Following the fine Soho show on Thursday, we hopped in the car and drove up to San Luis Obispo for some college/family time and managed to hit the phenomenal Boo Boo Records in that fine town.  Boo Boo is one of the best record stores still extant, with great listening stations, staff picks, used CDs and a vast selection of all genres and media.  Please stop by and support this fine establishment when in San Luis Obispo.

After leaving SLO, we drove up the 101 with the windows down under seriously sashaying sunset skies.  We were somewhat embarrassed by California’s swaggering, supercilious show on the golden-hilled stage.

Not unsurprisingly, by the time we hit Gilroy the familiar fog had overtaken the sunset skies.  We eventually made San Francisco and were soon ensconced with our friends, The Ferralls, at their fine “Outer Inner Sunset” abode.  So great to see and meander with them again.

In the morning we walked the 10 minutes to Golden Gate Park and the free 10th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (put on by gracious,  music-loving, investment-titan Warren Hellman).

We met up with Santa Barbarans, John Hawkes and new partner-in-music-addiction Art Tracewell, and prepared to be overindulged (strictly musically speaking).  We immediately had a good flavor for the proceedings with the seating choices and the 11am hip-flask-hippie surroundings.  The crowds were manageable at this juncture, but as the day wore on we were somewhat taken aback by the enormity of the crowds.  We guess it’s not hard to figure, though, given the impressive line-ups and the fact that admission was, oh say,  free (everything is free these days, isn’t it??).

We arrived just in time for Kelly Willis’ set and were quickly immersed in the warm, big sound of Willis and her band, and her measured and stirring songs.

We then set off for Trombone Shorty’s set and along the way enjoyed some of the fans who were multi-tasking (but not shorting) while Trombone Shorty slayed the audience with his updated R&B sound via New Orleans, and his phenomenal trombone and trumpet talents.  Will knit for Shorty.

Here was T-Shorty on Letterman a few months ago:

Then it was off to hear Jon Langford (leader of the great Mekons) and then the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  The Chocolate Drops proved to be one of the highlights of the entire Festival weekend with their incredibly impressive musicological variety and acumen.  Wow.  They do it all and won the crowd over with their bluegrass, soul, Scottish folk and various other stylings and instruments (kazoo, you name it), not to mention the great dancing of Rhiannon Giddens.  Check out some their stuff below.

Then Joan Baez came on and it was Flashback City for many.  You could close your eyes and imagine you were back in the 60s in San Francisco and what it was like to be present in that epoch, especially when that hippie on your left blew a sweet-smelling cumulus cloud your way.  Joan sounded and looked younger than her years, and reeled off many great songs from her songbook (though disappointed by not doing The Night They Drive Old Dixie Down or Love is Just a Four-Letter Word).  The highlight of her set for us was her wonderful, wistful song, Diamonds and Rust, which is her reminiscences of headier times in and out of relationship with Bob Dylan.  She closed her set with Dylan’s own Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, even intentionally mimicking Dylan’s vocal stylings to great effect.

Next up were Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, normally one of the highlights of any day or night of music.  The sound men just weren’t on their game this set, however, and a low-end hum detracted measurably from a great set of crowd favorites.  David Rawlings continues to be our favorite living guitarist for his soulful, skilled playing and arpeggios, and he did not disappoint this day.  It was great to see choir-boy Rawlings (one of the nicest men on the planet as far as we can tell) lose his cool, and walk over to the sound guys and rightfully blast them for minutes-on-end for their incompetence.  Though the sound and machinations somewhat diluted the effect of their set, Gillian’s songs and Rawlings’ guitar-playing and harmonies ultimately won out, capped off by the stirring I Hear Them All that segued into This Land is Your Land. Listening to 200,000+ people singing Woody Guthrie’s epic song was truly moving to our ears.  Also great was Conor Oberst’s inclusion for his song Lua, which can be viewed below.

Immediately after their set, we made a hasty retreat to Chez Ferrall, and prepared for the next portion of our day, Arcade Fire at the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley.  Bring ’em on.