Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: 11 great acts to catch at the 2023 festival

Catch Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Irma Thomas, Gaby Moreno, Rickie Lee Jones, John Doe Folk Trio, more at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco.

In a day and age when concert ticket prices run into the hundreds — even thousands — of dollars, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass remains arguably the greatest free music event in the entire world.

And what do you get for nothing?

In the case of HSB, you get a lot.

This year’s edition of the festival that Warren Hellman created and bankrolled beginning in 2001 delivers three days of music — Sept. 29-Oct. 2 — on multiple stages in Golden Gate Park.

The lineup (as per usual with this event) is tremendous, offering up such longtime HSB favorites as Steve Earle and the Dukes, Peter Rowan, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Buddy Miller, Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands, John Doe and, of course, Emmylou Harris.

Here are our picks, separated by day, of 11 artists to catch at this year’s festival, ranging from a young blues guitar master and a “Cosmic Americana” troubadour to an Australian new wave act and a punk rock legend playing folk.

Note: Most sets run 40 minutes to an hour. For the complete schedule, event do’s and don’ts and more information, visit hardlystrictlybluegrass.com.

Friday, Sept. 29

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram: The Clarksdale, Mississippi, native delivered the single best set that we saw at this year’s BottleRock Napa Valley, a three-day festival that also featured such well-known headliners as Duran Duran, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lizzo.

The 24-year-old bluesman proved to be an absolute force of nature during his hour-long set in Napa, sounding great on the microphone and delivering some of the most impressive electric guitar work that we’ve seen in years.

Put Kingfish down as the No. 1 act to catch at the 2023 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, which means getting to Golden Gate Park early on Friday afternoon.

Details: 2:30 p.m.; Towers of Gold Stage

Cassandra Lewis: Some people apparently have a hard time finding a fitting musical label for this Nashville-based singer-songwriter’s mix of classic country and psychedelic soul.

Well, heck, let’s just ask her.

“When people ask, I just tell them I create Cosmic Americana. Dolly Parton on acid. Janis Joplin on Jesus,” Lewis says on her website. “I think people are starting to get what that means.”

Actually, we’re more confused than ever after reading that description. But we’re still intrigued enough by what we’ve heard to want to check Lewis out in concert.

Details: 2:35 p.m.; Horseshoe Hill Stage

John Craigie: Sure, he originally hails from Los Angeles. But Northern California should take at least partial credit for this talented troubadour, who attended UC Santa Cruz and really saw his musical career take off while living in the area.

Over the course of several acclaimed albums, Craigie has drawn comparisons to Woody Guthrie, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Pete Seeger, which tells you more about this singer-songwriter then we ever could.

Details: 3:20 p.m.; Swan Stage

Lilly Hiatt: Musical talent runs in Hiatt’s blood, as she is the daughter of the legendary John Hiatt. And the 39-year-old singer-songwriter is definitely putting it to good use in a career that now includes five full-length albums.

The Los Angeles native, who grew up with Nashville, blends rock, pop, country and folk in ways that should appeal to fans of Jenny Lewis, Neko Case and Gillian Welch.

Details: 5 p.m.; Arrow Stage

Saturday, Sept. 30

Sunny War: The battle between one’s self-destructive side and the side that is trying to keep things all together plays out on this singer-songwriter’s fourth album, “Anarchist Gospel.”

“Everybody is a beast just trying their hardest to be good,” she says on her website. “That’s what it is to be human. You’re not really good or bad. You’re just trying to stay in the middle of those two things all the time, and you’re probably doing an (expletive) job of it.”

War, however, does a fine job in examining such topics and conflicts, offering up an intriguing blend of folk and punk with plenty of great guitar work.

Details: 11 a.m.; Swan Stage

Rickie Lee Jones: The Chicago native is best remembered for her eponymous debut album from 1979, which flew all the way to No. 3 on the charts and helped Jones earn a Grammy for best new artist. Much of the hullabaloo was over the omnipresent single “Chuck E.’s in Love,” which surely will still prompt quite a reaction from the crowd when Jones (hopefully) plays it at HSB.

Jones recently released her 15th studio album, “Pieces of Treasure,” which finds the vocalist covering 10 tunes from the Great American Songbook.

Details: 4 p.m.; Banjo Stage

The Church: Talk about people showing up to hear a certain song, fans will definitely turn out to sing along with The Church’s signature hit, “Under the Milky Way.”

Yet, this Aussie act has so much more to offer than just that 1988 new wave classic. Its discography now includes more two dozen albums, including the cool “Under the Milky Way” parent “Starfish” and this year’s well-received “The Hypnogogue.”

Details: 5:55 p.m.; Swan Stage

Irma Thomas: Don’t miss the “Soul Queen of New Orleans,” who will surely delight music lovers at Hardly Strictly with her powerful mix of R&B, blues, gospel, pop and soul.

Thomas has been doing this for a long time, having released her debut single — the Top 40 R&B number “Don’t Mess with My Man” — way back in 1959.

Nearly a half century later, the vocalist would win her first ever Grammy Award, for best contemporary blues album, for “After the Rain” in 2007.

Details: 6 p.m.; Rooster Stage

Sunday, Oct. 1

John Doe Folk Trio: Here’s your chance to see a founding member of one of the best punk bands of all time — Los Angeles’ mighty X — perform in a decidedly un-punk musical fashion. And, of course, that makes Doe even more punk rock!

The whole thing sounds awesome to us, especially if Doe decides to do a folk version of “Nausea” at Hardly Strictly.

Details: 12:25 p.m.; Swan Stage

Gaby Moreno: We had the chance to see the Guatemalan singer-songwriter open for Nickel Creek earlier this year and can attest that she is an absolute a joy to behold on the live stage, mixing jazz, pop, blues, folk and Latin in ways that are quite captivating.

Even if you don’t know the name, you probably know at least some of her music, given that Moreno is responsible for the Emmy-nominated theme song to the iconic NBC TV show “Parks and Recreation.” She also co-wrote and performed the song “Por Que Te Vas” for DreamWorks’ “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”

Details: 12:55 p.m.; Banjo Stage

Valerie June: The Tennessee talent has earned praise from numerous critics as well as reportedly from one particular listener who knows a little something about quality songwriting — the one and only Bob Dylan.

It’s easy to understand why Dylan and multiple scribes are cheering June on: Just listen to the singer-songwriter blend pop, folk, gospel, soul, blues, country and other sounds on her latest album, “The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers,” which is her third release for Fantasy Records.

Details: 2:05 p.m.; Swan Stage