Billy Strings on Thursday continued his ongoing run of December tour dates with a standout performance at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX.
After taking the stage to the sounds of the Dallas theme song, the bluegrass picker and his band—Billy Failing (banjo), Jarrod Walker (mandolin), Royal Masat (upright bass), and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle)—threw fans a curveball with a show-opening rendition of Harley “Red” Allen’s “Hello, City Limits” just one day ahead of the group’s highly anticipated underplay at Austin’s ACL Live at The Moody Theater.
Takes on David Grisman’s “Sugar Hill Ramble” and the original “This Old World” set up the focal point of the first set: an inspired 37-minutes featuring a psychedelic “Pyramid Country” that flowed into the traditional “Old Man at the Mill” and, in turn, into a sprawling, 20-minute rendering of John Hartford’s “All Fall Down”.
The segue from “Old Man at the Mill” into “All Fall Down” was particularly clever: Billy added an extra chorus to the end of the former (“Ladies step forward and the gents fall back”) but changed “fall back” to “fall down” as he quickly shifted gears to the Hartford staple. The entire passage is not to be missed. From there, “West Dakota Rose” (Chris Henry), “Home”, “Show Me The Door”, and “Black Clouds” (The String Cheese Incident) brought set one to a close.
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After kicking off set two with “Running The Route”, “Everything’s The Same”, “Watch It Fall”, and Jimmie Skinner’s “Doin’ My Time”, Billy and company offered up a moving take on Highway Prayers pairing “Stratosphere Blues / I Believe In You”. From there, Strings threw it to the fiddler for a Hargreaves-selected, dueling fiddle/guitar take on the traditional “Sally Johnson”. New Grass Revival’s “This Heart of Mine” gave fans one last chance to catch their breath ahead of a hair-raising finish.
A deep, foreboding “Meet Me At The Creek” started the set’s final passage, descending into darkness and floating back toward the light over the course of nearly 21 minutes (making it the second song of the night to eclipse the 20-minute mark). Without skipping a beat, Strings led the band into “Spinning”, then his posthumous collaboration with Robert Hunter, “Thunder”, before triumphantly returning to “Meet Me At The Creek” for a final reprise.
After returning to the stage to a howl of applause from the Texas crowd, Billy Strings offered up a two-song encore of Will Callery’s “Hands on the Wheel” and The Osborne Brothers’ “Big Spike Hammer” to round out a memorable night in Fort Worth.
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Scroll down to view the setlist and a selection of photos and videos from Thursday night’s Billy Strings show in Fort Worth. Find tickets to upcoming Billy Strings shows here.
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Setlist: Billy Strings | Dickies Arena | Fort Worth, TX | 12/12/24
Set One: Hello City Limits (Harley “Red” Allen) > Sugar Hill Ramble (David Grisman), This Old World, Pyramid Country > Old Man At The Mill (Traditional) > All Fall Down (All Fall Down), West Dakota Rose (Chris Henry), Home, Show Me The Door, Black Clouds (The String Cheese Incident)
Set Two: Running The Route > Everything’s The Same, Watch It Fall, Doin’ My Time (Jimmie Skinner), Stratosphere Blues / I Believe In You, Sally Johnson, This Heart Of Mine (New Grass Revival), Meet Me At The Creek > Spinning > Thunder (Robert Hunter/Billy Strings) > Meet Me At The Creek
Encore: Hands On The Wheel (Will Callery), Big Spike Hammer (The Osborne Brothers)
Billy Strings – “Hellow City Limits”, “Sugar Hill Ramble”, “This Old World”, “Pyramid Country” [Pro-Shot] – 12/12/24
Billy Strings – “Pyramid Country” > “Old Man At The Mill” > “All Fall Down” – 12/12/24
[Video: Steam Powered Aerodyne]
Billy Strings – “Sally Johnson” – 12/12/24
[Video: Steam Powered Aerodyne]
Billy Strings – “Hands On The Wheel”, “Big Spike Hammer” – 12/12/24
[Video: Steam Powered Aerodyne]
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