It had been 473 days since Billy Strings last played in Asheville, NC, and while much of the historic hippie town looked pretty much the same since then, Bily and his band sported a few noticeable changes. Fridays’ show kicked off a three-night run at the downtown ExploreAshville.com Arena, Strings & co’s first concerts of 2024.
For starters on the new developments, Strings and his bandmates Alex Hargreaves (fiddle), Billy Failing (banjo), Jarrod Walker (mandolin), and Royal Masat (bass), took the stage with a new and improved light setup that featured four concentric circles above the stage which resembled UFOs. For another thing, there is the band’s continuously growing confidence and internal chemistry, which only deepens with every show of their breakneck touring schedule.
The band came out with an ambient, cosmic jam which kept the anticipation even higher for Billy’s first song in Asheville in nearly two years, as even his bandmates seemed to wait on bated breath for what he would do next. From there, Billy launched into a cavalcade of a first set that bridged his time-honored catalog with newer additions. The opening instrumental “Thirst Mutilator” gave way to the second-ever performance of “In The Clear”, followed by other classics like an interstellar transit “Highway Hypnosis” and “Hellbender”. On “Highway Hypnosis”, Billy and his mates showed just how fair their communal hivemind has come with a jam that went well beyond the typical one-in-one-out style of bluegrass music and heard all of the players adjoining simultaneously to bring the improv to some fresh places.
Billy Strings – “Thirst Mutilator”, “In The Clear” [Pro-Shot] – 2/16/24
Billy Strings is nothing if not a gracious visitor to any town he stops in, and for his return to Asheville dusted off his original spin on a folk classic, “Swannanoa Tunnel”. The song references North Carolina’s longest railroad tunnel that cuts through the Blue Ridge Mountains, and featured numerous lyrical references to the hometown like the opening “Asheville junction, Swannona Tunnel. ”
The first set followed a natural ebb-and-flow of energy, with the low of “This Old World” > “Black Mountain Rag” setting up the high for “Seven Weeks in County”. Finally, the first set came to an incendiary conclusion with a pairing of Bad Livers‘ “Pretty Daughter” into “Turmoil & Tinfoil”. Obviously, T&T is known as one of the improvisational behemoths among Strings’ ever-expanding catalog, but it was the “Pretty Daughter” that did most of the heavy lifting on Friday. The jam fittingly went into some deep, dark places propelled by Billy’s use of effects pedals, with the band ramping up the intensity for a sprint across the finish line for “Tumoil & Infoil”.
Billy Strings – “Pretty Daughter” (Bad Livers) > “Turmoil & Tinfoil” –2/16/24
[Video: Colton Allen]
One of the other major developments with Billy Strings’ live band has been the presence of fiddle player Alex Hargreaves. While during his last trip to Asheville, Hargreaves felt something like a token player, this time he was leading jams throughout the night. Though certainly not the star of the show, Alex’s fiddle runs opened many of the jams of the evening, with his bow catching a spark that lit a fire under all his bandmates to encourage further dives into improvisation.
That presence maintained throughout the show, including the first few songs of the first set assisted by mandolinist Chris Henry who helped shepherd the band through more traditional tunes “Midnight on the Stormy Deep”, “Can’t You Hear Me Calling”, and “West Dakota Rose”. After the IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year left the stage, the rest of the band got back to doing what it does best with a surprisingly deep dive into “Wild Bill Jones”.
Billy Strings, Chris Henry – “West Dakota Rose” – 2/16/24
[Video: gmorakis777]
Once again ignited by Hargreaves, Alex’s flaming fiddle-playing set up the springboard for the rest of the band to do a rough and rowdy around-the-horn jam on “Wild Bill Jones”. Wild Bill ultimately developed into one of the bigger jam vehicles of the second set, followed by a blazing “Fire Line” and “Raleigh & Spencer” where Billy threw out some Adrian Belew-inspired experimental playing.
After busting out of “Shackles & Chains” for the first time since August 7th, 2023, Billy continued his oscillation between traditional grass and newgrass on “Doin’ My Time”—sometimes even forgetting to change his musical costume like something out of the dinner scene from Mrs. Doubtfire. An orthodox “Red Daisy” followed before a fairly cursory “Hide & Seek” closed the set, a somewhat disappointingly shallow showing of the reliable vehicle. That said, Billy and the band put the last of the afterburners to race past the checkered flag for the set two closer. After starting the encore with an enticing tease of Primus‘ “Too Many Puppies”, the show closed with a straightforward “Uncle Pen”.
Billy Strings returns to the Asheville.com Arena tonight, February 17th, for another sold-out show. Check out some fan-shot videos from Friday’s show below.
Setlist: Billy Strings | ExploreAsheville.com Arena | Asheville, NC | 2/16/23
Set One: Thirst Mutilator > In the Clear, Highway Hypnosis, Hellbender, Swannanoa Tunnel [1] [2], This Old World > Black Mountain Rag, The Letter Edged In Black, Seven Weeks in County, Love and Regret, Pretty Daughter > Turmoil & Tinfoil
Set Two: Midnight On The Stormy Deep [3] [4]. Can’t You Hear Me Callin’ [5] [6], West Dakota Rose [5] [7], Wild Bill Jones, Fire Line > Raleigh & Spencer, Shackles & Chains, Doin’ My Time > Red Daisy, Hide and Seek
Encore: Uncle Pen
SETLIST NOTES
[1] Last Played 2020-01-08 | 360 show gap
[2] FTP w/ full band
[3] Billy Strings on guitar with Chris Henry on mandolin around single mic
[4] Last Played 2019-03-30 | 463 show gap
[5] Full band with Chris Henry on mandolin around single mic
[5] Last Played 2019-10-03 | 394 show gap
[6] Billy shared with the crowd this often-covered tune is wrote by Chris Henry
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