Arenagrass: Billy Strings Debuts ‘Alberta’ Cover In Charlottesville

Billy Strings continued his winter tour on Wednesday with his second of two nights at Charlottesville, Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena. The setlist for the concert at the massive basketball arena included the Billy Strings debut of traditional blues song “Alberta,” played in the style of Doc Watson.

Strings, fiddler Alex Hargreaves, bassist Royal Masat, banjoist Billy Failing and mandolinist Jarrod Walker treated fans in Charlottesville to a 27-song performance last night. The quintet offered their typically diverse mix of covers as well as plenty of originals, including six tunes from 2021’s Renewal and five off 2019’s Home.

Renewal’s “Red Daisy” and “Fire Line” launched the show split by the 2021 single “Wargasm.” The quintet worked “Fire Line” into the instrumental “Thirst Mutilator” as part of a seamless run that also featured original “Hollow Heart” and a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage.” After the ensuing “Watch It Fall,” Strings told a story of how he would play Jonathan Edwards’ “How Long Have I Been Waiting On You” with both his father (Terry Barber) and family friend Brad Lasco as a youngster to introduce the song he recently debuted in Broomfield, Colorado.

The first surprise of the night followed as Strings helmed a rare cover of “Ruby.” He then led his band through the aforementioned “Alberta” debut. Watson recorded the song for his sophomore studio album, 1966’s Southbound. A straight-forward “Long Forgotten Dream” preceded the set-closing pairing of “Home Of The Red Fox” and “Bringing In The Georgia Mail.”

Billy Strings looked to Renewal for a four-song sequence featuring “Know It All,” “Hide & Seek,” “This Old World” and “Heartbeat Of America” to start last night’s second set. A take on Dan Fogelberg’s “Along The Road” broke up a series of originals that continued with “Gone A Long Time,” “While I’m Waiting Here” and a “Pyramid Country” that bled into “Must Be Seven.” Strings went on to dust off his take on Mother Love Bone’s “Crown Of Thorns” later in the frame and closed the set with the traditional “Red Rocking Chair.” The five-piece capped the Charlottesville run by covering Jimmy Martin’s “Tennessee” as the encore.

Watch pro-shot footage shared by nugs.net of the first three songs from last night’s show:

View fan-shot video of “Long Forgotten Dream” and “While I’m Waiting Here” below:

Setlist (via BillyBase)

Set One: Red Daisy, Wargasm, Fire Line > Thirst Mutilator > Hollow Heart > Brain Damage, Watch It Fall, How Long Have I Been Waiting On You [1], Ruby, Alberta [2], Long Forgotten Dream, Home Of The Red Fox > Bringing In The Georgia Mail

Set Two: Know It All, Hide & Seek, This Old World, Heartbeat Of America, Along The Road, Gone A Long Time, While I’m Waiting Here > Pyramid Country > Must Be Seven > Ole Slewfoot, Love Like Me, Crown Of Thorns > Red Rocking Chair

Encore: Tennessee

• [1] – Billy introduced the song, recalling how his father, Terry Barber, and close family friend, Brad Lasco, used to sing this together in his childhood
• [2] – FTP – Traditional Blues