Billy Strings Tonight

Enjoy Ken, it should be most excellent!

Have fun, stay dry, and please take pictures if you remember to!

For those of us who can't be there in person, the band provides a free stream real time but keep in mind it's free and at the mercy of wifi at the venue. Most of the time the stream works, sometimes buffering wins. It's really nice that the band's sound guy streams the shows with everything else he's doing, Stream quality is beyond his control due to wifi variables so please don't complain if the stream doesn't work great 100% of the time. They do this because they're nice, and care about getting the music into our ears, not because they have to. Thanks Andy!

https://mixlr.com/billy-streams stream usually is off-air until about twenty minutes before show time (7:40 Pacific last night)

Andy also is very prompt uploading shows to Nugs.net You usually can listen the day after a show, headphones recommended so you get the full panning effect of the sound board. 

Great band, great venue

great streams

Billy MF Strings

I'm going to the Marymoor show tomorrow night in Redmond, WA, where it is also forecast to be raining.  It will be my first show since things have reopened.  Have fun tonight, Ken!

That pup got it goin on

Saw Billy at the Fox Oakland last week. Blew my mind. His band is amazing and the best touring act currently. They've got it all. Pristine vocals, virtuosos on the instruments, powerhouse  quartet with the ability to cover a variety of musical styles  and just stunning original songs. 
 

Pretty amazing light show too

Catch them in these intimate venues while you can, his popularity is growing crazy fast. 
 

and while I've been watching videos there's nothing like a live Billy Strings concert

Hope you like him, Ken. Have a great time! 

Enjoy the show. Wish I was there.

looking forward to the atlanta shows in december.

Link above 404ed just go to mixlr.com and search "Billy-Streams"  it's free to listen, you only need to sign up if you want to use the chat feature.

https://mixlr.com/billy-streams

My son & wife are in. Interesting t6o get a first person review tomorrow. Ken is wise. Interested in his take too....

So far...still going 

9/17/2021

McMenamins Edgefield

Set 1:

Slow Train 

Taking Water>

Ice Bridges

In The Morning Light

Help On The Way>

Slipknot!>

All Fall Down (John Hartford cover) shit's getting weird 

Wargasm

(set 1 continued)

Home tease>

Red Rocking Chair >

This Heart of Mine

West Dakota Rose (JW)

Set break

Set 2

Tipper

Everything's The Same

China Doll

Fireline

So Many Miles (Billy Failing)>

Ruben's Train>

So many Miles>

Ruben's back>

Dealing Despair

Sitting Here In Limbo

Meet Me at the Creek

https://twitter.com/i/status/1439216694065451014

Was hoping for a clip of Meet Me at the Creek, but Slipknot! will have to do. 

Found the Creek :) 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1439218869181190147

Show is about 40 minutes from kickoff here at Marymoor.  Pretty hetty scene out here among the whispering pines and the spitting rain.

Have fun Dave!

Free audio stream is starting any minute now.

https://mixlr.com/billy-streams

https://umaine.edu/folklife/what-we-do/programs-and-events/maine-song-an...

Pretty fun 1st set.  Thought Billy's vocals were a little strained.  Just a little too much gadgetry for my tastes, but I'm a pretty hardcore traditional Bluegrass fan.  The kids sure are lapping it up though.  It's a cool scene.  I'll write more later.  

That was a Seattle-y second set! Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, Jimi covers

Billy Strings

Marymoor Park - Redmond, WA

9/18/2021

Set 1:

Love or Confusion (1)

Thirst Mutilator >

Running

Doin’ My Time

On the Line > 45

Mary of the Wild Moor (2)

Hollow Heart

Black Clouds >

Clinch Mountain Backstep >

Black Clouds

Love Like Me

Highway Hypnosis

Set 2:

Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town (3) >

Home of the Red Fox >

Little Maggie

Crown of Thorns

Love & Regret

End of the Rainbow >

Running the Route

I’ll Remember You My Love In My Prayers

Turmoil & Tinfoil

(1) FTP - Jimi Hendrix Experience

(2) FTP with Band - Traditional

(3) FTP - Pearl Jam

Mikey M  setlist

oops I snipped the set list short.

Set 2 continued:

Turmoil and Tinfoil>

Enter The Dragon>

Turmoil and Tinfoil

Hey Joe

Third Stone From the Sun

This man is doing for roots music, right now, what the new grass revival had done to, and for the music that came before them. Look back. Before that you had Jim and Jesse and bill monroe. The basics. That's a drastic shift. I really think he is changing how we will hear the next generational type iteration of this music. in a hundred years, Billy strings will still be part of the conversation. Yeah he uses pedals. Not that hard to imagine drawing a straight line from Jimmie Rodgers, to doc Watson, to Clarence white, to Tony rice.... Billy strings. 

