Fishing buddies and occasional musical collaborators Billy Strings and Les Claypool linked up on Wednesday when the guitarist joined Primus onstage in Franklin, TN, just south of Nashville. The show at FirstBank Amphitheater was part of the Sessanta Tour celebrating singer Maynard James Keenan‘s 60th birthday with Primus, Puscifer, and A Perfect Circle.
The hybrid style of the Sessanta Tour sees all three bands—two of them fronted by Keenan—cycle on and off stage every few songs. The tour announcement promised significant collaboration between acts, and as Strings proved on Wednesday, that extends beyond just the tour roster.
During the first of Primus’ three mini-sets spread throughout the evening, the band dished out classics “Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers”, “Too Many Puppies”, and “Sgt. Baker” before bringing Billy to the stage for “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver”. Strings took his position among Les, guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde, and drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander, making himself right at home as he sang the song’s second verse. As things heated up, Claypool beckoned, “Come on, Billy!” and the frenetic bluegrass guitarist showed what he’s capable of on an electric guitar.
Strings wasn’t the only special guest to join Primus on Wednesday, as the man of the hour, Maynard James Keenan, showed up during Primus’ second mini-set to lend his vocals on “Tommy The Cat”. The band’s third set consisted of an extended “Southbound Pachyderm” featuring newly reinstalled A Perfect Circle drummer and workhorse of modern rock Josh Freese (now the drummer for Foo Fighters) and Puscifer drummer Gunnar Olsen together with Herb. After the three bands played through their new joint Sessanta E.P.P.P.—featuring a new song from each band all co-written by Keenan—the show closed with the trio of acts performing Puscifer’s “Grand Canyon”.
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Primus, Billy Strings — “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver” — 4/10/24 — Audio
[Audio: J.D. Clayton]
Strings was a familiar face to many of the musicians backstage on Wednesday, having collaborated with Les individually, Primus, and Maynard’s other, other band, Tool. Billy and Les first linked up onstage as guests of Bob Weir during an intimate benefit show at Sweetwater Music Hall in March 2022. They all must have hit it off, as Les and Bobby both showed up three months later at Billy’s Ryman Auditorium run in Nashville. Billy was so kind as to return the favor to Les, sitting in with Primus at the same venue the next night. Since then, Les and Bobby (and Trey Anastasio) played at Billy’s wedding earlier this year—which Les also officiated—and Claypool has continued to tease a collaborative album between him and Billy. However, as Les has lamented, whenever they get together to record, they just end up fishing, instead. Meanwhile, Billy has also familiarized himself with Maynard and Tool, sitting in with the band twice in the past six months.
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