Billy Strings Debuts ‘Psycho’ Cover At Columbia Speedway Opener

Billy Strings kicked off a four-night stand at Columbia Speedway in Cayce, South Carolina on Thursday night. Strings and his band — consisting of bassist Royal Masat, mandolinist Jarrod Walker and banjoist Billy Failing — unveiled a cover of Eddie Noack’s “Psycho” within their first of two sets last night.

The quartet began the show with the recently debuted original “Fire On My Tongue” and then played a seamless run that included takes on Billy’s “Thirst Mutilator,” John Hartford’s “I’m Still Here,” The Monkees’ “Last Train To Clarksville” and “White Freightliner” by Townes Van Zandt. While the group offered a brief, instrumental cover of “Last Train To Clarksville” at Tipitina's on March 24, last night’s rendition was a well-jammed version which spanned 13 minutes.

The opening frame continued with “Know It All,” another original debuted earlier this year. The four-piece then served up covers of The Dillards’ “There Is A Time” and Noack’s “Psycho.” Leon Payne wrote “Psycho,” which Eddie Noack recorded in 1968. Last night’s first set came to a close with an extended “Hide & Seek,” the third song of the frame premiered by the group at The Capitol Theatre in February.

Strings and company got Thursday’s second set underway with “Taking Water” from Billy’s Grammy-winning Home album. Next up was a run through the Grateful Dead song suite “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower.” Once again, the guitarist changed the lyric in “Franklin’s” to “if you get confused listen to the banjo play.” Additionally, “Franklin’s” featured teases of The Allman Brothers Band’s “Blue Sky.” The show rolled on with The Stanley Brothers’ “A Robin Built A Nest On Daddy’s Grave” and the fourth ever “Fire Line.” Billy had fun with the crowd before “A Robin Built A Nest On Daddy’s Grave” by telling the crowd, “Here’s a song called ‘Psycho’ and this one is by Post Malone.”

Billy led the group through Johnny Cash’s “Big River” and then covered Mother Love Bone’s “Crown Of Thorns” for just the second time. From there, the quartet went back to Home to conclude the show. “Away From The Mire” ended the second set, while “Freedom” served as the evening’s encore.

Watch fan-shot video of “Help/Slip/Franklin’s” below: