10th Annual Berkeley Bluegrass Festival

The Freight celebrates the 10th year of the Berkeley Bluegrass Festival, May 2 & 3, 2026. With concerts co-curated by Grammy-award winner Laurie Lewis and Leah Wollenberg, plus curated instructional workshops. Berkeley Bluegrass Festival brings together leaders of the genre, up-and-coming artists, and music fans for three days of concerts, jams, workshops, and good old-fashioned merriment to kick off the summer music festival season.

Berkeley Bluegrass Festival Emcee: Allegra Thompson

What is Bluegrass? The question, “What is Bluegrass anyway?” or WIBA, has been argued over by “experts” for the last 80 years at least. Bluegrass music, so named after Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys band, began life as a distinct melding of musical styles that Monroe was inspired by and grew up with in rural Kentucky in the first half of the 20th century: old-time stringbands, both Black and white; early Western Swing; mostly-Baptist church singing; and other early rural music styles. Since then, every new generation of musicians drawn to the genre have added their own diverse influences and instruments into the mix. Now, it is an ever-evolving stew built on a roux of (mostly) acoustic three-finger-style banjo, fiddle, guitar, bass and mandolin with whatever else individuals want to add. It’s music we love. Opinions will vary. ~ Laurie Lewis