Move over Wolf and ‘Gator, there’s a new-old historic guitar on the block. In newly shared footage from The Bluegrass Situation, Billy Strings gets his hands on Ol’ Hoss, a Gallagher acoustic guitar owned and played by bluegrass legend Doc Watson.

“It’s so cool to play this thing,” Strings gushes before playing folk traditional “John Henry”. “It really tripped me out earlier. I’ve been playing it for an hour now, I think I’ve finally come down. But I about had a panic attack when I first checked it out. Shed a few tears, and felt like Doc was in the room.”

The footage comes from Bryan Sutton‘s 2023 Blue Ridge Guitar Camp in Brevard, NC, just outside Asheville, and a hundred-something miles from where lived in Deep Gap. As highly regarded as Strings is throughout the worlds of bluegrass and jam bands, he holds the same reverence for Bryan Sutton, frequently calling him one of the greatest living guitarists and touring with him earlier this year. Both of them kneel at the altar of Doc Watson, whose songs are found throughout Strings’ arena-filling setlists and whose style is an intrinsic part of Billy’s own playing.

Related: Watch Billy Strings Perform “Jingle Bell Rock” In 2012

Ol’ Hoss is a 1968 G-50 Gallagher Guitar that Doc played in the late ’60s and early ’70s, heard on many recordings, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band‘s Will The Circle Be Unbroken. As the legend goes, J.W. Gallagher took a prototype of the G-50 with a superficial crack along the side to the Union Grove Fiddler’s Convention in North Carolina, where he had a chance encounter with Doc Watson. The already legendary guitarist wanted one for himself, and Gallagher gave him the floor model to keep until the luther was able to build Doc a custom one—as he didn’t want a cracked guitar floating around to sully his name as an emerging guitar maker. Watson held onto the guitar for six years before, true to his word, swapping it out in 1974 for the “Doc Watson” model. Thus began a long relationship between Doc Watson and Gallagher Guitars.

Strings, as well-versed in this history as any Grateful Dead fan is in Jerry Garcia‘s guitar lineage, does not hide his utter amazement with the instrument. According to the video’s description, in the hour Strings spent with the guitar, he called his mom and dad to share the excitement, as well as rattled off stories, songs, and memories of how Watson has inspired him over the years. The session culminated with Strings’ performance of “John Henry”, available now.

Watch Billy Strings perform “John Henry” on the Doc Watson Ol’ Hoss guitar. The Bluegrass Situation filmed a slew of videos with the guitar and has begun rolling them out as “The Ol’ Hoss Sessions”. Find performances from Bryan Sutton and Courtney Hartman on BGS’ YouTube, and stay tuned for more releases.

The Ol’ Hoss Sessions: Billy Strings, “John Henry” (Traditional)

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