Billy Strings Goes To Pot On 4/20 In St. Augustine

Billy Strings has never hidden his love of marijuana going so far as to tell Leafly “[Cannabis] has been a part of the process of writing every song I’ve written,” in a 2017 feature and smoking weed while being interviewed by the New York Times. As such, it should be no surprise he honored the stoner holiday of 4/20 last night by inserting a slew of cannabis-referencing songs into the setlist for his show in St. Augustine, Florida.

Billy Strings and his bandmates — bassist Royal Masat, banjoist Billy Failing, mandolinist Jarrod Walker and fiddler Alex Hargreaves — played their first of three spring tour shows at The St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Thursday night. The quintet debuted a total of five covers last night, each related to marijuana in some fashion. New additions to Strings’ already massive repertoire included songs by Flatt & Scruggs, John Hartford and Willie Nelson.

The first cover debut, Flatt & Scruggs’ “Your Love Is Like A Flower,” kicked off the show. The flower of a marijuana plant is what is usually smoked by those who imbibe. Strings’ other cover debuts had more overt cannabis references starting with the take on John Hartford’s “Two Hits And The Joint Turned Brown” towards the middle of the first set. Billy showed off his freestyling skills as he shouted out his bandmates in improvised lyrics at the beginning of a song that was a staple of the Yonder Mountain String Band live repertoire during the late Jeff Austin’s time in the band. YMSB put “Two Hits And The Joint Turned Brown” back into regular rotation in 2019.

After performing “Know It All” and “Love & Regret” from 2021’s Renewal album, Billy Strings and company unveiled their version of Hartford’s “Granny Wontcha Smoke Some Marijuana.” Hargreaves starred on the song John Hartford initially released in 1976 by weaving fast-paced fiddle licks into the mix. A seamless run of “Taking Water,” “Running The Route” and “End Of The Rainbow” brought last night’s first set to a close.

Billy Strings went heavy on Renewal cuts during Thursday’s second set, bookending the frame with “Red Daisy” and “Hide & Seek.” The second set also incorporated the album’s “Heartbeat Of America,” “In The Morning Light” and “Show Me The Door.” The last two were split by a debut cover of Willie Nelson’s “Roll Me Up.” Nelson recruited fellow marijuana lovers Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson and Jamey Johnson to contribute to the original found on his 2012 album, Heroes.

The cannabis references weren’t kept strictly to debuts, as Strings dusted off Peter Rowan’s “Panama Red” for the first and only other time since November 9, 2019 — a gap of 198 shows. New Riders Of The Purple Sage scored a hit with the song featured on their 1973 LP, The Adventures Of Panama Red, which shares its name with a potent strain of weed.

Strings had two more fitting numbers in store for his 4/20 encore last night. First up was the group’s premiere cover of John Hartford’s “Holding.” Jarrod Walker handled guitar duties as Billy Strings sang the Aereo-Plain classic sans guitar while Billy Failing provided backing vocals without banjo. Then, the five-piece said farewell with the traditional “Roll On Buddy, Roll On.”

Billy Strings returns to The Amp tonight and tomorrow. Livestreams can be viewed for free by nugs.net subscribers.

Watch pro-shot video from the beginning of last night’s show followed by fan-shot highlights below:

Setlist (via BillyBase)

Set One: Your Love Is Like a Flower [1], Away From The Mire > New Country Blues, This Old World > Black Mountain Rag, Two Hits and The Joint Turned Brown [2], Know It All, Love & Regret, Granny Wontcha Smoke Some Marijuana [2], Taking Water > Running The Route > End Of The Rainbow

Set Two: Red Daisy, While I’m Waiting Here, Sally Goodin, Rock Salt & Nails, Heartbeat Of America, In The Morning Light, Roll Me Up [3], Show Me The Door, So Many Miles [4], Panama Red, Pyramid Country [5] > Hide & Seek

Encore: Holding [2], [6], Roll On Buddy, Roll On

• [1] – FTP – Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and The Foggy Mountian Boys
• [2] – FTP – John Hartford
• [3] – FTP – Willie Nelson
• [4] – Billy Failing on lead vocals
• [5] – “Bathtub Gin” (Phish) tease
• [6] – Billy Strings on lead vocals without guitar, Jarrod Walker on guitar, Billy Failing back-up vocals without banjo

Audience Recording (Taped by G-Man)