Billy Strings Honors Jerry Garcia At The Capitol Theatre

Billy Strings capped off his two-night run at The Capitol Theatre on Saturday night. Billy paid tribute to Jerry Garcia with songs from both Old & In The Way and the Grateful Dead.

Strings got things underway with his take on Larry Sparks’ “Slow Train” followed by Jerry Reed’s “Likes Of Me,” a cover Billy debuted last year. The guitarist followed up with his own “Pyramid Country” from his 2017 solo debut album Turmoil & Tinfoil. After the title track from 2019’s, Home, Strings got into more cover material with the bluegrass standard “I’ll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers” ahead of a debut of Old & In The Way’s “Jerry’s Breakdown.” Jerry Garcia played banjo in the bluegrass group so the instrumental tune gave Billy Strings’ banjo player Billy Failing a chance to shine as well as mandolinist Jared Walker and of course Strings himself, all over Royal Masat‘s rolling bassline. After the staple “Dust In A Baggie,” the band returned to cover material with Little Feat’s “Willin’” and The String Cheese Incident’s “Black Clouds” to close out the first frame.

The covers kept rolling to kick off the second set with John Hartford’s “All Fall Down,” which the band stretched out a bit on before trickling into the Grateful Dead’s “Wharf Rat.” Another debut for Strings, the psychedelic Garcia/Hunter tune was a crowd-pleasing choice for Strings to cover at The Cap, which was one of Jerry’s favorite haunts. Billy’s version was on point: shimmering picking, gorgeous harmonies on the “I’ll get up and fly away” section and soaring soloing from Strings. Home track “Hollow Heart” came next ahead of more nods with The Dillards’ “Ernest T. Grass” and a grassy version of the jazz standard “Air Mail Special” performed by Ella Fitzgerald and others. After “Away From The Mire” and “Long Forgotten Dream,” Strings delivered his rendition of The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” for just the fifth time after debuting the song last summer. The band brought the second set to a close with “Turmoil & Tinfoil.”

For the encore, Billy and the band returned to their single mic version of the satirical gospel song “If Your Hair Is Too Long, There’s Sin In Your Heart” for just the second time after debuting the song on December 15, 2019 in Denver. Check out video from the show captured by Matt Frazier and listen to the entire show taped by Keith Litzenberger below:

Wharf Rat

Dust In A Baggie

Willin’

Black Clouds

Away From The Mire

Setlist

Source: JamBase.com