Billy Strings Debuts Originals At The Déjà Vu Experiment Night 3

By Nate Todd Feb 21, 2021 9:35 am PST

Billy Strings continued The Déjà Vu Experiment on Saturday night from The Capitol Theatre in Port, Chester New York. Strings would unveil two new originals for night three of the six-show livestream concert run.

Billy and the band — mandolinist Jarrod Walker, bassist Royal Masat and banjoist Billy Failing — kicked off the show with “Running” from Strings’ 2019 Grammy-nominated album, Home. Billy then delivered the Peter Rowan-penned New Riders Of The Purple Sage classic, “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy,” a song Rowan performed with Jerry Garcia in Old & In The Way. Bill Monroe’s “Big Mon” followed. The tune saw the Billys and Jarrod passing solos around while Masat anchored the band on the bass, showing off the high level of talent across the quartet in a short time for the quick instrumental. Billy continued with “I’ll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers” which saw Strings really channeling the bluegrass vocal stylings of old. Billy then addressed the internet audience: “I gotta say I’ve been loving all the videos and stories on Instagram,” he said. “After the show we’ll go on the bus and look and see you all dancing in your living room and your dogs and your pets and children dancing around the living room. It’s really beautiful to see. So thank you for that.”

Advertisement

Masat then began thumping out a funky bassline as the band trickled in for the Grateful Dead’s “Mr. Charlie,” which also saw Royal leading the way on vocals. After Strings reeled off a typical mind blowing run, Walker took a tasty solo before the band hit the bridge. The quartet then got into some trancey jamming with Strings utilizing effects as the band delivered a psychedelic rave-up opening for Jeff Austin’s “Rundown.” Next, the Strings unveiled the first new original of the night, a song called “Leaders,” before returning to a trio of bluegrass standards to close the set with the bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner’s — which included Old & In The Way’s David Grisman, Peter Rowan and John Kahn among others — “Blue Mule,” The Dillards’ “Ernest T. Glass” and set closer, the traditional “Little Maggie.”

Billy Strings got set two underway with the Billy Nershi-penned String Cheese Incident classic “Black Clouds.” The band continued the covers with Bela Fleck’s “Slipstream” which headed into the traditional “Dreadful Wind & Rain,” which was included on the Garcia/Grisman album Shady Grove. Another bluegrass standard, “Been All Around This Crazy World,” also covered by Garcia and Grisman but done in the style of Bryan Stutton, followed ahead of the second and final original debt of the evening, “Show Me The Door.” Billy and the band then played the Jack Bonus-penned, Old & In The Way popularized “Hobo Song” ahead of Blackfoot’s “Train Train.” Billy Strings brought night three to a close with John Hartford’s “All Fall Down.”

Watch Billy Strings kick off night three of The Déjà Vu Experiment below via the JamBase Live Video Archive:


00:00:00
00:03:08
00:06:35
00:10:32
00:15:15
00:19:50
Billy Strings (See 115 videos)
Billy Strings (See 798 videos)
Advertisement

Setlist (via Billy Strings Setlist Page)

Set One: Running, Lonesome LA Cowboy, Big Mon , Remember You Love In My Prayers, Mr. Charlie, Rundown, Leaders (1), Blue Mule, Ernest T. Grass > Little Maggie

Set Two: Black Clouds, Slipstream > Dreadful Wind & Rain, I’ve Been All Around This World (2), Show Me The Door (1), Hobo Song, Train Train, All Fall Down

Notes:

(1) FTP – Billy Strings Original

(2) Bryan Sutton Version

Advertisement
JamBase Collections