Thanks for mentioning Mr B Bender White

A few photos I took last night at Marymoor.  

Last night was the 51st anniversary of Jimi's death, so I assume they were marking the occasion in tribute. I sort of put Billy Strings more in the Doc Watson/Americana roots category but of course that's a serious understatement because he obviously has other influences, rock, jamgrass, metal and grunge. In essence there really is no neat category to stick him with and I am 100% there for THAT. Though he absolutely crushes the bluegrass songs he plays, I think he'd be the last to call his music bluegrass for purists. Bluegrass on it's own has never been a lucrative genre for artists so for him to be the IBMA guitar player of the year? It's giving bluegrass mainstream clout and attention it has never enjoyed before (imo). A rising tide lifts all boats as they say. 

Billy Strings = Bela Feck if Fleck was psychedelic and into metal lol idk

Thanks for the photos, Dave. Looks like you were up pretty close! I too noticed his voice wavered a bit on Love or Confusion, but considering that was FTP maybe he was a little bit nervous he'd fuck up, but there were no bobby style eggers, his voice was just not up in the front, and he recovered.

*sorry, IBMA bluegrass 2021 album of the year, he was IBMA guitar player of the year in 2020

double post 

don't know if this link will work since it's from a facebook group; but since I derped up and double posted might as well try:

The Pearl Jam cover Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town is great

https://www.facebook.com/1078807744/videos/g.1621965384731002/2368930950...

That was rad to hear him bust out. My #1 Pearl Jam song. Poignant.

The flannel was a nice touch 

Enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning after getting my sealegs back after last night.  This was my first show in 18 months.  The cool damp weather was a challenge for my left ankle and knee, which are still slowly coming around after getting run into by a car in January and months of rehab.   With the forecast calling for rain, I chose not to bring a chair.  The rain ended up holding off for the most part until the last notes of Third Stone From The Sun, when a deluge commenced.  
 

While standing on my feet for five hours was challenging, it did allow me to easily wander up front and get a nice spot, about third row dead center.  I watched the whole first set and first 3-4 songs of the second set from there, and then moved back in front and to the left of the soundboard for the remainder of the show once things got a little too overcrowded up front.  The sound was much better in the back.

It felt good to re-enter the concert world at Marymoor.  It was my first time back since seeing Furthur there.  I was surprised that parking was $10 as I recall it being free on my other visits.  Lots of folks were hanging in the lot and tailgating, but I headed in to pick up my ticket at Will Call.   The lot was a good 3/4 mile walk from the venue.  Between this place and The Gorge, there is lots of walking involved with outdoor shows here in Washington.  After they checked my proof of vaccination, I scoped out the grounds, then got a decent Shrimp Po' Boy from one of the food vendors and an Amber Ale at the beer tent, and chowed down at one of the picnic tables before heading up front to get a good spot in front of the stage.

I am basically a novice when it comes to Jamgrass.  I've seen Leftover Salmon once, and that's about it, unless the one time I saw Railroad Earth counts.  I've never seen SCI or the Infamous Stringdusters.  My preference has always been Traditional Bluegrass, which I've seen copious amounts of.  I never found the direction New Grass Revival spearheaded that appealing, certainly not when I could see the likes of The Seldom Scene, Doc Watson, The Johnson Mountain Boys, The Tony Rice Unit, The Del McCoury Band, Ricky Skaggs, The Lonesome River Band, and Larry Sparks on a regular basis.  David Grisman and Peter Rowan both took the music a to new places, and Tony Rice had occasional Newgrass moments, but for the most part, the Bluegrass I like is traditional.  I even got to catch the master, Bill Monroe, not too long before his passing, at the free shows on the Mall in D.C. celebrating Bill Clinton's first inauguration.  Big Mon still had the fire that cold January morning, and was followed on stage by none other than Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman aka Scaring The Children.  In hindsight, I should have seen the writing on the wall.

Last night left me wondering what John Duffey, the acclaimed mandolin player, high tenor vocalist, and founder of both The Country Gentlemen and The Seldom Scene, would have made of Billy Strings.  Duffey had a prankster's spirit and was also an amazingly gifted musician, so my guess is he would have liked a lot of it, but with a few reservations.  I remember him teasing Tony Rice about growing a poni-tail one time Tony was sitting in for John Starling at a Seldom Scene show at the Birchmere just after Tony had gotten back from jamming with Dawg and Jerry at what became known as The Pizza Sessions.  He said something like, "What's that you're growing?  Is that a Tony-Poni?"  To which Tony, without missing a beat, responded "Nice pants, John" in regards to the colorful sweatpants Duffey was sporting.  Then they tore into that high lonesome sound, and none of that mattered, it was just the window dressing.

