Billy Strings and his whip-crack sharp band brought their spring tour to Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky for a two-night weekend stand in the Bluegrass State. Strings and his fellow players Jarrod Walker on mandolin, Alex Hargreaves on fiddle, Billy Failing on banjo, and Royal Masat on bass are all remarkably well steeped in bluegrass music, its history, traditions and the hallmarks of this American art form for folks their relatively youthful age. Truth be told this was clearly something they were not taking lightly.
There have been many, many people, bands, stations, and more who each contributed to Kentucky becoming such a mecca for the art form and genre, starting of course with mandolinist Bill Monroe. Favorite son and native Kentuckian Monroe named his backing band “The Bluegrass Boys” and is rightly credited with popularizing the name for generations to come. Of his creation, Monroe said “Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin’. It’s Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It’s blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound.”
That said, bluegrass is a wonderful musical crossroads of traditional songs from the Anglo-Saxon settlements founded by European settlers. These traditional songs were combined with the spirit of the enslaved Africans and their instrumentation that were so vital in helping them mentally survive the culture shock and unrelenting nightmare of their situation and subjugation, mixed with the inspiration of a new nation forming and the results of that cultural blend. The resultant multi-dimensional foundation, with the modern elements of “jamgrass” added by the last few generations of players like John Hartford and the New Grass Revival, paved the roads Strings is currently blasting down at record speeds.
Billy Strings is surely aware of all of this and spent the weekend doing his best to honor that spirit, the teachings of the genre he received from his parents and his subsequent ascension to the first true bluegrass worldwide sensation of the modern era. With all that in mind, let’s look at what Strings and his band accomplished over the weekend at the storied Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington.
Friday, April 26th
Strings took the stage literally howling, with the first of many songs, “Hellbender”, paying tribute to Kentucky. After a fiery and frenetic “Dust In A Baggie”, Billy addressed a joyfully vocal and appreciative audience about the honor it was to play in the bluegrass state, his deep respect of Monroe and his creation, and his and the band’s collective gratitude for the opportunity. The rueful “Be Your Man” quickly gave way to the first standout jam of the weekend, a one-two of fan favorites “Thirst Mutilator” and “Cabin Song”.
Billy Strings – “Hellbender”, “Dust In A Baggie” [Pro-Shot] – 4/26/24
Reaching out beyond the traditional Strings dropped a pair of covers from far-ranging sources, Seattle grunge rock heyday precursors Mother Love Bone (“Crown Of Thorns“) and iconoclast banjo wizard Béla Fleck (“Tentacle Dragon (Revenge Of The)”) that wowed the audience. From there the band made short work of “Taking Water” and “Hollow Heart” before cautiously taking an audience request for Monroe’s “My Rose Of Kentucky” while Strings qualified they weren’t sure they wouldn’t fudge the lyrics. Staying in the region for the next few tunes they visited Charlie Moore & The Dixie Partners’ “Kentucky Girl” before popping down to Tennessee for a lovely “Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor” that featured a wonderful mandolin/bass breakdown. To close out the set Strings and company had a fierce Bad Livers/Bill Monroe sandwich, by-way-of the late great Jeff Austin’s takes on “Pretty Daughter” which flowed seamlessly into “Kentucky Mandolin” back into “Pretty Daughter” that blew more than a few minds.
Billy Strings – “Pretty Daughter” (Bad Livers) – 4/26/24
[Video: MB1 Music]
If there’s anything more authentic “blue-grassy” than someone with a clawhammer banjo picking out a peppy take on the traditional “Crawdad Hole” I surely don’t know what it is. That said, after rolling through “Bronzeback”, “Know It All”, and “Red Rocking Chair” (the Doc and Merle Watson version) before getting a little more contemporary with Jerry Reed’s “Likes Of Me”, their own signature jam “ Pyramid Country” and another dip into the Ralph Stanley catalog answering the age-old question of “How Mountain Girls Can Love” Strings reminded me, and the rest of the audience, that there were levels to bluegrass as in all things.
