What do John Hartford, Black Sabbath, David Grisman, and a little bit of The Monkees all have in common? Musically, not too much, other than they all have a fan in Billy Strings, who on Friday in Bridgeport, CT stitched together a 30-plus minute string of titillating covers.
Friday’s show at Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater was relatively light cover-wise for Billy and his cohorts. Of the 26 songs played across two sets and an encore, only 9 were written by other artists. Strings and his bandmates made their selections count during the second set, kicking off the stream of tributes with John Hartford’s “I’m Still Here”.
The classic cover served as a springboard for improvisation, with Strings taking a slight detour into The Monkees’ “Last Train To Clarksville” (perhaps inspired by his hog head hat) for a brief tease before a full-blown segue into Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan”. The juxtaposition of the progressive bluegrass song and the spacey psych-rock wandering highlighted the musical diversity that informs Strings’ unique artistic identity, with the bluegrass guitarist bringing it all around with David Grisman‘s “E.M.D. (Eat My Dust)”.
Related: Billy Strings Hangs With Fans In The Parking Lot Ahead Of North Carolina Opener [Videos]
Check out a video of the full 31-minute movement below along with full-show, pro-shot footage and some other fan-shot clips from Billy Strings in Bridgeport. The band is due in Essex Junction, VT tonight, July 22nd, to kick off a two-night run at Midway Lawn at Champlain Valley Expo. The show is sold-out, but nugs.net subscribers can tune in for complimentary livestreams of Strings’ remaining U.S. summer tour dates.
Billy Strings – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater – Bridgeport, CT – 7/21/23 [Set 1]
Billy Strings – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater – Bridgeport, CT – 7/21/23 [Set 2]
Billy Strings – “I’m Still Here” (John Hartford) > “Planet Caravan” (Black Sabbath) > “E.M.D. (Eat My Dust)” (David Grisman) – 7/21/23
[Video: Amy Karibian]
Setlist: Billy Strings | Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater | Bridgeport, CT | 7/21/23
Set One The Fire On My Tongue > Know It All, Tennessee Stud (Jimmie Driftwood), Long Forgotten Dream, All Of Tomorrow, Turmoil & Tinfoil, This Old World, Heartbeat Of America, In The Morning Light, West Dakota Rose (Chris Henry), 99 Years (Is Almost For Life) (Louise Certain, Gladys Stacey), Dust In A Baggie
Set Two: Taking Water > Running, My Alice, California Sober, Ole Slewfoot (Johnny Horton), Show Me The Door, I’m Still Here [1] (John Hartford) > Planet Caravan (Black Sabbath) > E.M.D. (Eat My Dust) (David Grisman), Nothing’s Working Red Daisy, On The Line > Train 45 (Traditional)
Encore: Y’all Come (Arlie Duff)
[1] “Last Train To Clarksville” (The Monkees) tease