Billy Strings Performs Marathon Solo Set For ‘Live From Out There’

Billy Strings made his Live From Out There debut on Saturday night. The guitarist performed a lengthy set for the nugs.tv/11E1even Group livestream subscription series that benefits Sweet Relief’s COVID-19 Fund.

Strings solo set consisted of 33 songs. The Michigan native went heavy on tunes from Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs and other bluegrass/old-time luminaries. Billy kicked off the performance with The Stanley Brothers’ “Bound To Ride” and then played a string of four Watson tunes: “Beaumont Rag,” “Way Downtown,” “Groundhog” and “Salt Creek.” Next up were Flatt & Scruggs’ “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down,” Norman Blake’s “Last Train From Poor Valley,” Jimmy Reed’s “Likes Of Me” and the traditional “Shady Grove.”

Billy Strings picked a more recently penned tune next as he played Keith Whitley’s “Lonely At The Top,” which Jamey Johnson recorded for his 2010 album, The Guitar Song. From there came a run of Norman Blake’s “Randall Collins,” the jazz standard “Farewell Blues,” Doc’s “The Train That Carried My Girl From Town,” the traditional “Black Mountain Rag,” “Today” by John Hartford, old-time favorite “Dig A Little Deeper In The Well” and Lawrence Hammond’s “John Deere Tractor.” Strings played acoustic guitar throughout the set with one exception, Earl Scruggs’ “Reuben,” which featured Billy on banjo.

Other highlights included a pair of Townes Van Zandt songs (“Pancho & Lefty,” “Two Girls”), North Carolina folk tune “Tom Dooley,” Watson’s “Walk On Boy” and the fitting finale of “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar.” Watch Billy open with “Bound To Ride” and “Beaumont Rag” below via nugsnet:

Setlist