The signature concert series of PBS takes a trip outside Austin’s city limits this February with a special presentation of a unique San Francisco music festival.  Co-produced by KQED Public Television and LickonaVision, producers of Austin City Limits, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is a one-hour production that captures the music, spirit and community of this treasured annual event. 

The festival celebrates the current resurgence of bluegrass music with fans of all ages.  Yet as its name suggests, the festival includes music and performers that go far beyond bluegrass. Every summer since 2001, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, which is free to the public, draws hundreds of thousands of music-lovers to the meadows of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to hear music that includes traditional bluegrass, alternative country, and many performers who cross the standard genre lines.  The 2007 festival drew an estimated 500,000 fans.

Shot entirely in high definition, the production features 20 acts on multiple stages, from musical legends to a whole new generation of bluegrass performers and more.  Earl Scruggs’ “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” of Bonnie and Clyde fame, opens the show and is followed by Doc Watson, the renowned guitar player from North Carolina.  Highlights of the production also include the innovative banjo styling of Bela Fleck, the infectious singing of Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby, and the searing vocals of Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris.

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FROM THE PRODUCER: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

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