Thanksgiving is a great time to reconnect with family, which unfortunately means all your favorite bands are doing the same. To entertain fans during the holiday concert lull and save them from the impending march of Christmas music, Billy Strings has launched a new series of live videos, Andy’s Apples. Premiering daily on Strings’ YouTube channel, the series highlights some of sound engineer Andy Lytle‘s favorite moments from 2024.
Stay tuned for more Andy’s Apples videos throughout the week, with Billy Strings teasing “Might even have something else baking for you on Thursday…” After Thanksgiving, Billy will get back on the road with shows in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas leading up to his three-night New Year’s run in New Orleans. Find tickets here and try your luck on the secondary market for his sold-out dates. nugs subscribers can relive Strings’ recent fall tour with newly added audio of all eight shows. Not a nugs subscriber yet? Sign up for a seven-day free trial here.
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Asheville, NC – Night Two – 2/17/24
Billy Strings has a long and fruitful history with Asheville, NC. Given the city’s ongoing cleanup efforts following the devastating Hurricane Helene, it makes sense that Andy’s Apples would take root in the Western North Carolina music hub. For the first selection, Andy highlighted Billy’s second of three nights in Asheville back in February. Strings’ eighth career show at the 7,200-capacity downtown ExploreAsheville.com Arena opened up with the freight train of Larry Sparks‘ “Slow Train”, and would feature two more train songs before the evening’s end with “Streamline Cannonball” and finally the “Ridin’ That Midnight Train” encore.
Throughout the show, Billy nodded to his history of Halloween runs at the downtown arena, including Frank Wakefield‘s “End of the Rainbow” in the first set and taking the stage to “Concerning Hobbits” from The Lord of the Rings to start the second. Elsewhere, Strings explored his psychedelic influences with a jam on Jimi Hendrix‘s “Third Stone from the Sun” and the drippingly lysergic intro to “Heartbeat of America”. Bassist Royal Masat provided a sensual bass solo in “Lumpy, Beanpole, & Dirt” and the band ventured into the heart of darkness with Leon Payne‘s “Psycho” which ran right into “Pyramid Country” for an improvisational highlight of the night before a rowdy “Ole Slew Foot” in the heart of black bear country closed the set.
Revisit Billy Strings’ February 17th, 2024 show in Asheville below. Strings and his band will return to Asheville in February for a six-night run spread across two weekends. Tickets are sold out, but you can try your hand on CashOrTrade or StubHub.
Billy Strings — ExploreAsheville.com Arena — Asheville, NC — 2/17/24 — Full Show
Setlist: Billy Strings | ExploreAsheville.com Arena | Asheville, NC | 2/17/24
Set One: Slow Train, Taking Water > End Of The Rainbow, My Alice, Bound To Ride, John Deere Tractor, Long Forgotten Dream, The Fire On My Tongue [1], Drifter’s Escape, Dust In A Baggie
Set Two: Hello, City Limits [2], Heartbeat Of America, Along The Road, Streamline Cannonball, Enough To Leave, Lumpy, Beanpole, & Dirt, Bronzeback [3], Must Be Seven > Psycho > Pyramid Country > Ole Slewfoot
Encore: Ridin’ That Midnight Train [4]
[1] “Third Stone From The Sun” (Jimi Hendrix) tease
[2] “Concerning Hobbits” (Howard Shore) intro
[3] “The Fellowship” (Howard Shore) intro
[4] “Mountain Folks” (Ralph Stanley) intro
St. Augustine, FL – Night Three – 4/21/24
Another fan-favorite regular stop for Billy Strings is the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in Florida. Since making his debut there in March 2021 for his first concerts post-lockdown, St. Augustine has become an annual tradition for Strings, and for the past two years has aligned with the high holiday day of April 20th. After invoking the patron saints of stoners Cheech & Chong on the 20th, Billy and company’s Sunday closer pitted the band against nature as they raged against a pouring Florida rainstorm.
