Billy Strings Weaves Together ‘The Two Towers’ As ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Themed Run Continues

Billy Strings continued his “Away From The Shire” Lord Of The Rings themed Halloween run on Sunday. As night one followed the first film in the trilogy, night two traced the plot of the second film, The Two Towers, which sess the Fellowship Of The Ring fracture with Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee heading toward Mordor to destroy the One Ring.

Night two saw a much spookier intro scene, this time featuring fiery images of Mordor and the Eye Of Sauron. After portions of “Foundations Of Stone” from the original score by Howard Shore were played over the PA, the band — guitarist Billy Strings, mandolinists Jarrod Walker, bassist Royal Masat, banjoist Billy Failing and fiddler Alex Hargreaves — took the stage with Hargreaves playing one of the iconic motifs from the score.

The quintet then delivered a number of originals beginning with “Watch It Fall” followed by “Long Forgotten Dream.” Billy took a moment to address the audience saying, “it’s been a while since we’ve been to Middle Earth.” The band then launched into “Running,” which saw Strings adding an “Eye Of Sauron” lyric change on the barnburner bluegrass tune. The Home cut would give way to another running tune “Running The Route,” off the band’s 2021 album Renewal. The LP’s “This Old World” came next.

The band then welcomed guitarist Jon Stickley as Bilbo Baggins. While Bilbo doesn’t appear in The Two Towers, Billy noted, “I bet ya didn’t know Bilbo played the shit outta guitar.” The sextet then delivered the Billy Strings debut of Gordon Lightfoot’s “In From The Forest,” referencing the hobbits Pippin Took and Merry Brandybuck’s trip to Fangorn Forest where they meet the walking and talking trees, The Ents. Stickley stayed on for the instrumental “Black Mountain Rag,” possibly a nod to Mount Doom showing the parallel storylines in Two Towers.

After smoking soloing all around on “Black Mountain Rag,” Stickley departed and flutist Anh Phung reprised her role from the night before for another sylvan debut, “In My Tree” by Pearl Jam. Phung delivered a flighty extended solo on the PJ premiere which included some great interplay between flutist and guitarist. Phung stayed on for “Down In The Swamp,” a reference to Frodo and Sam crossing the Dead Marshes toward Mordor, which also saw the return of Gollum (Rushad Eggleston) on cello. Tatiana Hargreaves also joined the fun on fiddle and the string trio delivered the intro to the Bela Fleck instrumental “Down In The Swamp.” Eggleston stuck around for a “Show Me Mordor” version of “Show Me The Door” followed by the gospel “You Must Come In At The Door.” The Doc Watson-recorded “Tennessee Stud” wrapped the first set.

The traditional “Feast Here Tonight,” also titled “Rabbit in the Log,” a reference to Sam and Frodo eating “a brace of coneys,” kicked off the second set. After the traditional tune, Gollum and Phung returned for the Eggleston original “I Peed On A Bird.” The quintet then delivered The Moody Blues classic “Nights In White Satin,” a reference to Gandalf returning from the dead as the White Wizard. Masat, who plays Gandalf, came back out triumphantly dressed in white after a psychedelic cacophony from the band.

Billy then picked out the Celtic-tinged “Theme Of Rohan” from the Howard Shore film score before Failing led the band through his tune “So Many Miles.” Gollum returned for a cover of Widespread Panic’s “Fishing” (fish are Gollum’s favorite food). Phung then came back for The Dillards’ “There Is A Time” before the group was joined by Eggleston on John Hartford’s “All Fall Down.” All of the guests save for Stickley added to the debut of the traditional “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” beginning a collection of tunes referencing the Battle of Helm’s Deep in the film. Gollum stuck around for “Wargasm” before the quintet went it alone for “Big River,” “In The Morning Light” and “Taking Water” to close the set. All the guests returned with the band to encore with Keith Allison’s “Freeborn Man.”

Watch the spooky intro to night two of “Away From The Shire” below:

The Halloween conclusion of “Away From the Shire” is tonight. Purchase livestreams via nugs.net.

Setlist (via BillyBase)

Set 1: Foundations Of Stone[1], Watch It Fall, Long Forgotten Dream Running > Running The Route, This Old World, Home From The Forrest[2][3], Black Mountain Rag[2], In My Tree[4][5], Down In The Swamp[5][6][7], Show Me The Door[7][8], You Must Come In At The Door[7], Tennessee Stud

Set 2: Feast Here Tonight, I Peed On A Bird[5][7], Nights In White Satin[9], Theme of Rohan, So Many Miles[10], Fishing[7], There Is A Time[5], All Fall Down [5][7], Bonaparte’s Retreat [5][6][7][11], Wargasm[7] Big River, In The Morning Light, Taking Water

Encore: Freeborn Man[2][5][6][7]

Notes:

• 1. FTP
• 2. With Jon Stickley as Bilbo Baggins on guitar
• 3. FTP- Gordon Lightfoot
• 4. FTP- Pearl Jam
• 5. With Anh Phung on flute
• 6. With Tatiana Hargreaves on fiddle
• 7. With Rushad Eggleston (Gollum) on cello
• 8. “Show Me Mordor”
• 9. Gandalf the White (Royal) triumphantly returns to stage!
• 10. Billy Failing on lead vocals
• 11. FTP- Traditional