Billy Strings continued his three-night run at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on Saturday. The quartet debuted Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” during the first set.
Guitarist Billy Strings, mandolinist Jarrod Walker, bassist Royal Masat and banjo player Billy Failing got things going with “Hollow Heart” which saw Walker and Billy trading off the first solos of the evening. Next up, the band unveiled the opening track to Bob Dylan’s landmark 1975 album Blood On The Tracks. Billy led the band through the first several verses of “Tangled Up In Blue” before Walker took a ride followed by Strings with some cascading runs before singing the last couple verses. Billy then picked out the familiar fiddle tune “Salt Creek.”
The band passed the solos around a couple times, each building on the melody beginning with Failing and finally making it back to Billy who led the band into another instrumental “Sheep’s In The Meadow” in the style of Doc Watson. “We just had to get our fingers warmed up a little, know what I mean?” Strings told the crowd after the bluegrass standards. Strings and company then performed the original, “Watch It Fall” from Billy’s Grammy-winning album Home which saw Strings changing up the “California” lyric to “Alabama.”
The first set continued on with more originals in the newer tune “Bronzeback” followed by Home’s “Must Be Seven.” Strings then performed his stellar cover of the Grateful Dead’s “China Doll” featuring gorgeous harmonies on the chorus and Billy adding a sweet, overdriven extended solo toward the end with Walker on some complimentary mando trills. “Thirst Mutilator,” off Billy’s 2016 self-titled debut EP, followed and led into the rowdy standard “Raleigh & Spencer.” Billy kept the old school grass coming with The Stanley Brothers’ “White Dove” ahead of another “vintage” Billy number, “Slow Train.” Doc Watson’s arrangement, “And Am I Born To Die,” brought the first frame to a close.
Billy kept his own classics rolling with “Dust In A Baggie” to kick off the second set, which led into “Reuben’s Train” which in turn segued into the Walker/Ward co-composed instrumental “Running The Route.” The originals flowed on with “So Many Miles,” “Love Like Me” and “Know It All” before a rendition of Bill Browning’s “Dark Hollow,” also an early staple cover of the Grateful Dead. The quartet then got off to the races with New Grass Revival’s “Whisper My Name” which saw Billy doing Billy things, delivering some smokin’ solos between verses followed by more hot pickin’ from Walker and Failing. The Stanley Brothers’ “Wild Bill Jones” came ahead of the final song of the evening, “Hide & Seek.”
Watch video from the show below including the show openers (some technical difficulties on the stream) as well as audience shot clips of “China Doll” and “Whisper My Name”:
First Five Songs
China Doll
Whisper My Name
Setlist
Billy Strings at Ladd Memorial Stadium
Set 1
- Hollow Heart
- Tangled Up In Blue
- Salt Creek Sheep’s In The Meadow
- Watch It Fall
- Bronzeback Must Be Seven
- China Doll
- Thirst Mutilator Raleigh and Spencer
- White Dove
- Slow Train
- And Am I Born to Die?
Set 2
- Dust in a Baggie Reuben’s Train Running the Route So Many Miles
- Love Like Me
- Know It All
- Dark Hollow
- Whisper My Name
- Wild Bill Jones
- Hide & Seek
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