Billy Strings bridged the generational divide on Saturday night in Nashville, welcoming bluegrass icon Sam Bush, 12-year-old viral sensation Myles Gee, and more at Bridgestone Arena. Strings’ second-straight sell-out at the home of the NHL‘s Nashville Predators followed his Friday homecoming featuring help from Béla Fleck and Mickey Raphael.
The guests started dropping by early on Saturday after Billy and his bandmates Billy Failing (banjo), Jarrod Walker (mandolin), Royal Masat (bass), and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle) got the show going with a string of originals “Secrets”, “Away From The Mire”, “Living Like An Animal”, and “Long Forgotten Dream”. Guitarist Bryan Sutton (Hot Rize) was the first friend to drop by, joining midway through the first frame for classics “The Train That Carried My Girl From Town”, “Black Mountain Rag”, “Ready For The Times To Get Better”, and a pairing of “The Fire On My Tongue” and “How Mountain Girls Can Love”.
Billy Strings – “Sally Goodin’” (Traditional) > “Secrets” [Pro-Shot] – 2/24/24
Though his bandmates and Sutton took their rest, Strings just kept on playing as he sat for a solo interlude. After a run through Jamey Johnson‘s “Lonely At The Top” and the original “Be Your Man”, Strings welcomed young guitarist Myles Gee to join him. The adolescent Kentuckian has made waves on TikTok and Instagram, where he has over 90,000 followers combined. Strings graciously shared the stage with the aspiring musician in a touching moment of artistic support, letting Gee take the reigns on Billy’s debut of Waylon Jennings classic “Waymore’s Blues” to close the set.
Back for the last set of the weekend at Bridgestone, Strings and his core bandmates got down to business with “Wargasm”. The expansive jam provided a bit of the classic Billy Strings live experience before the floodgates of added contributors opened later in the evening. After a trio of “Wargasm”, Bill Monroe‘s “Southern Flavor”, and “Dust In A Baggie”, the band once again brought out Mickey Raphael, who also stopped by on Friday. Raphael broke the mold a bit in that he does not play a stringed instrument but rather the harmonica, which he has done for Willie Nelson & Family since 1973. Fittingly, Raphael lent his lungs to a cover of Willie’s “Hands on the Wheel” as well as The Dillards‘ “Old Home Place”.
After Raphael left, Strings brought out the big guns with a sit-in by progressive bluegrass luminary Sam Bush. The New Grass Revival founder tipped his metaphorical cap to the young Strings in much the same way Billy did an hour earlier to Gee, bringing the cross-generational support of the bluegrass community full circle. With Bush at the helm, the band ran through Granpa Jones‘ “Eight More Miles to Louisville” before the stage started filling up with ghosts of special guests past. Sutton rejoined the party for John Hartford‘s “With a Vamp In The Middle” which flowed into David Grisman‘s “E.M.D. (Eat My Dust)” assisted by Raphael.
Sam Bush stuck around for “Whisper My Name” from his own NGR songbook before letting Strings and his band get back to what they do best with a climactic set-closing “Turmoil & Tinfoil”. Returning for the encore, it was all hands on deck as Bush, Sutton, Raphael, and Gee (who was certainly up past his bedtime) closed out the show with Doc Watson‘s “Mama Don’t Allow No Music”.
Billy Strings will relocate for an intimate concert tonight, February 25th, at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. For Billy’s full tour info visit his website. Tune into livestreams of Strings’ entire Southeast winter run on nugs.
Billy Strings – “Away From The Mire” – 2/24/24
[Video: Cole Rector]
Billy Strings – Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN – 2/24/24 – Full-Audio
[Audio: Zmanatl]
Setlist: Billy Strings | Bridgestone Arena | Nashville, TN | 2/24/24
Set One: Sally Goodin (Traditional) [1] > Secrets, Away From The Mire > Living Like An Animal > Long Forgotten Dream, The Train That Carried My Girl From Town (Traditional) [2] > Black Mountain Rag (Leslie Keith) [2], Ready For The Times To Get Better (Crystal Gale) [2], The Fire On My Tongue [2] >How Mountain Girls Can Love (The Stanley Brothers) [2], Lonely At The Top (Jamey Johnson) [3], Be Your Man [3], Waymore’s Blues (Waylon Jennings) [4] [5]
Set Two: Wargasm > Southern Flavor (Bill Monroe) > Dust In A Baggie, Hands On The Wheel (Willie Nelson) [6], Old Home Place (The Dillards) [6], Eight More Miles To Louisville (Granpa Jones) [7], With A Vamp In The Middle (John Hartford) [8] > E.M.D. (Eat My Dust) (David Grisman) [9], Whisper My Name (New Grass Revival) [7], Turmoil & Tinfoil
Encore: Mama Don’t Allow No Music (Doc Watson) [10]
[1] Song started by Alex Hargreaves and Billy Failing with the rest of the band joining in after a couple of minutes.
[2] w/ Bryan Sutton on guitar
[3] Billy Strings solo
[4] Billy Strings w/ Myles Gee on guitar and lead vocals
[5] FTP – Waylon Jennings
[6] w/ Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson & Chris Stapleton) on harmonica
[7] w/ Sam Bush on mandolin and lead vocals
[8] w/ Sam Bush on mandolin and Bryan Sutton on guitar
[9] w/ Sam Bush on mandolin, Bryan Sutton on guitar and Mickey Raphael on harmonica
[10] w/ Sam Bush on mandolin, Bryan Sutton on guitar, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, and Myles Gee on guitar
The post Billy Strings Keeps The Special Guests Coming With Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton, More On Night 2 In Nashville [Videos/Audio] appeared first on L4LM.
