Hilary Gardner and The Lonesome Pines: On the Trail

Hilary Gardner and The Lonesome Pines make their San Francisco debut at Keys Jazz Bistro on October 5. Fresh from appearances at NYC’s Dizzy’s Club (Jazz at Lincoln Center) and Birdland and a summer tour to the Rochester International Jazz Festival and stages in London and Venice, the group brings its evocative sound—singing to the heart of the nostalgic American West—to San Francisco for one night only.  

Alaska-raised, New York City-based vocalist Hilary Gardner and her band, The Lonesome Pines, transport audiences to the nostalgic heart of the American West. The group has performed to sold-out houses in some of New York City’s most esteemed venues, including Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center and Birdland.

Their debut album, On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines (Anzic Records), was produced by Eli Wolf (Norah Jones, Cassandra Wilson, Willie Nelson), and features songs by jazz and film composers like Johnny Mercer, Frank Loesser,  Benny Carter, and other stalwarts of the Great American Songbook. On the Trail won the 2025 Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Traditional Western Album and was #7 on The Times (U.K.) list of the 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2024.

The group’s live shows paint high spirited and harmonious soundscapes of the archetypal cowboy’s life on the trail—replete with pale dawns, purple hills, and the high lonesome feeling of camping out beneath a vast, star-filled sky. Says Gardner, “These songs remind us that the answers to many of life’s big questions can be found in contemplative solitude, the beauty of the natural world, and the arms of a loved one.”

Personnel: Hilary Gardner (vocals); Justin Poindexter (guitar, vocals); Sasha Papernik (accordion, vocals); bass and drums TBC