Billy Strings hit The Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center in Cincinnati on Saturday. Billy and his band unveiled a Bob Dylan cover toward the end of the second set.
The concert kicked off with the Gordon Lightfoot-penned, Tony Rice-recorded “Cold On The Shoulder” followed by a pair of tunes, “Red Daisy” and “This Old World,” off Billy’s Grammy-nominated 2021 album Renewal. Strings then turned to material from his 2017 LP, Turmoil & Tinfoil, with “While I’m Waiting Here” which kicked off a three-song seamless segment that also included 13-minute versions of JJ Cale’s “Ride Me High” and Billy’s composition to the Robert Hunter lyric, “Thunder.”
Billy and company then embarked on another three-song sequence beginning with John Hartford’s “I’m Still Here” followed by the Tommy Boyce/Bobby Hart-penned Monkees’ tune “Last Train To Clarksville” and original “Taking Water” from Billys’ Grammy-winning 2019 album Home. Following “Hellbender” and “Everything’s The Same,” Billy returned to the Hartford catalog with “All Fall Down” to close out the first frame.
The second set began with Bill Emerson’s instrumental “Home of The Red Fox” which headed into Renewal’s “Know It All.” A pair of tunes from Home, “Watch It Fall” and “Highway Hypnosis,” followed before Billy delivered the Grateful Dead-covered traditional “Peggy-O.” Up next, the favorite “Dust In A Baggie” before Billy took a moment for a heartfelt thank you to his fans and to introduce the band, banjoist Billy Failing, bassist Royal Masat and mandolinist Jarrod Walker.
Billy and the band continued with “The Fire On My Tongue” which gave way to the debut of Bob Dylan’s “Drifter’s Escape.” The tune appears on Dylan’s 1967 album John Wesley Harding. Billy joins an illustrious company in covering the song including Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix and Geroge Thorogood. Following the “Drifter’s” debut, Billy sealed the second set with a 12-minute “Turmoil & Tinfoil.” Strings and company returned to encore with the Eamon O’Shea-written, Ralph Stanely-recorded “Katy Daley” to cap off the evening.
Hear Billy Strings debut “Drifter’s Escape” in full show audio via Jim Mal below and also watch pro-shot video of “Cold On The Shoulder” and “Red Daisy” as well as fan-shot clips of “Ride Me High,” “Thunder,’ “Peggy O” and “Turmoil & Tinfoil”:
Setlist (via BillyBase)
Set One: Cold on the Shoulder, Red Daisy, This Old World, While I’m Waiting Here > Ride Me High > Thunder I’m Still Here > Last Train to Clarksville > Taking Water, Hellbender, Everything’s the Same, All Fall Down
Set 2: Home of the Red Fox > Know It All, Watch It Fall, Highway Hypnosis, Peggy-O, Dust in a Baggie, Fire on My Tongue > Drifter’s Escape (1), Turmoil & Tinfoil
Encore: Katy Daley
Notes:
(1) FTP – Bob Dylan
