We’ve got a strictly-music hangover.  Hardly, you say?  We’ll take that fifth.  Regardless, we’ve escaped the marathon clutches of the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, held each year courtesy of its biggest benefactor–the late, great Warren Hellman.  Though not as brilliant a lineup as some prior years (2011’s Elbow, Gomez, Devotchka, Gillian Welch, Broken Social Scene, etc. lineup may never be equaled again), HSB nonetheless provided a weekend’s work of musical goodness.  Our picks of the litter, in no particular order (except No. 1) were:

1.  Bettye Lavette provided hands-down the most entertaining set of the Festival.  The 67-year old Lavette has been in the business for 50 years, and humored and wowed the crowd throughout.  She also has great taste, covering everything from Neil Young to Lucinda Williams with serious aplomb and conviction.  Our first thorough chill-down came on Lavette’s signature Heart of Gold arrangement and vocal, but she also covered Young’s Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (with accent on a gospel interpretation).  Ms. Lavette and her fine band are out on tour now and are highly recommended if she comes your way.  You can see her current dates HERE.

2. Conor Oberst with Sweden’s First Aid Kit and Felice Brothers backing.  Conor Oberst always brings it on Friday to his curated Rooster Stage, and this year was no exception.  Finishing off the day in fine style, First Aid Kit gave a galvanizing reading of Paul Simon’s America and then provided first-chills by backing Oberst on his masterpiece, Lua.

3. The Waterboys’ Mike Scott and Steve Wickham (fiddle), despite a minor technical snafu or two, sang and played with conviction and had the crowd in the palms of their hands.  We could listen to Mike Scott’s impassioned vocals and beautiful songs all day and all of the night.

4.  LA’s Allah-Las acquitted themselves well on Sunday morning, jangling along a la the Byrds and Manchester’s Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.

5.  Upstate New York’s The Felice Brothers played yet another beguiling set and perfectly backed Oberst during his set.  Again, we could listen to Ian Felice’s world-weary vocals all day and all of the night.

6.  Louisville’s Freakwater took us by surprise with their casually delivered gems and voices of the angels.

7.  Athens, Georgia’s Manchester Orchestra again surprised with their well-wrought and well-delivered songs.   This is a band deserving of far more attention.

8.  SF’s own Sonny & the Sunsets provided a great set of slightly off-key (intentionally), slightly familiar songs that matched perfectly with the western Gold Stage.

9.  The Evens’  partners Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat) and Amy Farina gave the Rooster Stage crowd an earful of great political songs and speeches, made particularly enjoyable by MacKaye’s muscular, but inventive, guitar-play and punkish attitude.

10.  Though we might wish she’d stick to covering others’ songs, Martha Wainwright gave an entertaining and vocally stunning performance in new blonde look at the Porch Stage on Saturday.

And in between and around those Top 10, we heard great performances by Boz Scaggs (who sang hits Lido and Lowdown while backed by a a great band), Dave Alvin with Greg Leisz, Emmylou Harris, Nick Lowe, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan’s The Deep Dark Woods (we’ll have more about them and others later), and Nicki Gruhm & The Gramblers (who brought Scaggs out to join them).

For at least a limited time you can check out Ms. Lavette’s entire HSB set below and in particular her definitive interpretation of Neil Young’s Heart of Gold beginning at 19:30, with a vehement cover of Lucinda Williams’ Joy immediately following.  You can check out other videos from this year’s HSB Festival HERE.

We’ll also write soon about the best set of the entire weekend:  Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express (with Peter Case) at the Make Out Room in SF on Saturday night.