On Monday night, prodigious bluegrass picker Billy Strings and his eponymous band made their late-night TV debut with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The quarantine edition of the popular late-night talk show has been employing a number of guest hosts while Jimmy Kimmel is away on break, with Monday’s program featuring comedian and longtime TV personality Joel McHale (The Soup, Community) at the helm.
The Billy Strings appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! was a long time coming: After initially announcing his debut on the program back in March, the dawn of the 2020 concert hiatus forced the appearance to be canceled. On Sunday, during the setbreak of his second of two crowdless, live-streamed shows from The Station Inn as part of his ongoing virtual Streaming Strings tour, Billy made the announcement that he would finally get his shot at late-night TV for a “quarantine style” performance on the talk show on Monday night.
When introducing Billy—while submerged in a swimming pool in his full TV host suit—McHale explained that Strings was using his performance to bring awareness to the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), the organization asking congress for support for independent music venues, 90% of which may close due to the ongoing spread of the coronavirus. From there, he threw it to Billy and company at “one of those iconic venues,” The Station Inn in Nashville, for a performance of Home track, “Taking Water”, presumably filmed while the quartet had set up shop for the two Streaming Strings shows at the venue this past weekend. Watch the full performance below:
Billy Strings –”Taking Water” – Jimmy Kimmel Live! – 7/20/20
[Video: Jimmy Kimmel Live]
In addition to “Taking Water” from the Station Inn, the band—comprised of Billy Strings on guitar, Billy Failing on banjo, Royal Masat on bass, and Jarrod Walker on mandolin—recorded a split-screen performance of “Watch It Fall” for the episode. You can watch that clip below:
Billy Strings – “Watch It Fall” – Jimmy Kimmel Live! – 7/20/20
[Video: Jimmy Kimmel Live]
The virtual Billy Strings tour continues this weekend with two live-streamed performances from Nashville’s Exit/In. To grab your webcast passes for the Billy Strings Streaming Strings tour, head to the tour website here.