Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
A bit of a rite of passage for me
My next show
October 19, 2024 - 6-8pm
Tomato Joe’s in Canyon Country
Facebook Event Page
About this musical weekend
Deb and I spent an unseasonably HOT weekend in San Francisco to attend to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. We weren’t alone. This year’s crowd is estimated to have reached 750,000 people. That is a LOT of sweat and sunburns.
The Festival was started as the Strictly Bluegrass Festival, founded and funded by Warren Hellman, a billionaire investment banker and banjo player. Within a year or two it had become the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, broadening the artists and fans to include country, Americana, folk rock, and more.
Hellman passed away in 2011 but his foundation still funds and manages the event. The goal for Hellman was a non-commercial, non-consumption driven event. Pretty cool!
For me, the highlights were spending time with both my sons. My oldest, Matthew, lives in San Francisco. Christopher, coming up on three years clean from his fentanyl addiction and homelessness.
The musical highlights were seeing Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris perform.
I’ve been playing Steve Earle’s music for years and introduced my kids to him when they were very young. In fact, when I perform, I often include a song of his in my set.
A couple years ago I received this text from my oldest daughter, Jess, who was attending Hardly Strictly. She ended up seeing Steve Earle before I did.
For this reason, the set was emotionally for me at time. When Emmylou Harris joined Steve on stage for the song, Goodbye and especially when he ended his set with Woody Guthrie’s anthem of rebellion, This Land is Your Land.
It is the second song I learned on guitar when I was a kid. As I’ve mentioned before, my father was a banjo player and he often played that song. Given the current state of the world and our politics, something about it felt full circle for me.
Deb and I had moved closer to the stage and somehow - perhaps because Deb had her camera out - we walked past security and ended up in the VIP section. When someone realized we didn’t have the required wristbands, they said, “Just stay up here.” Which we did.
These are photos from my phone.
A younger Steve Earle and an early breakout song, Guitar Town.
On Sunday, to escape the heat, we ended up at the Horseshoe Stage. It is one of the smaller stages, tucked away in a circle of tall trees. It gave us shade and a chance to relax.
As it turns out, escaping the sun was fortuitous. We were pleasantly surprised to be introduce to Abby Posner. She is a talented songwriter and excellent musician. Below is a video of one of the songs she performed.
After watching Abby perform we headed to see the closing set by Emmylou Harris. We, again, ended up close to the stage. One of our goals for next year is to get out early on Sunday morning. Emmylou and her band do a morning “soundcheck”. If you show up, they’ll let you in and it turns out to be an intimate show for 1,000 people or so.
Shhh… don’t let any of the other 750,000 people know.
She played this song, Red Dirt Girl. I’m sharing the version she performed with Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits sitting in on guitar.
I watch music as a fan but I also watch it as a performer. My last show was the strongest performance I’ve delivered in many years. My voice is better than it has ever been and my playing has returned to performance form.
I walked away from Hardly Strictly reinvigorated and with a reasonably short list of things I hope (plan) to improve upon from my last performance.
We plan to go back next year. I do hope for milder temperatures.
Thanks again for joining me on this journey.
With Love and Gratitude,
Matthew Moran
October 9, 2024
Thanks for sharing this great experience. I would have loved to have been there myself. Kudos to Deb for a great cover photo! Good luck with the concert!
J