By Art Menius, February 19, 2012

Looks like the Warren Hellman Fest has reached its end – Emmy Lou Harris, Kevin Welch and Keiran Kane, Buddy Miller, John Doe, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Robert Earl Keen, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Old Crow Medicine Show and stage for the finale. Earlier Steve Earle, John Doe, Boz Scaggs, and Dry Branch Fire Squad performed.

From the free webcast of the free outdoor festival, I have no way of estimating the size of the audience. People went back as far as he camera could capture. Two stages kept the show moving swiftly to its conclusion with the Go to Hell Man Clan singing “I’ll Fly Away” and “Big Rock Candy Mountain.” The weather broke sunny, fortunately, for the event at the beach, rather than the rechristened Hellman Hollow where Hardly Strictly will continue each October.