Billy Strings Fall Tour

Thank you 

He's been doing weekend shows so that may explain the gaps but I haven't looked at the specific dates.  

The 'bama show is basically his backyard.  Less than 2 hours from his home.  

Baltimore Halloween is an odd choice...

>Baltimore Halloween is an odd choice...<

Zang, just include a bullet proof vest in your crab costume and everything will be cool. Billy loves Baltimore -- the region, with its ties to Western Maryland and the Bay has a rich tradition of bluegrass. 

Billy Strings Baltimore Recap - Fall 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gq0ei6PU9g

I just came from 4 days of DelFest and happy to report the bluegrass scene is strong around these parts.

Fun Fact: "...One major element of old time music that stems from this cultural mixing, and that has strong ties to Maryland, is the banjo......and Baltimore became the home to the first known commercial banjo producer in the world....William Boucher, a German immigrant to the United States, set up shop in Baltimore between 1845 and 1970 and made choices in producing his banjos that influenced the instrument to this day. One of the biggest choices Boucher made was using a circular wooden frame instead of a gourd.

... Post World War II migrants from rural Appalachia as well as rural Maryland moved to more urban areas like Baltimore seeking factory and manufacturing jobs. Small pockets of these migrant populations came to be known as Little Appalachia, concentrated in Hampden, Dundalk, Highlandtown, and other areas. The concentration of people from different geographic areas brought together players from all different schools of American folk and old-time music. This mixing made Baltimore as well as the more rural area to the north of the city along the Mason-Dixon line a hotbed for the new genre of bluegrass music."

https://preservationmaryland.org/historic-maryland-music-traditions-blue...

Baltimore's Bluegrass Roots

https://www.wypr.org/show/on-the-record/2018-04-10/baltimores-bluegrass-...

Hulaween is a freak show I have been wanting to attend for a while now. I am not a big fan of festivals, but I may be able to drag these old bones out to another weekend of being in that grand forest again. 

I's disappointed that the only LA area shows are are at the Forum this year. In just a couple of years, we've gone from the Santa Barbara Bowl, The Wiltern, and the LA Greek to the monstrosity down in Inglewood. Hard pass, but I might try to make it up to Berkeley for one of the Greeks.

Thanks Alan - did not know that. 

Knowing is half the battle - GI Joe

I'd like to hit the greeks with phil sandwich but that is a hall for this southerner. 

Billy hates Canada 

The seldom scene were from Bethesda 

as is the great chief white cloud John Molo 

thanks Zang for inspiring me to do some research. DIfferent Fire on the Mountain. of course.

"...But after calming their nerves with whiskey, the band took to the stage—frontman Earl Taylor on mic and mandolin, Hensley on banjo, Sam “Porky” Hutchins on guitar, Vernon “Boatwhistle” McIntyre on bass, plus Curtis Cody on guest fiddle—and though they were greeted with little applause, Taylor flashed a smile at his fellow musicians and launched into the fastest song they knew.

This rip-roaring number, aptly named “Fire on the Mountain,” was unlike anything these city slickers had ever heard—a high-speed, hard-driving string sound that exploded off the stage and across the audience like the winds of a locomotive. And when the final chords hit and the room fell quiet, the crowd erupted in cheers, “rarin’ and screamin’ and hair-pullin’,” as Taylor later recalled.

This unexpected music had been born in the rural South—a young American genre fueled by little more than a few strings and fast-flying fingers. But it would be these Stoney Mountain Boys, a bunch of blue-collar musicians not from Louisville or Lexington or even Nashville, but the streets of Baltimore, who would be the first band to perform it at Carnegie Hall, lighting a spark that would inspire musicians for generations to come."

“They were the first bluegrass band to play Carnegie Hall, and I knew those guys,” says bluegrass veteran Del McCoury, who spent his early days in Baltimore. “They had it, they really did. They made a big splash in that part of the country, man, and a lot of musicians sprang out of listening to them . . . But you know, they never got out of the clubs. They were just one of those bands that never did . . . ”

https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/artsentertainment/history-rebi...

EARL TAYLOR AND THE STONEY MOUNTAIN BOYS PERFORM AT THE 79 CLUB IN BALTIMORE, LATE 1950S

Halloween Billy shows are lots of fun. The band did a WWF theme last year, LOTR the year before that, maybe they'll do spooky this year. I'd love a Frankenstein cover given the BOF guitar. What Alice Cooper/GWAR covers do you want to hear? 

Good stuff Alan.   I think that's the same Fire on the mountain that RRE and others play.   I did go down a small stony boys youtube worm hole last night thanks to you.   Much appreciated.  

As far as Halloween themes, maybe it will all Be The Wire themed.  ;)

He could do a set of Bridge themed songs:

London Bridge Is Falling Down>
Pali Gap>Darlene Dagger>Pali Gap>
Bridge Of Sighs>
The Crunge

Just a phenomenal band!!  BOK Center, tulsa, last night. Had good seats, plenty of room to dance, mind blowing performance in another time's forgotten space.  older crowd, lots of stealies.  chill security, could smoke relatively freely inside. Won't be missing him coming around anymore...

I caught the two Memphis shows last weekend and they were absolutely amazing.  Billy didn't come to me this time around so I had to go him and was not disappointed.  Folks we met in Memphis were very friendly and the crowd generally was very nice.  Apparently there was a fight between two women in front of us during set break but we missed it.  They were all gone by the time we got back to our seats.  My wife left her phone behind at the seats Saturday night and the woman sitting next to her found it and brought to guest services and we were able to get it back thank goodness.  Billy played so many songs I wanted to hear over the two nights.  At my first show in March 2023 I knew none of his material.  Now I am tuned into almost all of it.  My wife lost her mind when he played Fearless and I think she's come around to BMFS - plus I have now dragged her to five shows :) 

I caught the two Memphis shows last weekend and they were absolutely amazing.  Billy didn't come to me this time around so I had to go him and was not disappointed.  Folks we met in Memphis were very friendly and the crowd generally was very nice.  Apparently there was a fight between two women in front of us during set break but we missed it.  They were all gone by the time we got back to our seats.  My wife left her phone behind at the seats Saturday night and the woman sitting next to her found it and brought to guest services and we were able to get it back thank goodness.  Billy played so many songs I wanted to hear over the two nights.  At my first show in March 2023 I knew none of his material.  Now I am tuned into almost all of it.  My wife lost her mind when he played Fearless and I think she's come around to BMFS - plus I have now dragged her to five shows :)