The return of the massive Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is a massive lift for music lovers all over the Bay Area, particularly with a lineup that once again leans heavily on its ‘hardly strictly’ mantra and has booked an array of bands across the musical landscape.
Organizers of the event, as usual, are making sure that the event benefits the larger Bay Area community, and is doing so by launching “Hardly Strictly Out of the Park,” a series of nighttime live performances at a handful of venues around town, including a pair of shows at our own venerable Sweetwater Music Hall.
On Sept. 30, Waco Bros. & Bob Schneider perform w/ a special screening of the Hazel Dickens Documentary “Don’t Put Her Down.” And on Oct. 1, the ever-amazing post-Fela Kuti Afrobeat band Antibalas takes the stage at the Sweetwater fr the first time in a couple of years, and will be joined by the guitar-driven Algerian Tuareg desert rock quintet Imarhan.
Both shows are presented by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and $2 of each ticket sold will be donated to Music In Schools Today (MUST), a continuation of HSB’s partnership with Bay Area non-profit Music in Schools Today (MUST), with all venues donating $1.00 from every ticket sold at the “Out Of The Park” shows. MUST develops and delivers music education programs that increase student academic achievement and emotional well-being. MUST has provided music classes to over half a million underserved children – over 51,000 through their annual instrument donation program and another 3,000 through artist-led residencies.
Hardly Strictly Out of the Park shows also feature Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford, Bonny Light Horseman, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Moonalice and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, among others.
MORE INFO & TIX FOR WACO BROS. & BOB SCHNEIDER AND HAZEL DICKENS DOCUMENTARY.