Though most of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre is covered by an overhead canopy, those in the far back of the sold-out venue were still subject to the elements as the rain picked up in the second set. For those diehard fans, Strings and his bandmates unleashed a mighty “Thunder” that honored recently departed Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dicky Betts with a tease of “Jessica”. The dreary ambiance seeped into the setlist with Blaze Foley‘s bleak “Cold Cold World” and the Grateful Dead-adjacent “Dark Hollow”, before Strings closed the run with a three-song encore featuring the first reading of Jerry Garcia and David Grisman‘s traditional “Dreadful Wind & Rain” in 60 shows.
Revisit Billy Strings’ April 21st, 2024 show at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in the videos below.
Billy Strings — St. Augustine Amphitheatre — St. Augustine, FL — 4/21/24 — Full Show
Setlist: Billy Strings | St. Augustine Amphitheatre | St. Augustine, FL | 4/21/24
Set 1: Southbound, E.M.D. (Eat My Dust), Hellbender, Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down, In the Clear, Turmoil & Tinfoil, In The Morning Light, Slipstream, Doin’ Things Right [1], My Alice, Down Yonder, Everything’s The Same, Rank Stranger, Seven Weeks in County
Set 2: Psycho, Away From The Mire, New Country Blues, Escanaba, Thunder [2][3], Heartbeat Of America [4], How Long Have I Been Waiting On You? [5], Freedom [5], Cold Cold World, Dark Hollow, Ralph’s Banjo Special, Secrets, Encore, Nutshell, Dreadful Wind & Rain, Tennessee
[1] “Eleanor Rigby” (Beatles) teases
[2] Pouring rain outside of cover
[3] “Jessica” (Allman Brothers Band) tease
[4] “Who Knows?” (Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys) teases
[5] Full band around single mic
State College, PA – Night Two – 8/3/24
After celebrating the announcement of his new album Highway Prayers the night prior, Billy Strings returned to the Bryce Jordan Center in State Colleg, PA to finish off a two-night weekend run on Saturday, August 3rd. Perhaps looking into their crystal ball and seeing Highway Prayers‘ chart-topping future, Strings and company played with intensity as they delivered time-honored mountain music from Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, and Jimmie Skinner in the first set. An exploratory first set-closing “Highway Hypnosis” set the course for the second frame, highlighted by a run of Billy’s first “Let the Cocaine Be” in 121 shows, setting off a non-stop movement through “Must Be Seven”, “Psycho”, and “Hide and Seek”, immediately followed up by Widespread Panic‘s “All Time Low” into Billy Failing‘s “So Many Miles” and all the way down through Jackson Browne‘s “Running on Empty” and finally an explosive “Train 45” ending.
Revisit Billy Strings’ August 3rd, 2024 show in State College, PA with new full-show videos from the Andy’s Apple series.
Billy Strings — Bryce Jordan Center — State College, PA — 8/3/24 — Full Show
Setlist: Billy Strings | Bryce Jordan Center | State College, PA | 8/3/24
Set One: Bronzeback, Know It All, Watch It Fall, Doin’ My Time (Jimmie Skinner), Heartbeat Of America, The Lonesome River (The Stanley Brothers), Charlie’s Birthday Breakdown, Show Me The Door, Northern White Clouds (Bill Monroe), Love Like Me, Highway Hypnosis
Set Two: Give The Fiddler A Dram (Traditional) [1], Whistling Rufus (Kerry Mills) [1], Ragtime Annie (Traditional) [1], Catch and Release, Dos Banjos [2], In the Clear, Let The Cocaine Be (Traditional) [3] [4] > Must Be Seven > Psycho (Eddie Noack) > Hide and Seek [5], All Time Low (Widespread Panic) [6] > So Many Miles [7] > Hollow Heart, Running On Empty (Jackson Browne) > Southern Flavor (Bill Monroe) [8] > Love Me Darlin’, Just Tonight (The Stanley Brothers), Train 45 (Traditional)
[1] Billy Strings solo front of stage
[2] Dos Billys on Dos Banjos
[3] Last Time Played 2023-03-07 | 121 shows
[4] Billy shouts, “Here’s how Terry Barber did it,” before ripping into a solo he’s heard since his childhood
[5] “Third Stone From the Sun” (Jimi Hendrix) tease
[6] “In the Morning Light” fakeout intro
[7] Billy Failing on lead vocals
[8] “Oh, Pretty Woman” (Roy Orbison) tease
Clarkston, MI – Night One – 10/4/24
As if Billy Strings’ two-night run at Clarkston, MI’s Pine Knob Music Theatre about 100 miles from where he grew up in Muir wasn’t sentimental enough, they were also his first shows following the birth of his first child River. As if that wasn’t sentimental enough, the freshly minted 32-year-old guitarist brought out his dad and musical mentor Terry Barber for a wholesome full-circle moment on night one.
