Billy Strings and his band were in New Orleans on Wednesday to open a two-night run of virtual shows from Tipitina’s as part of the bluegrass guitarist’s short spring tour. Though these shows will be without fans in attendance, both nights at Tipitina’s will offer pay-per-view webcasts to raise money to benefit the venue’s “Save Tip’s” fundraising initiative launched last year while all concerts remained on hold.

Fresh off of his three-night run at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in Florida over the weekend, Strings opened Wednesday’s show with one of his new originals “Red Daisy” before charging into a number of covers including “Red Rocking Chair”, “Southern Flavor”, “Train on the Island”, “Home of the Red Fox”, and “How Mountain Girls Can Love”. Strings returned to his own songbook for performances of “Running” and “Thirst Mutilator” before closing the set with a take on John Hartford‘s “I’m Still Here” and an instrumental cover of The Monkees‘ “Last Train to Clarksville”.

Watch the show’s opening performances in the video below.

Billy Strings – “Red Daisy”, “Red Rocking Chair”, “Southern Flavor” – New Orleans, LA – 3/24/21

[Video: nugsnet]

Strings and company returned to the stage to open the second set with another original in “Doin’ Things Right” from 2017’s Turmoil & Tinfoil before moving into a cover of Bob Weir‘s “Cassidy”. “Fire Line” came next, followed by a cover of The Osborne Brothers‘ “Big Spike Hammer” and then another original in “Morning Light”.

The second set continued with more covers including The Dillards‘ “The Old Home Place”, Bob Dylan‘s “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)”, Hot Rize‘s “Nellie Kane”, and Doc Watson‘s “Crawdad Hole”.

Billy Strings is back in action on Thursday for the second performance at Tipitina’s, followed by a virtual show at Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater in Austin, TX on Friday. Click here for concert webcast order info.

Setlist: Billy Strings | Tipitina’s | New Orleans, LA | 3/24/21

Set One: Red Daisy, Red Rocking Chair (traditional), Southern Flavor (Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys), Train on the Island (traditional), Home of the Red Fox (Bill Emerson) > How Mountain Girls Can Love (The Stanley Brothers), Running > Thirst Mutilator > I’m Still Here (John Hartford) > Last Train to Clarksville* (The Monkees)

Set Two: Doin’ Things Right > Cassidy (Bob Weir), Fire Line, Big Spike Hammer (The Osborne Brothers), Morning Light, The Old Home Place (The Dillards), Old Mexico (Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives), Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) (Bob Dylan), Nellie Kane (Hot Rize), Crawdad Hole (Doc Watson)

Notes:
* Instrumental only

 

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