Pitchfork

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass? You ain't funnin', Jack.

The seventh installment of San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass fest-- taking place in San Fran's Golden Gate Park October 5-7-- lives up to its name, with about a 1:1 ratio of high and lonesome to mandolin-less roots and rock. Still, they do both the hardly and the strictly well, with a lineup that packs Jeff Tweedy, Bill Callahan, Charlie Louvin, Steve Earle, Nick Lowe, the Mekons, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Sadies, Earl Scruggs, the Del McCoury Band, Hazel Dickens, Blanche, Heartless Bastards, the Knitters, Los Lobos, Doc Watson, Gillian Welch, T Bone Burnett, and several dozen of their fellow twangmakers taking the stage under the landmark edifice.

What's more, it's free! Hardly strictly an excuse not to go now, eh?