Picking in the Park – Salesforce September 2026

Free outdoor music in a park. Is there anything more San Francisco than that?

If you've never seen Salesforce Park, you're in for a treat. It's five acres of lawns, trees, and patio seating, all on the fourth floor of the Salesforce building. And it has a one kilometer walking path around it.

Thanks to San Francisco bluegrass impresario Matt Lauer, we got to play in the park as part of the Bluegrass Breeze series, and man we were stoked. We had played there at the SF Bluegrass and Old-Time Festival back in the summer, and had an absolute blast. This time, we had the place to ourselves and a few dozen of our closest friends (old and new) who turned out to party with us.

The park was good enough to set up an awning for us, because it was unseasonably warm, trending to hot. Fortunately, the audience was sitting in the cool of the trees and knolls. Eating the doughnuts that we brought 🍩 and drinking craft beers.

Celebrating Dolly

It was a bittersweet show, because it was the first time we'd played after losing Dolly Parton. Though of course, we didn't 'lose' Dolly Parton any more than we've lost J.S. Bach or John Lennon. It's just, as a friend said, "How extraordinary that we got to be alive for most of Dolly's life." In just one rehearsal the day before, we'd thrown together her song, "Will He Be Waiting For Me," and Leah, she sang the stuffing out of it. The crowd loved it, we were proud to play it.

We also donated all of our merch sales and some of our tips ($75 total) to Dolly's Imagination Library. As I told the assembled multitude, "One out of seven American kids under the age of five is getting a free book every month from Imagination Library. But the federal government and many state governments are cutting funding to it. Why? Because, friends, there's nothing more dangerous than a kid with a book. You give a kid a book and they start having ideas, thoughts, and dreams. It gets much harder to lead 'em around by the nose." 

If you miss Dolly like we do, send a few dollars to Imagination Library. Thank you a lot.

Another thing the crowd loved was the Seldom Scene song penned by Wendy Special Thatcher, "Another Lonesome Day." That was the other tune we'd learned the previous week, and it instantly became one of my set list favorites. It's an exquisite little jewel so we stripped it down to Chris and me on guitar and bass, with Jeremy fingerpicking guitar during Chris's solo. Other than that, it was Jeremy, Leah, and John channeling Starling, Duffy, and Auldridge around the mic.

The trio harmony gave me chills, and obviously the audience got it too – they broke into spontaneous applause after the second verse.

Probably the biggest crowd reaction was reserved for one that John sang. We premiered it at the CBA Father's Day Festival, and this was only its second time out. No spoilers here, but ask our fans about 'Cowboys.' Hint: the words, "Save a horse..." don't appear in the song.

I like to finish these with gratitudes, so...

Matt Lauer, thank you for making us part of your bluegrass constellation. We're proud to be in your army of musicians waging peace, love, and harmony around the Bay.

Nick Khadder, for taking time away from being the sound engineer for Sweet Sally to do sound for us. It was awesome, in spite of the wind issues (who knew San Francisco could be windy?). Nick also has some kind of chief counsel side hustle thing.

Don and Patti for the photos and the relentless support.

Critical Grass fans old and new who applauded, laughed, cheered, and dropped money in the tip jars. Your applause and smiles are the fuel that keep us going. I mean, along with the Snowy Plover that Jeremy and Leah brought me from Andytown Coffee. Lord have mercy, what a drink.

Postscript

As I was sipping my Snowy Plover and packing up, my phone rang...

It was 1967 calling. It said, "Groovy, man. ✌🏽☮."