Billy Strings concluded a two-night run at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas on Saturday. The guitarist paid tribute to collaborator and legendary Texan Willie Nelson by premiering a cover of the iconic country star’s classic “I Gotta Get Drunk.”
Billy and his band launched the show with a four-song seamless sequence of “Talking Water,” Frank Wakefield’s “End Of The Rainbow,” “Hollow Heart” and Tony Rice’s “Tipper.” The originals in the opening segment were both off Strings’ Grammy-winning 2019 album Home, a record the guitarist leaned heavily on for his Austin finale with four more Home tracks, “Watch It Fall,” “Must Be Seven,” “Long Forgotten Dream” and “Love Like Me” appearing in the first frame alone.
Elsewhere in the first set, bassist Royal Masat captained a central Texas-appropriate “New San Antonio Rose.” Royal and company last performed the Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys tune on April 21, 2021 for 238 show gap, as per BillyBase. The Billy Strings debut of the song came just a few weeks earlier at Austin’s Moody Theatre in March 2021. The first set concluded with a cover of New Grass Revival’s “Whisper My Name.”
The second set got underway with Home’s “Everything’s The Same” ahead of “I Gotta Get Drunk.” While it was a Billy Strings band debut, the guitarist offered the song during his portion of Willie Nelson’s star-studded, two-day 90th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles at the end of April. Just ahead of Nelson’s 90th, Billy and Willie released a collaborative single, “California Sober,” and performed it together in L.A.
The guitarist continued his salute to the beloved artist with his band’s debut of “I Gotta Get Drunk,” which was penned by Nelson but first recorded by Joe Carson in 1963. Willie included the song on his 1970 album, Both Sides Now, and in his live concerts.
“Show Me The Door” from the band’s latest studio album, 2021’s Renewal, followed ahead of the traditional “Hold That Woodpile Down,” which prefaced a pairing of “On The Line,” from Billy’s 2017 album Turmoil & Tinfoil, and the trad “Train 45.” The title track to Home came next ahead of Renewal’s “Fire Line,” which led into another nod to a legendary Texas singer-songwriter.
Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freight Liner Blues” saw both Billys taking verses (Billy recently debuted Townes’ “I’ll Be Here In The Morning”). After “A Good Woman’s Love” and “Red Daisy,” the set came to a close with Strings’ composition on Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter’s “Thunder,” within which Billy fit his Jimi Hendrix “Third Stone From The Sun” jam. The band returned for an encore with the Flatt & Scruggs-inspired version of Jimmie Skinner’s “Doin’ My Time.”
Watch clips of “I Gotta Get Drunk” and “New San Antonio Rose” below:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtFgzGhp-ce/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtFRcA3JbVh/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Setlist (via BillyBase)
Set One: Taking Water > End Of The Rainbow > Hollow Heart > Tipper, Hellbender, Watch It Fall, Katy Daley, Ernest T. Grass > New San Antonio Rose[1] > Must Be Seven, Rank Stranger, Long Forgotten Dream, Love Like Me> Whisper My Name
Set Two: Everything’s The Same, I Gotta Get Drunk[2], Show Me The Door, Hold That Woodpile Down, On The Line Train 45, Home, Fire Line > White Freightliner Blues[3], A Good Woman’s Love, Red Daisy, Thunder[4]
Encore: Doin’ My Time
Notes:
- [1] – Royal Masat on lead vocals
- [2] – FTP – Willie Nelson
- [3] – Billy Strings on lead vocals except for third verse by Billy Failing
- [4] – “Third Stone From The Sun” (Jimi Hendrix) jam
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