Béla Fleck Sits In With Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton At Ryman Auditorium

Guitarists Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton brought their tour with bassist Royal Masat to the historic Ryman Auditorium for a Sunday night concert in Nashville. Longtime Nashville-area resident and frequent collaborator Béla Fleck sat in with the trio, adding his masterful banjo picking to several songs in the first set.

Strings, Sutton and Masat have structured the tour’s setlists with bluegrass staples and other folk songs. Lead vocal duties were shared by Strings and Sutton, who mostly played acoustic guitars. Sutton occasionally moved to mandolin, and Strings picked up the banjo for a pair of songs.

Midway into the first set, after Sutton sang lead on Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You,” a fourth chair was placed on The Ryman stage that was soon filled by Fleck. The guest banjo player started his stint with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” Sutton sang the group through The Stanley Brothers’ “The Old Home.”

Strings took lead for the remainder of the set, as Fleck added his signature banjo to Carson Robison’s “Life Gets Tee-Jus Don’t It,” Doc Watson’s “Nothing To It” and the traditional “St. James Hospital” and “We Shall All Be Reunited.”

The second half of the concert was performed by Sutton, Strings and Masat in various configurations. The 16-song second set was followed by a two-song encore composed of “Solid Gone” and the location-appropriate “Nashville Blues.”

Watch footage of Fleck sitting-in at last night’s Ryman show below:

Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton’s tour with Royal Masat continues with another Ryman concert tonight, Monday, September 15. Livestreams of the entire tour, including on-demand replays, are available to nugs All Access subscribers.

Setlist (via BillyBase)

Set One: Way Downtown [1], Shady Grove, Little Darling Pal Of Mine [1], Salty Sheep, Walk On Boy, There’s More Pretty Girls Than One, Summertime, Southbound [1], If I Needed You [1], Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright [2], The Old Home [1][2], Life Gets Tee – Jus, Don’t It [2], St. James Hospital [2], Nothing To It [2], We Shall All Be Reunited [2]

Set Two: Country Blues [3], Frosty Morn [4], Talking to Casey >, Poor Boy Blues, Miss The Mississippi And You, What Does The Deep Sea Say [1][5], Beaumont Rag, Alberta, Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette, The Train That Carried My Girl From Town [1] >, Black Mountain Rag, St. Louis Blues, Darling Corey, Moody River, South Coast, Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar [1]

Encore: Solid Gone [1], Nashville Blues

Notes:

• [1] – Bryan Sutton on lead vocals
• [2] – w/ Béla Fleck on banjo
• [3] – Billy Strings solo on clawhammer banjo
• [4] – Duet w/ Billy Strings on clawhammer banjo & Bryan Sutton on guitar
• [5] – Bryan Sutton on mandolin