Gathering around a center mic, Strings noted that not only were they in “The Bluegrass State” they were also in “The Bluegrass ‘State Of Mind’” and asked for it to be as “Quiet as a church mouse.” Carefully placing themselves to physically as well as musically blend their instruments and voices, Hargreaves stood a step off to focus on his fanciest fiddlin’ when needed, the men showed off their impressive four-part harmony skills with a beautiful “Richard Petty” before tearing into a delightful acoustic “Uncle Pen” that would have won them as many fans a hundred years ago as it did Friday night.
Speedy takes on “Blues Stay Away From Me” from The Delmore Brothers and “These Memories Of You” flew by before a blistering “Wargasm” got truly wild and pert near feral. To close out the second set Strings did one of music’s most fearful tasks and went solo acapella for Doc Watson’s “And Am I Born To Die?” before joining the rest of the already departed band backstage. Not one to leave a crowd on such a heavy note Strings and his stellar sidemen came back out for a raucous, high, and twangy take on Jimmy Martin’s “Sophronie”. After that it was just a matter of a final round of band intros, an arm-in-arm bow, and a hopeful “See ya tomorrow before” Strings, and the band retreated for a little rest before round two.
Setlist: Billy Strings | Rupp Arena | Lexington, KY | 4/26/24
Set One: Hellbender, Dust In A Baggie, Be Your Man, Thirst Mutilator > Cabin Song, Crown Of Thorns (Mother Love Bone) > Tentacle Dragon (Revenge Of The) (Bela Fleck), Taking Water, Hollow Heart, My Rose Of Old Kentucky (Bill Monroe) [1], Kentucky Girl (Charlie Moore) [2], Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor (Traditional), Pretty Daughter (Bad Livers)> Kentucky Mandolin (Bill Monroe)> Pretty Daughter (Bad Livers)
Set Two: Crawdad Hole [3], Bronzeback, Know It All, Red Rocking Chair (Doc & Merle Watson), Likes Of Me (Jerry Reed) > Pyramid Country [4], How Mountain Girls Can Love (Stanley Brothers), Richard Petty [5], Uncle Pen [6], Blues Stay Away From Me (Delmore Brothers), These Memories Of You, Wargasm, And Am I Born To Die? (Doc Watson) [7]
Encore: Sophronie (Alton Delmore)
[1] LTP 9/24/22, 153 Shows ago
[2] LTP 7/23/22, 176 Shows ago
[3] Billy Strings solo on clawhammer banjo
[4] “I Can See Clearly Now” (Johnny Nash) tease
[5] Full band minus Alex around single mic
[6] Full band around single mic
[7] Billy Strings solo a cappella
Saturday, April 27th
“Howdy folks!” Aside from the enthusiastic greeting, no other preamble was needed by Billy Strings and his band for Saturday’s installment of the two-night run and the band came in firing on all cylinders. Walker and Strings were both particularly keen-edged from the start with Masat providing the bedrock under their melodic magic. Looking to set the tone immediately Strings and company dropped a three-song “The Fire On My Tongue” > “Must Be Seven” > “Meet Me At The Creek” that was an alchemy of everything this stellar band does best.
Billy Strings – “The Fire On My Tongue” > “Must Be Seven” > “Meet Me At The Creek” [Pro-Shot] – 4/27/24
Speaking of bluegrass and its traditions, a couple of them—specifically murder ballads and storytelling tunes—collided in the fourth tune, “My Alice”. “You folks doing okay tonight?” Billy asked as he tuned his poor abused guitar to sonic satisfaction in time for “In The Clear”. As the modern audience got down to a song that would have easily been a hit in previous generations, fiddler Hargreaves bewitched all within earshot with his precision bowing and emotive tone. Hargreaves didn’t do anything that couldn’t have been pulled off way back then but the heart he displayed with his bowing would certainly have been just as spellbinding.
“Highway Hypnosis” is the best example of the band’s synthesis of the genre’s past, present, and future. Waves of psychedelia mixed with traditional high-speed picking and modern lyrical sensibilities seamlessly. Following that, “Escanaba” had such a stellar bass and fiddle duet that Strings himself was noticeably moved, and Billy shouted out his fiddler directly after with a decided air of respect.
