Billy Strings and his band rolled into Louisville, KY on Friday and Saturday night for a pair of shows at Headliners Music Hall featuring sit-ins from Michael Cleveland, the blind fiddle player who took home this year’s Grammy Award for “Best Bluegrass Album”.
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William Apostol (Billy Strings), Royal Masat, Billy Failing, and Jarrod Walker kicked things off on Friday with a geographically relevant cover of Grandpa Jones‘ “Eight More Miles To Louisville” before moving into a rendition of Belá Fleck‘s “Slipstream”. Strings originals “Enough To Leave” and “Running” came next, followed by takes on Dan Fogelberg‘s “Along The Road” and Doc Watson‘s “Streamline Cannonball”.
The Billy Failing-penned “So Many Miles” contained a Sanford & Sons tease before segueing to “Everything’s The Same”, from the 2019 release, Home. Covers of Jeff Austin‘s “Run Down” and Larry Sparks‘ “These Old Blues” led to a set-closing segue from “On The Line” into the traditional “Train 45”.
Billy Strings had a big surprise for his Louisville fans as fiddler extraordinaire Michael Cleveland made his way to the stage for the opening song of set two. After a run through the traditional “Sally Goodin”, the quintet rolled on to “Must Be Seven” and a massive, segued segment of “While I’m Waiting Here”, “Pyramid Country”, and Bill Monroe‘s “My Rose Of Old Kentucky”.
It quickly became evident that Cleveland wasn’t going anywhere as the quintet moved through another string of songs, this time coming in the form of two John Hartford originals, “Today” and “All Fall Down”. Another Larry Sparks tune, “John Deere Tractor” took them to the set-closing “Turmoil & Tinfoil”. They encored with the second of many Bill Monroe covers on the weekend, “Kentucky Mandolin”.
Below, watch a selection of fan-shot videos from the Friday night Billy Strings show featuring Michael Cleveland.
Strings must’ve had a ball playing with Cleveland on Friday night, as the fiddler joined the band for the entire show on Saturday. After jump-starting the performance with a fan-favorite, “Dust In A Baggie”, the five-piece moved through four straight covers. Jerry Reed‘s “Likes Of Me” preceded the Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter collaboration, “Bird Song”. Mel Tillis‘ “I Haven’t Seen Mary In Years” set up Tony Rice‘s “Tipper”, taking the band to the midway point of set one.
“Doin’ Things Right” sat before “Dos Banjos”, which saw both Strings and Failing appropriately play the banjo. “Taking Water” came before set-ending covers of The String Cheese Incident‘s “Black Clouds” and Bill Monroe’s “Back To Old Kentucky”.
Another Monroe cover, “Dusty Miller”, opened the second set on night two. Following Home‘s “Highway Hypnosis”, a traditional cover of “Footprints In The Snow” worked towards a cover of Ralph Stanley and His Clinch Mountain Boys‘ “I Only Exist”. The Billy Strings Home staple, “Away From The Mire”, followed before moving into “Long Forgotten Dream”.
Dierks Bentley‘s “Fiddling Around” allowed Cleveland to let loose before the second set ended with a cover of the Stanley Brothers‘ “Nobody’s Love Is Like Mine” and the original “Meet Me At The Creek”. Billy Strings and Michael Cleveland capped the two-night run with a fifth and final Bill Monroe cover, “Roll On Buddy, Roll On”.
Below, watch a selection of fan-shot videos from the Saturday Billy Strings show in Louisville featuring Michael Cleveland.
Scroll down to read setlists for both shows.
Billy Strings has several shows left in February, including an opening slot for Umphrey’s McGee at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, NC (2/14, 2/15) and his recently-announced Family Strings shows featuring his father, Terry Barber. Click here for tickets and more information.