Francisco, playing SF JAZZ from February 19 to 21.

In New Orleans she performed the Staples Singers classics "City in the Sky" and "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)," as well as a cover of Tom Waits's "Chicago."

During her 2024 set on the Banjo Stage at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Staples sang the former two numbers, as well as other Staples Singers tunes like "I'm Just Another Soldier," "Handwriting on the Wall," and "Freedom Highway," and some or all of these may make it into her set again.

Below, a clip of Mavis Staples from 12 years, performing at the Obama White House, singing "I'll Take You There."

Previously: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Will Kick Off With Tribute Concert Again, This Time For Steve Earle