Mr. Barber came out for a good chunk of the first set, joining his starchild for a string of bluegrass traditionals including “Don’t Step Over an Old Love”, “Dream of a Miner’s Child”, and “Blue Ridge Mountain Blues” all while basking in the glow of tens of thousands adoring fans. Outside of the Dad sit-in, the Clarkston opener saw plenty of other highlights including huge jams on “Turmoil and Tinfoil” and a nearly 40-minute pairing of “Pyramid Country” >”Meet Me At the Creek”, the debuts of Highway Prayers tracks “Don’t Be Calling ME (at 4 aM)” and “Gild the Lily”, and plenty more.
Revisit Billy Strings’ October 4th, 2024 show in Clarkston, MI with full-show videos from the Andy’s Apples series.
Billy Strings — Pine Knob Music Theatre — Clarkston, MI — 10/4/24 — Full Video
Setlist: Billy Strings | Pine Knob Music Theatre | Clarkston, MI | 10/4/24
Set One: Big River (Johnny Cash)[1], Know It All > Ridin’ That Midnight Train (Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys), Turmoil & Tinfoil, Don’t Be Calling Me (at 4 AM)[2][3], In The Morning Light, All Time Low (Widespread Panic), Gild the Lily[2], Don’t Step Over an Old Love (The Stanley Brothers)[4][5][6], Dream of a Miner’s Child (Andrew Jenkins)[4][7], Summertime (George & Ira Gershwin)[4][6], Blue Ridge Mountain Blues (Traditional)[4][8], Don’t Neglect the Rose (Emma Smith With Larry Sparks)[4][6][9], The Fire On My Tongue > Bronzeback
Set Two: Likes Of Me (Jerry Reed)[1] > Must Be Seven[10] > Pyramid Country, Meet Me At The Creek, My Alice, Seven Weeks in County > Red Daisy, Hellbender > Doin’ Things Right > Southern Flavor (Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys)
[1] Last Time Played 2022-10-30 | 166 Shows
[2] Debut – Original
[3] Billy shared the story behind the new song, released on Highway Prayers
[4] w/ Dad
[5] FTP – Fred Stryker
[6] Terry Barber (Dad) on lead vocals
[7] FTP – Andrew Jenkins
[8] Last Time Played 2022-06-23 | 209 Shows
[9] FTP – Emma Smith w/ Larry Sparks
[10] “Pyramid Country” Fakeout Intro
Baltimore, MD – O Billy, Where Art Thou? – 10/31/24
Few bands (besides Phish) take Halloween as seriously as Billy Strings. Ever since transitioning to an arena act, Strings has topped himself with one themed holiday celebration after another. After charging out of COVID in 2021 with a Wizard of Oz run in Asheville followed by Away From the Shire the next year, Strings distilled his three-night cinematic engagements into a one-night-only extravaganza for 2023’s Van Andel Scramble on his home turf in Grand Rapids, MI. For 2024, Strings returned to the video store for a nearly four-hour, star-studded retelling of the Coen Brothers classic O Brother, Where Art Thou? in Baltimore.
Upping the ante of his usual cast of guest stars Sierra Hull, Lindsay Lou, and Duane Trucks (among others) alongside bluegrass luminaries Jerry Douglas and Vince Herman, Strings’ staging was made all the more faithful with appearances by original cast members Tim Blake Nelson and Chris Thomas King, as well as the fabled soundtrack’s producer T-Bone Burnett. With nearly a dozen debuts ranging from traditional folk songs to Steve Miller Band, theatrical recreations of the Homer-esque plot, and Billy’s coup de grâce use of a double neck guitar to go full Led Zeppelin, Strings and his team managed to raise the self-imposed bar yet again.
Revisit Billy Strings’ 2024 O Billy, Where Art Thou? Halloween production in Baltimore with full videos of sets one and two.