That's how a lot of Mr. Apostol's show struck me last night.  The man is a wonderfully gifted guitarist.  It's great to witness another high caliber flat-picker emerge.  His mandolin player and upright bassist were also aces.  The banjo player didn't do so much for me, but he did pretty well with his supporting harmony vocals.  Billy's voice sounded a little ragged to my ears.  Before introducing Mary Of The Wild Moor (a tasty debut I was glad to witness), he said he hadn't slept much on the bus ride up from Portland, so maybe that accounted for it.  My standard for Bluegrass vocalists is pretty high.  Duffey was the shit, Tony Rice in his prime was a joy to hear, and Dudley Connell who fronts what gets called The Seldom Scene these days, and used to lead the Johnson Mountain Boys, may be the best of them.  It looked like Billy was drinking some hot tea during the show, and I think it helped, as his voice got stronger as the show went on, although he tends to get lazy and not annunciate clearly at times.  I'm guessing his fondness for weed contributes to this.  He was sure appreciative of a big bomber someone tossed onto the stage.

I can imagine Duffey rolling his eyes at all the effects pedals and the spastic light show.  They're certainly ear and eye-catching, but are they really necessary?  Do I need to hear an acoustic guitar sound like an electric guitar with feedback and distortion?  It's interesting for a moment, but it sure as hell isn't Bluegrass.  The light show left me concerned for the epileptics and Tourette's Syndrome folks in the house.  Now granted, I wasn't on any psychedelics, and am still on a weed-hiatus, but I found the lights a distraction, not an enhancement to the music.

It's plain to see that Billy relishes being a Rock Star.  The Hendrix, Pearl Jam and Mother Love Bone covers.  Dashing around the stage like Mick Jagger and Bob Weir's bastard love child.  I think it was Ryan Adams who sang about wanting to sing Rock & Roll but being in a Country band when he was in Whiskeytown.  Billy faces a similar conundrum.  
 

It's a good show.  When I'm done posting this, I'm going to call up my buddy in Missoula and encourage him to go to the show.  It's nice to see Bluegrass, in whatever form, get pushed out of the shade and into the spotlight.  I kind of doubt the projections by some that this will blow up much bigger than it already has.  Even with the fancy light show and electronic effects, this is not music with mainstream appeal.  
 

As I left the show, I heard some interesting comments from folks as I was walking out.  One older guy was all excited to have seen a banjo player, apparently an exotic instrument to him, not really catching the finer nuance of how competently it was being played.  Another guy was saying that he had enjoyed the show, but that it didn't seem to have much soul.  Funny to hear that, as when I got immersed in Bluegrass, the soulfulness and sincerity was what hooked me.

May the good lord bless you Billy Strings.  Hopefully we will get to enjoy many years to watch you and your band grow and develop.  So you wanna be a Rock & Roll star?  Hey, it's your trip man, enjoy it, and don't forget to star in your own movie.

I don't think Billy Strings needs mainstream fame to sell out shows on the regular, I see him attracting fiercely dedicated fans who will tour with him like the GD enjoyed despite having many hits. In that sense, I think nancy is right about enjoying small venues while we can. Do I think he'll be an international superstar? Maybe, he has everything it takes including a willingness to cross genres, and is extremely gifted player. If he goes full CW he could have his own theme park some day (I hope he likes touring more than making the bigtime but can't say I'd blame him for reaching for the gold ring). He doesn't need pedals but he likes playing with them. I like the effects because I like the psychedelic cowboy trajectory away from stuffy traditional boundaries. YMMV

I feel like every album puts a bit more emphasis on other influences; which for me at least makes the music a LOT less homogenous than trad. bluegrass. My only complaint about bluegrass is that it's nice for a bit but after a few songs it dulls itself in redundancy. Still love it, by and by, but I love how much more interesting Billy's band makes bluegrass when they play it even more.

I think he's evolved a lonnnnng way from here, but holy shit fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsp5LpVjj90

I;m kinda getting burnt out on Billy. Maybe too much too fast.

I've noticed a lot of conservative trolls swarming his fb and twitter since his new video came out which features black and LBGT couples in a love song. They mad because there's no cousin-lovers featured? I didn't really like this song, I'm just not into ballads..that is until I saw how mad the video troll made the magas lol. 

 :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsp5LpVjj90

Nice review, Dave.

I sold my tickets to see Billy in LA a couple of weeks ago because it was an indoor gig at a smallish place. I'm hoping to be able to catch up with him before too long.