Billy Strings Drums Up Support From Miles Miller & Honors Bluegrass Legend Frank Wakefield At Rupp Arena

Billy Strings took over Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky over the weekend, holding a pair of shows at the home of the University of Kentucky’s basketball programs. Night two on Saturday featured Kentucky native Miles Miller playing snare drum during an extensive second set sit-in.

“He was in the neighborhood and I said, ‘man you outta come play your drum a little bit, put a little train beats on some shit,’” Strings said while introducing Miller. “And he had to go borrow a snare drum from his high school teacher. So big thanks to Matthew Skaggs the high school drum teacher for the very nice drum. That’s about the most bluegrass-sounding drum I’ve ever heard.”

Miller’s notable recording and touring credits include Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers and Town Mountain, among others. Miller’s mid-second set sit-in began with Strings’ recent collaboration with Willie Nelson (who today turns 91 years old), “California Sober.” The guest drummer then accompanied Strings and his bandmates on The Stanley Brothers’ “Ridin’ That Midnight Train.” The collaboration kept chugging along with Flatt & Scruggs’ “99 Years (Is Almost For Life).”

Miller remained on the Rupp Arena stage as he joined Strings, banjoist Billy Failing, mandolinist Jarrod Walker, fiddler Alex Hargreaves and bassist Royal Masat on subsequent runs through the originals “Seven Weeks in County” and “Red Daisy.”

Saturday’s concert also saw Strings take time during the encore to honor influential bluegrass mandolin player Frank Wakefield, who died on Friday, April 26 at age 89.

“We got the sad news today about Frank Wakefield’s passing,” Strings said before starting the encore. “He’s one of our mandolin heroes and a fellow who wrote a lot of the songs that we play. So we’re going to do a few of his tunes right now and say ‘hello’ to Frank. Starting with Jarod Walker here on ‘New Camptown Races.’”

After “New Camptown Races,” Strings led a debut performance of “Leave Well Enough Alone.” The night ended with Wakefield’s poignant “End Of The Rainbow.”

Strings resumes his Spring Tour 2024 with shows at the Denver area outdoor venue Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre on May 17 and 18. Watch livestreams exclusively with a nugs.net subscription.

Official nugs.net Audio

Setlist (via BillyBase)

Set One: The Fire On My Tongue > Must Be Seven > Meet Me At The Creek, My Alice, In the Clear, Highway Hypnosis, Escanaba, Four Sticks, A Robin Built A Nest On Daddy’s Grave, On The Line > Train 45

Set Two: Dusty Miller, Fire Line, Reuben’s Train, Nothing’s Working, While I’m Waiting Here, California Sober [1], Ridin’ That Midnight Train [1], 99 Years (Is Almost For Life) [1], Seven Weeks in County [1], Red Daisy [1], Away From The Mire, Long Forgotten Dream, Hello, City Limits

Encore: New Camptown Races [2], Leave Well Enough Alone [2], [3], End Of The Rainbow [2]

Notes:

• [1] w/ Kentucky native Miles Miller on snare drum
• [2] In memory of legendary and innovative mandolin player Frank Wakefield, who passed away 2024-04-26
• [3] FTP – Frank Wakefield & Buster Turner