Billy Strings continued his “Deja Tu — Return to the Experiment” run at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York on Friday following opening night on Thursday. Billy fit in a number of Grateful Dead-associated tunes for his shows commemorating the ESP experiments held by GD with Dr. Stanley Krippner at the storied venue in 1971.
Billy and company — mandolinist Jarrod Walker, banjoist Billy Failing and bassist Royal Masat — began the show with a paring of “Know It All” from Strings’ Grammy-nominated 2021 album Renewal followed by The Stanley Brothers’ bluegrass standard “How Mountain Girls Can Love.” The first half of the set also contained nods to late great bluegrass artists Tony Rice and Jeff Autin beginning with Rice’s “Tipper” followed by Jeff’s “Run Down”. A paring of Billy standouts “Dust In A Baggie” and “Dealin’ Despair” off the Billy Strings EP and Turmoil & Tinfoil respectively also counted among the first set. T&T’s “Living Like An Animal” then led into the Grateful Dead-covered John Phillips song “Me And My Uncle.” Billy coupled “On The Line” and “Train 45” to close out the first frame.
The second set got going with the ESP experiment with the “receiver” for night two being Billy’s mom, Debra Apostol. The audience was prompted to use their telepathic powers to send an image of a candle to Debra in Saranac, Michigan. The music then got going with Billy on an outstanding guitar intro to Keith Allison’s “Freeborn Man” followed by one of the aforementioned Dead-related tunes, Billy’s stellar composition featuring Robert Hunter lyrics, “Thunder.” Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann asked Billy to compose a tune to the Hunter lyrics last year. The Doc Watson-recorded, Eric Von Schmidt-penned “My Love Come Rolling Down” closed out the three-song set opening segment.
After a paring of The Dillards’ “Ernest T. Grass” — which contained a tease of Jimi Hendrix’s “Third Stone From The Sun” — and Jim & Jesse’s “Airmail Special,” Strings offered Renewal cut “Show Me The Door.” Billy then delivered a song which has appeared in acoustic sets by both the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia, “Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie,” by Mother Of Folk Elizabeth Cotten (featured in a recent JamBase playlist). The GD-covered, Charlie Monroe-penned bluegrass standard “Rosa Lee McFall” followed before the title track to Turmoil & Tinfoil capped off the second set. Billy and the band returned to encore with another Monroe number, “Roll On Buddy, Roll On.”
Watch pro-shot video of the first and second set opening songs including “Thunder” as well as audience-shot footage of “Me & My Uncle” and “Rosa Lee McFall” below:
Setlist (via Billy Strings Setlist Page)
Set One: Know It All > How Mountain Girls Can Love, Tipper, Rundown, There Is Time, Dust In A Baggie > Dealin’ Despair, Livin’ Like An Animal > Me And My Uncle, Heartbeat Of America, John Deere Tractor, On The Line > Train 45
Set Two: Freeborn Man, Thunder, She Makes My Love Come Rolling Down, Ernest T. Grass (1) > Airmail Special, Show Me The Door, Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie, Rosa Lee McFall, Turmoil & Tinfoil
Encore : Roll On Buddy, Roll On
Notes:
(1) 3rd Stone tease
