One thing you can’t say about Billy Strings after he and his stellar backing band—along with Friday’s most special guest, his own father, Terry Barber—finished an amazing two sold-out nights of top-shelf, high-octane bluegrass at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, MI is that he ever does anything halfway.
In the last week alone, Strings left his own sold-out Renewal festival before his headlining set after earlier in the day announcing a slew of winter tour dates and doing a wide open Q+A to fly home and be by his wife Ally’s side as she went into labor. That monumental, life-changing series of events would be enough to exhaust almost anyone but the seemingly inexhaustible fretboard firebrand, Billy Strings.
With the aid of his incredible team, led by manager Bill Orner, in conjunction with the Renewal’s promoters, Bonfire Entertainment and their leader Scotty Stoughton, Strings managed to offer full refunds to all attendees to make up for his unexpected absence. This meaning gesture was quickly pushed through even though Strings’ band, alongside a host of his fellow musicians including Molly Tuttle and fellow flat picking guitarist Larry Keel, made sure the show went on after Strings’ sudden departure.
After the stress of that tumultuous week, taking the Pine Knob Music Theatre stage Friday night probably felt like a relief to Strings. It certainly looked that way as he stood beaming to the cheering crowd and waving his baseball cap. Strings took a deep breath and, as he exhaled, said, “Howdy folks!” to the cheering throng and got to work. After a quick wade through Johnny Cash’s “Big River” and the subsequent two-fer of “Know-It-All” from his own growing catalog and Ralph Stanley’s “Ridin’ That Midnight Train”, Strings and company were ready to stretch out and get a little psychedelic on “Turmoil & Tinfoil”.
There’s a lot more in Strings’ bag of tricks than speed and a seemingly never-ending knowledge of the grand bluegrass songbook. He has been known to pen some pretty solid tunes as well, like, “Don’t Be Calling Me at (At 4 AM)”, from his new album Highway Prayers, which he debuted on Friday. Add to that his ability to earnestly relate his often overwhelming emotional states, as he did speaking of witnessing the birth of his son, and you can start to see the complete package of entertainment that is concentrated in the t-shirt and jester’s grin. Strings praised the strength his wife showed during her labor with more than a little admiration and throat-clenching adoration for his new family member. Relating his own renewed respect for not only his wife, but the cycle of birth and the gift of women’s ability to bring new life into the world, a humbled Strings admitted his own failings in the area of inter-gender interactions and spoke of the need to uplift women rather than objectify them.
Related: How To Stream Billy Strings’ 2024 Fall Tour
After a heartfelt “In The Morning Light” and a quick and zippy trip down to Widespread Panic’s “All Time Low” with a nod towards Jimmy Herring and his current health woes, a brand new tune, “Gild The Lily”, gave way to musings about the things Billy couldn’t wait to share with his newborn son. Strings then welcomed the man who did all that for him—his own father. After a warm embrace and a heartfelt dedication to the life lessons his dad taught him, Strings and his pops, Terry Barber, launched into the suitable choice of Ralph Stanley’s “Don’t Step On An Old Loved One”. Fiddler Alex Hargreaves showcased his prowess with an emotion-drenched take on the melody, and before it could register how beautiful it was sounding, they were well into Andrew Jenkins’ “Dream Of A Miner’s Child”.
Strings then showed off his ability to translate beautiful melodies into his own style, as his father crooned the classic George & Ira Gershwin-penned Broadway cornerstone “Summertime”, which again saw Hargreaves playing a delightful melodic counterpoint to the more staccato flourishes supplied by mandolinist Jarrod Walker and banjoist Billy Failing. Shouting out some of the heroes of the bluegrass genre that his father taught him about like Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, and more, Strings acknowledged the recent devastation of the hurricane-ravaged North Carolina region before visiting the “Blue Ridge Mountain Blues”.
Another family fave, Larry Sparks, provided the next tune, “Don’t Neglect The Rose In Your Garden”. Not one to overstay his welcome, Strings’ father took a well-earned bow as Billy and his whip-sharp band cracked out the final two songs of the set, a fast moving pair of “The Fire On My Tongue” and “Bronzeback”, before taking a break.
Upon returning to the stage, it was quickly clear that Strings was ready to get down to brass tacks, as evidenced by the opening three-song jam of Jerry Reed’s “Like Of Me”, “Must Be Seven”, and “Pyramid Country”. Crowd favorite “Meet Me At the Creek” gave way to the murderous tale of smoldering rage that is “My Alice”. Another two-tune melding, “Seven Weeks In Country” and “Red Daisy” then prefaced a three-song run of “HellBender”, “Doin’ Things Right”, and Bill Monroe’s “Southern Flavor” to close out Friday’s show completely.
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Saturday’s opener got the blood flowing and the fingers properly loose with “In The Clear” and Bill Monroe’s “Ashland Breakdown”. Then it was off to the races with Eddie Noack’s “Psycho” and a burst of “Thunder” before a mind-stretching “Running The Route” and “Cabin Song”.
John Hartford’s “All Fall Down” benefited greatly from an inspired uptempo jam, and Billy kept up the quick pace during the debut of “Seney Stretch” and then “Hold The Woodpile Down”, which ended the first set with a boot scoot that left the crowd nearly exhausted.
