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

Billy Strings late-winter tour rolled into Louisville, Kentucky’s KFC Yum! Center for a two-night stand on Friday and Saturday. The guitarist and his band brought out acclaimed fiddler Michael Cleveland for extended sit-ins both evenings.

Michael Cleveland hails from Charlestown, Indiana, just across the Ohio River from Louisville. The latest collab between Billy Strings and Cleveland saw the fiddler helping the band — Billy, mandolinist Jarrod Walker, bassist Royal Masat, banjo player Billy Failing and fiddler Alex Hargreaves — wrap both nights at KFC Yum! Center in the Bluegrass State.

Friday’s collaboration got under way with a pairing of the traditional “Sally Goodin” and a fitting rendition of Bill Monroe‘s “My Rose Of Old Kentucky.” Billy Strings last played the latter on April 26, 2024 for a 125 show gap, as per BillyBase.

Next, back to Kentucky native and Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe’s catalog with a Billy Strings debut of “Sitting Alone In The Moonlight.” Billy Strings and Cleveland then rolled through two more Bill Monroe bust outs: the traditional “Molly And Tenbrooks” and “With Body & Soul,” the latter penned by Virginia Stauffer. They concluded with the Monroe-popularized traditional, “Roll On Buddy, Roll On.”

Saturday’s sit-in began with yet another Monroe song, “The Old Mountaineer.” The first Billy Strings original with Cleveland came in the form of “Know It All.” Cleveland also added to the unreleased Billy Strings original, “10,000 Miles From A Friend,” which the band unveiled earlier this year.

A pair of breakouts came next beginning with the Ronnie McCoury-penned “Baltimore Johnny” and the apropos “Eight More Miles To Louisville,” written by Grandpa Jones and last played by BS on February 24, 2024 for a 136 show gap. The Gershwin American songbook standard “Summertime” came next ahead of Billy Strings favorite “Meet Me At The Creek.” The sit-in and Louisville run came to a fitting close with “I’m Going Back To Old Kentucky.”

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