Billy Strings recently returned from a trip abroad and has opened his scrapbook with a mini-documentary chronicling his 2023 tour of Europe. The 17-minute compilation presents highlights from the bluegrass guitarist’s ten-show trek through the E.U. and U.K. with his eponymous band.

Similar to the brief recap videos shared following many of Billy’s domestic shows, the mini-doc culls together B-roll footage from backstage, onstage, and behind the scenes. The rigors of the road are balanced out by brief glimpses of the band’s fraternal camaraderie,  as Billy goofs around with bandmates Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Masat (bass), Jarrod Walker (mandolin), and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle). It’s not all fun and games though, as fans see how the sausage gets made as the band workshops Gordon Lightfoot‘s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” hours before playing it onstage (on the anniversary of the 1975 boat sinking). As the band prepares the cover, Walker burns Strings as he tells the guitarist to tug on his earlobe, “what’s left of it,” to signal an on-the-fly change to the song.

Elsewhere in the doc, fans step inside a Billy Ocean teeth-brushing dance party on the tour bus in Luxembourg City and Strings shows off his piano skills backstage in Antwerp, Germany. After the tour closer in Birmingham, Strings hangs around after the show to play “Let The Cocaine Be” outside his tour bus for some fans who waited out in the cold. The guitarist has been known to pop up for impromptu performances in the parking lot before and after shows. The documentary comes to a fitting closure as Strings belts out Ozzy Osbourne‘s “Mama I’m Coming Home” as the bus leaves the last show.

Related: Billy Strings Announces Winter 2024 Tour Dates & Venues [Update]

This year marked Strings’ second annual international tour and happened to coincide with worldwide treks by Goose and Andy Frasco & The U.N. Other familiar acts from the live music circuit have also toured abroad in recent post-lockdown years as well including Tedeschi Trucks Band and Lettuce, showing the viability of bringing such niche domestic acts to audiences in Europe and the U.K.

Watch the Billy Strings European tour mini-documentary below and stay tuned for a full recap of the international excursion from Live For Live Music. He also shared full pro-shot footage from his 2022 two-night run in London. Strings will return to touring on native soil on December 6th in Greensboro, NC. For tickets and a full list of tour dates visit his website.

Billy Strings Europe 2023 Tour Mini Documentary

Billy Strings – Islington Assembly Hall – London, England – 3/26/22 – Full Show

Billy Strings – Islington Assembly Hall – London, England – 3/27/22 – Full Show