Billy Strings — CFG Bank Arena — Baltimore, MD — 10/31/24 — Full Show
Setlist: Billy Strings | CFG Bank Arena | Baltimore, MD | 10/31/24
Set One: Richard Petty [1] [2], Lonesome Road Blues (Traditional) [3], Big Rock Candy Mountain (Harry McClintock) [4] [5], Running The Route > Running, You Are My Sunshine (The Pine Ridge Boys) [6] [7], Down To The River To Pray (Traditional) [3] [8] [9], Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues (Traditional) [10] [11] [12] [13], Gravedigger Gonna Cut You Down (Traditional) [14] [15], Take The Money And Run (Steve Miller Band) [16] [17], Keep On The Sunny Side (Traditional) [18] [19]
Set Two: I’ll Fly Away (Albert B. Brumley) [8] [20] [21], In The Highways (I’ll Be Working For My Lord) (Maybell Carter) [22] [23], Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby (Traditional) [3] [8] [24], Meet Me At The Creek > Spinning > Planet Caravan (Black Sabbath) [25] > Hide And Seek [26] [27], I Am Weary (Let Me Rest) (The Country Gentlemen) [28] [29], Man Of Constant Sorrow (Emry Arthur) [30], In The Jailhouse Now (Traditional) [3] [31], Let In A Little Light (Leftover Salmon) [33] [34], When The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash) [35] [36], O Death (Traditional) [3] [37], When The Levee Breaks (Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy) [38] [39]
Encore: Angel Band (Traditional) [40] [41]
[1] Band (minus Alex) around single mic front of stage
[2] Chain gang hammering rocks, keeping the beat
[3] FTP – Traditional
[4] FTP – Harry McClintock
[5] Prisoners are freed from their chains and on the run; deputies are looking for them
[6] FTP – The Pine Ridge Boys
[7] Crowd sing along
[8] Performed by Sierra Hull (Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist), Lindsay Lou (Bluegrass and Americana singer and songwriter), and Rachael Davis (multi-instrumentalist)
[9] w/ congregation dancers circling them while singing
[10] Duo Billy Strings w/ Chris Thomas King (New Orleans Grammy and Country Music Award winning blues guitarist, actor, and author)
[11] FTP – Skip James
[12] Chris Thomas King on lead vocals
[13] Billy Strings on a Paul Beard Resonator Legacy E Squareneck Guitar
[14] w/ Chris Thomas King on lead vocals and Duane Trucks (Widespread Panic drummer)
[15] FTP – Fairfield Four
[16] w/ Cris Jacobs (Local American singer and songwriter) on guitar , Jerry Douglas (dobro), Duane Trucks (drums), Royal on electric bass guitar and Billy on his PRS Electric
[17] FTP – Steve Miller Band
[18] Last Time Played 2023-12-29 | 49 Shows
[19] w/ Billy on his PRS Electric Guitar, Royal on electric bass guitar and Duane Trucks on drums
[20] FTP – Albert E. Brumley
[21] w/ an aerial dancer suspended center stage with aerial hoop
[22] Billy Strings Duo w/ trio of children
[23] FTP – Maybelle Carter
[24] Sirens circling artists on stage w/ jugs of alcohol and full of temptation
[25] w/ Duane Trucks (drums)
[26] “Safety Dance” (Men Without Hats) tease
[27] Cyclops defeated and carried off stage
[28] w/ Nat Smith (cello), Lindsay Lou (guitar, vocals), Sierra Hull (mandolin, vocals), and Rachael Davis (vocals)
[29] Last Time Played 2012-03-23 | 1373 Shows
[30] Alex Hargreaves solo instrumental
[31] w/ Tim Blake Nelson (American actor and director) on lead vocals and Jerry Douglas (Dobro)
[32] Last Time Played 2022-05-06 | 225 Shows
[33] FTP – Leftover Salmon
[34] w/ Vince Herman on lead vocals (and on guitar) & Jerry Douglas (dobro)
[35] w/ T. Bone Burnett (American Producer and Guitarist) on guitar and lead vocals
[36] FTP – Johnny Cash
[37] Jailers taking away band while Billy Strings sings solo a capella front of stage
[38] w/ Billy on a Gibson Custom EDS-1275 Double Neck Electric Guitar Cherry Red, Cris Jacobs (electric guitar), Duane Trucks (drums), Lindsay Lou sharing lead vocals and Jerry Douglas (dobro)
[39] FTP – Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy
[40] w/ Everyone minus the children
[41] Last Time Played 2023-12-29 | 49 Shows
“MORBUD4ME” Music Video
[Full Coverage]: Billy Strings Shares Official Music Video For Stoner Anthem “MORBUD4ME” [Watch]
To mix things up on Turkey Day, Strings shared a new official music video for Highway Prayers track “MORBUD4ME”. Thanksgiving was surprisingly productive for Billy as the music video dropped hours before his debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for “Seven Weeks In County”.
