I was thinking sedge but I can’t find any quite that hairy. Clearly an evergreen because it is still pretty brown here.

In colder winter climates, evergreen forms of Carex (and even liriope for that matter) can get pretty beat up and shaggy/hairy looking.

Perhaps Carex oshimensis?

The thing to do is wait for the bloom

Perhaps Luzula ?

Yes, good thought.

Ok off to search - thanks for the hints...Somewhere I have a dusty little tome on grasses and sedges.

Luzula is a very good possibility!! In fact, that little kernal (seed pod, flower bud, whatever) in the center of the last photo looks very like similar structures often found with this species.

if you cant find the book.. here is one way to do it ... take the latin to a search engine.. then flip to images .. ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=Luzula&iax=images&ia=images

Luzula sylvatica could fit, European, I think

the others are much smaller (L luzuloides or L nivea)

and it was a resilient grass that even thrived on Berlin area sandy soils, near/ under trees

I need to check the hardiness of Luzula.