Bluegrass sensation Billy Strings rang in 2024 this past weekend with a three-set bash at New Orleans, LA’s UNO Lakefront Arena in front of 10,000 fans. Among that crowd was a New Orleans local named Derek Vincent Smith, better known to the music world as electronic producer Pretty Lights.
A photo circulating on the r/BillyStrings subreddit shows Pretty Lights at front of house at the New Year’s Eve show between Billy Strings crew members Roger Gant and Taj Givens. As Gant, Strings’ lighting director, wrote in an Instagram story about the interaction with Smith, “In 2007, this guy changed my life. Pretty Lights has had a huge impact on the trajectory of my life and career and I doubt I would do what I do if I hadn’t gotten my mind blown at his shows a few times.”
The blistering bluegrass of Billy Strings and the bass-heavy electro-soul of Pretty Lights might stand at opposite ends of the stylistic spectrum, but the two artists are undoubtedly kindred spirits when it comes to their far-reaching creativity and inclination toward improvisation. Billy Strings has guided hordes of new listeners toward classic bluegrass by expanding the boundaries of the genre with covers and styles borrowed from rock, jam, metal, punk, and more. Pretty Lights in 2023 returned to the road after an extended hiatus with a new live project that often hewed closer to a jam band than a DJ/producer act, consistently creating buzz by swirling eclectic musical flavors into his act—from Phish and the Grateful Dead to Dolly Parton and Margo Price to OutKast and MF Doom and beyond.
Billy Strings already has a busy schedule of tour dates ahead of him in 2024. For a full list of his upcoming shows, head here. Pretty Lights’ only confirmed 2024 show at this time is his return to Electric Forest Music Festival in Rothbury, MI in June, though he is expected to add to his itinerary. Here’s hoping his NYE experience inspires him to slip a little Billy Strings into the swirl next time he takes the stage.
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