An echo-drenched vocals take on Led Zeppelin’s “Four Sticks” came and went opening the door for some pure bluegrass goodness from Ralph Stanley (“ A Robin Built A Nest On Daddy’s Grave”) and the timeless, quick step “On The Line” before wrapping the set with a wild “Train 45” that left the audience breathless and more than a little overheated.
After the break and a speedy run through Bill Monroe’s take on the traditional, “Dusty Miller” it was time for the cat-and-mouse chase of “Fire Line” which had a lovely psychedelic stretch courtesy of Hargreaves and a quick ride on “Reuben’s Train”.
During a tuning lull, Billy welcomed the weekend’s only special guest, vocalist and percussionist Miles Miller, for an extended sit-in that added a welcome layer of depth and complexity to the proceedings. Though Miller is resting his voice thanks to some recent health issues he managed to borrow a snare drum and a set of jazz brushes to give him a vocally silent yet still sonically deadly way to participate in the proceedings. “California Sober” got snappier and “Midnight Train” got some welcome extra steam-powered locomotion…so much so that Strings found himself breaking out from behind his mic stand to shred at the front lip of the stage and let’r rip!
After Strings’ metaphorical “break out” it was time for a lovely, uptempo stretch as sentenced by Lester Flatts and Earl Scruggs for “99 Years (Is Almost For Life)” and a relatively quick “Seven Weeks in County”. Finally freed, Miller gave a little pep to a solid “Red Daisey” and took a silent, well-earned bow as he left, stage left. After some stunning lighting and visual work on “Away From The Mire”, it was a quick skip through “Long Forgotten Dream” and a ripping second set-closing “Hello, City Limits” a la Red Allen and The Kentuckian.
As we’ve mentioned Strings is a devout student of the bluegrass history books so it should come as no surprise that he dedicated the three-song encore to the memory of the recently passed mandolin maven Frank Wakefield. Their choices, “New Camptown Races”, “Leave Well Enough Alone”, and “End Of The Rainbow” gave the audience a fairly broad look at Wakefield’s catalog and more than enough impetus for one last boot scootin’ hoot as the band got their authentic bluegrass two steps on.
Billy Strings – “New Camptown Races” (Frank Wakefield), “Leave Well Enough Alone” (Frank Wakefield), “End Of The Rainbow” (Frank Wakefield) – 4/27/24
[Video: David Wolfe]
Monroe would certainly be off put by the psychedelic tangents that Billy goes off on, not to mention some of the subject matter of the modern material. That said, it’s a fair bet that the man would be proud to see the music and community he made and helped foster grow to the point that entire sports arenas were selling out more than a hundred years after his small town birth. Mind you…it takes a once-in-a-generation guitar firebrand like Billy Strings to make that engine go.
There is seemingly no cap for the size the remarkable sonic juggernaut Billy Strings and his band may yet achieve. Fans of the magic that started with Monroe and lives and breathes yet still today are truly blessed to be here for this moment in time.
Setlist: Billy Strings | Rupp Arena | Lexington, KY | 4/27/24
Set One: The Fire On My Tongue > Must Be Seven > Meet Me At The Creek, My Alice, In The Clear, Highway Hypnosis, Escanaba, Four Sticks (Led Zeppelin), A Robin Built A Nest On Daddy’s Grave (Ralph Stanley), On The Line, Train 45 (Traditional)
Set 2: Dusty Miller (Traditional), Fire Line > Reuben’s Train (Traditional), Nothing’s Working, While I’m Waiting Here, California Sober [1], Ridin’ That Midnight Train (Ralph Stanley) [1], 99 Years (Is Almost For Life) (Louise Certain, Gladys Stacey) [1], Seven Weeks in County [1], Red Daisy [1], Away From The Mire, Long Forgotten Dream, Hello, City Limits (Johnny Elgin, Benny Martin)
Encore: New Camptown Races (Frank Wakefield) [2], Leave Well Enough Alone (Frank Wakefield) [3], End Of The Rainbow(Frank Wakefield) [2]
[1] w/ Miles Miller on snare drum
[2] In memory of legendary and innovative mandolin player Frank Wakefield, who passed away 4/26/24
[3] FTP