The Freight serves up a second helping of San Francisco Bluegrass & Old-Time Festival goodness. Come get yourself a heaping plateful at tonight's Bluegrass Buffet, featuring Circle R Boys, Dyad, and The Earl Brothers.

The Earl Brothers, a four-piece, all-original string band, have a difficult-to-pigeonhole sound that some have described as "Hillbilly Gothic." Combining old-time respect with an avant-garde attitude, the group offers up tunes about death, drinking, chasing and losing women — and an occasional honky-tonk gospel to atone for their transgressions.

Acclaimed Vancouver, B.C. stringband Dyad digs deep into the song and instrumental traditions of Appalachia and comes up with something timeless. Kori Miyanishi (vocals, banjo, guitar, fiddle, jaw harp), Leah Abramson (vocals, guitar), and Shiho Mizumoto (fiddles), produce an intense, haunting sound that is sometimes stark, often chilling, and absolutely beguiling.

The Circle R Boys have been playing fast, hard-driving traditional-style bluegrass in and around the Bay Area since 1999. The fine vocal harmonies and good, clean pickin' of veteran bluegrass players Bob Waller (guitar), Steve Pottier (mandolin), Paul Bernstein (banjo), and Josh Hadley (bass) have graced stages from the Atlas Cafe and the Plough and Stars in S.F. to The Bistro in Hayward.