Billy Strings Sits Down For Special Show In Austin

Billy Strings concluded his 2025 touring itinerary with a pair of concerts in Austin, Texas on Saturday and Sunday. The run began with a performance at the 15,000 capacity Moody Center.

For the 2025 finale, the quintet — Strings, bassist Royal Masat, mandolinist Jarrod Walker, banjo player Billy Failing and fiddler Alex Hargreaves — moved to the 2,750 cap ACL Live at The Moody Theater (home of Austin City Limits). The special show saw the musicians seated with Masat playing electric bass guitar.

Also making the setlist a special one were several breakouts. The first set got underway with “Ridin’ That Midnight Train.” The first bust out came five songs into the frame in the form of “Bringing Mary Home.” Billy Strings last performed The Country Gentlemen’s 1965 release on March 2, 2024 for a 137 show gap, as per BillyBase.

Additional breakouts in the first set included “The Preacher & The Bear” (Gap: 95), Jarrod Walker leading the band on “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” (Gap: 82) and “Natural Thing to Do” (Gap: 114). The first set wrapped with The Dillards’ bluegrass standard “Old Home Place.”

Round two launched with the Strings/Walker co-write “Gone A Long Time,” appearing on the band’s latest studio album, Highway Prayers. The string band then dusted off Larry Sparks’ “A Face In The Crowd, last time played on December 9, 2023 for a 152 show gap.

Set two also featured additional bust outs of “These Memories Of You” (80 show gap), a Billy Failing-led “Down The Road” (136 show gap), and “Blue Virginia Blues” (75 show gap). The largest break out chronologically, the Flatt & Scruggs-released “Cora Is Gone,” had not been played since July 19, 2020 for a 479 show gap. Following “Cora,” Billy Strings and company sealed the show with “Little Maggie” and “We Shall All Be Reunited.”

Setlist (via BillyBase)

Set 1: Ridin’ That Midnight Train [1], I Only Exist, Big Spike Hammer, Maiden’s Prayer, It Ain’t Before, Bringing Mary Home [2], Beaumont Rag, The Preacher & The Bear [3], I’ll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers, Cabin Song, All Of Tomorrow, Nobody’s Love Is Like Mine [4,5], Libby Phillips Rag, Natural Thing to Do [6], Slow Train, There Is A Time, Old Home Place

Set 2: Gone A Long Time, A Face In The Crowd [7], These Memories Of You [8], Down The Road [9], Bronzeback, Harbor of Love, Katy Daley, Hollow Heart, Greenville Trestle High, The Letter Edged In Black, Ocean Of Diamonds, Ashland Breakdown, Blue Virginia Blues [10], Way Downtown, Shady Grove, Dark Hollow, Cora Is Gone [11], Little Maggie, We Shall All Be Reunited

Notes:

• 1. Sit down sets with Royal Masat on his electric jazz bass “Whitey” for the entire show
• 2. Last Time Played 2024-03-02 | 137 show gap
• 3. Last Time Played 2024-12-07 | 95 show gap
• 4. Jarrod Walker on lead vocals
• 5. Last Time Played 2025-02-08 | 82 show gap
• 6. Last Time Played 2024-08-02 | 114 show gap
• 7. Last Time Played 2023-12-09 | 152 show gap
• 8. Last Time Played 2025-02-15 | 80 show gap
• 9. Billy Failing on lead vocals
• 10. Last Time Played 2025-03-01 | 75 show gap
• 11. Last Time Played 2020-07-19 | 479 show gap

Advertisement

Loading tour dates

Advertisement

Related

• 

  Billy Strings Brings Bluegrass To NPR’s ‘Tiny Desk Concert’ 

• 

  Billy Strings Schedules Spring 2026 Tour 

• 

  Michael Cleveland Joins Billy Strings For Nod To Bill Monroe & More In Louisville 

• 

  Billy Strings & Greensky Bluegrass 'Play A Train Song' For Todd Snider 

• 

  Meet Me At The Rail: Billy Strings Takes Guitar Into Crowd In Albany