Rapidly returning to face the approaching end of the weekend, Strings and company still had plenty of top-shelf tunes on their setlist, starting with a warm and hopeful “Away From The Mire”.
After “A Long Forgotten Dream”, it was time to “Walk On Boy”, as informed by Mel Tillis. The cover featured a mighty fine set of picks and rolls from Billy Failing and short, sharp strikes from Jarrod Walker before bassist Royal Masat helped break everything down to the absolute bass-ics with a rolling and rubbery beat. Masat wasn’t even close to done wowing the audience as the next song, “Heartbeat Of America”, showcased both his metronomic precision and the emotion he manages to add into each note.
The band picked up speed as Roy Acuff’s “Streamline Cannonball” catapulted the momentum of the set into the stratosphere before landing squarely in a bedrock-solid “Home”. From there, the acceleration of “Leadfoot” propelled Strings, Failing, and Hargreaves through the blazing finale of “Happy Hollow” (another debut), “Enough To Leave”, “Dust In A Baggie”, and, finally, the twisty, turning “Hide and Seek”.
Managing his expectations and timing a smidge better than Friday’s show allowed for a few moments to let the exhausted fans and the show itself breathe before Billy returned for a well-earned encore of “The Beginning Of The End” (the night’s final debut) and the traditional “Little Maggie”. As the crowd showered the band with thunderous cheers of appreciation, the boys gathered together beside their visibly tired but joyful bandleader and took a group bow before walking off to return to their off-stage lives.
For Strings, that means it’s back to watching his entire world change with the addition of his new baby. A lot of folks would have taken the weekend off after the arrival of the wee bundle of joy, but Strings was clearly eager to test the limits of his own endurance while not wanting to disappoint his ever-growing throng of admiring fans.
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Click below to check out videos of the live debuts and Terry Barber sit-in from Billy Strings’ fall tour opener at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, MI. The run continues with two shows in Indianapolis, followed by a special O Billy, Where Art Thou? Halloween run featuring a theatrical stage production with actors from the cast of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and special guests Jerry Douglas, Sierra Hull, Duane Trucks, Lindsay Lou, and many more. For tickets and a full list of upcoming Billy Strings dates, head here.
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Billy Strings – “Big River” (Johnny Cash), “Know It All” > “Ridin’ That Midnight Train” (Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys) – 10/4/24
Billy Strings – “In the Clear” > “Ashland Breakdown” (Bill Monroe), “Psycho” (Eddie Noack) – 10/5/24
Setlist [via Billy Base]: Billy Strings | Pine Knob Music Theatre | Clarkston, MI | 10/4/24
Set One: Big River (Johnny Cash)[1], Know It All > Ridin’ That Midnight Train (Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys), Turmoil & Tinfoil, Don’t Be Calling Me (at 4 AM)[2][3], In The Morning Light, All Time Low (Widespread Panic), Gild the Lily[2], Don’t Step Over an Old Love (The Stanley Brothers)[4][5][6], Dream of a Miner’s Child (Andrew Jenkins)[4][7], Summertime (George & Ira Gershwin)[4][6], Blue Ridge Mountain Blues (Traditional)[4][8], Don’t Neglect the Rose (Emma Smith With Larry Sparks)[4][6][9], The Fire On My Tongue > Bronzeback
Set Two: Likes Of Me (Jerry Reed)[1] > Must Be Seven[10] > Pyramid Country, Meet Me At The Creek, My Alice, Seven Weeks in County > Red Daisy, Hellbender > Doin’ Things Right > Southern Flavor (Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys)
SETLIST NOTES
[1] Last Time Played 2022-10-30 | 166 Shows
[2] Debut – Original
[3] Billy shared the story behind the new song, released on Highway Prayers
[4] w/ Dad
[5] FTP – Fred Stryker
[6] Terry Barber (Dad) on lead vocals
[7] FTP – Andrew Jenkins
[8] Last Time Played 2022-06-23 | 209 Shows
[9] FTP – Emma Smith w/ Larry Sparks
[10] “Pyramid Country” Fakeout Intro
Setlist [via Billy Base]: Billy Strings | Pine Knob Music Theatre | Clarkston, MI | 10/5/24
Set One: In the Clear > Ashland Breakdown (Bill Monroe), Psycho (Eddie Noack) > Thunder, Running The Route > Cabin Song, All Fall Down (John Hartford), Seney Stretch[1], Hold That Woodpile Down (Traditional)[2]
Set Two: Away From The Mire, Long Forgotten Dream, Walk On Boy (Mel Tillis), Heartbeat Of America, Streamline Cannonball (Roy Acuff), Home[3], Leadfoot[4], Happy Hollow[1], Enough To Leave, Dust In A Baggie, Hide and Seek
Encore: The Beginning of the End[1], Little Maggie (Traditional)
SETLIST NOTES
[1] Debut – Original
[2] Last Time Played 2023-12-15 | 45 Shows
[3] Billy Strings on his “Bride” Preston-Thompson D-SBA Custom guitar
[4] Billy Strings on his Masterton ML-1 Béla Fleck Series Baritone Banjo
The post Billy Strings Caps Life-Changing Week With Live Debuts, Welcomes His Dad At Michigan’s Pine Knob Music Theatre [Photos/Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