The song is among the more unusual selections from the 20-track Highway Prayers. Of particular note, “MORBUD4ME” features no conventional instruments. Instead, the song’s simple, percussive backbone was created by sampling the sounds of getting stoned: The track’s personnel listing notes that Billy Strings contributed “Vocals, Bong, Lighter, Grinder, Papers, Bowl, Jar, and Cough” to the recording.
GQ‘s Grayson Haver Currin noted in a recent Highway Prayers-focused feature on Strings, the concept for the song began as a joke but was guided to fruition by the album’s decorated producer, Jon Brion. As the GQ piece explains, “Strings first arrived in Los Angeles without his band, giving himself space to try anything. When he looped the sounds of a bong and lighter and sang two verses celebrating weed over the top, for instance, it was a lark. But Brion was fascinated by the hint of pop novelty, so he encouraged Strings to write a bridge and third verse. It became ‘MORBUD4ME,’ a slow-motion hymn to weed and oblivion bolstered, hilariously, with gospel harmonies. ‘I personally felt it was an instant classic,’ Brion says, laughing.”
Watch Billy Strings’ new music video for “MORBUD4ME” from Highway Prayers.
Billy Strings – “MORBUD4ME” (Official Music Video)
Huntsville, AL – Night One – 10/18/24
[Full Coverage]: Billy Strings Kicks Fall Tour Into High Gear On Night One In Alabama [Video]
For his fall tour’s penultimate run, Billy Strings and his band set up shop at Huntsville, AL’s Greek Coliseum the Orion Amphitheater. Though the band’s second show would feature sit-ins by members of Leftover Salmon—repaying the favor after Strings sat in with them earlier that day—the latest Andy’s Apples release is instead the guest-free first night. While special guest appearances are always a titillating surprise, it’s hard to rival the 15-minute “Hide and Seek” that opened the first show. That was only the beginning, as the band rocketed through a 25-song show replete with deep dives on “Lumpy, Beanpole and Dirt”, “Heartbeat of America”, and a 26-minute “Meet Me at the Creek” centerpiece of the second set.
Revisit Billy Strings’ first of two nights in Huntsville, AL with full-show videos from the Andy’s Apples series.
Billy Strings —Orion Amphitheater — Huntsville, AL — 10/18/24 — Full Show
Setlist: Billy Strings | Orion Amphitheater | Huntsville, AL | 10/18/24
Set One: Hide and Seek, Cabin Song, Lumpy, Beanpole, & Dirt [1], Seney Stretch, This Old World, Ernest T. Grass, Bringing In The Georgia Mail, Heartbeat Of America [2], I’ve Just Seen The Rock Of Ages, Dust In A Baggie
Set Two: Leadfoot [3], In the Clear, Harbor of Love, Watch It Fall, Slow Train, My Love Come Rolling Down, Meet Me At The Creek, Standing In The Need Of Prayer [5], If Your Hair Is Too Long, There’s Sin In Your Heart [4], Happy Hollow, Sophronie, Don’t Be Calling Me (at 4 AM), Away From The Mire
Encore: And Am I Born To Die? [5], Ole Slew Foot
[1] “Death Trip” (Bad Livers) tease
[2] “Who Knows” (Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys) tease
[3] Billy on his Masterton ML-1: Missing Link Béla Fleck Baritone Banjo & Billy Failing on guitar
[4] Full band front of stage around single mic
[5] Billy Strings solo a capella (band on stage)