The Food Stamps Members Join Billy Strings For Single Mic Session In Los Angeles

Billy Strings offered an intimate show at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday ahead of an arena play at Kia Forum on Saturday. Friday’s concert saw the guitarist welcoming members of Tyler Childers' band The Food Stamps for a set-closing single mic session.

Billy Strings, mandolinist Jarrod Walker, bassist Royal Masat, banjo player Billy Failing and fiddler Alex Hargreaves launched the show with a pairing of “Leaning On A Traveling Song” — off the 2024 album Highway Prayers — and the traditional “Sally Johnson.”

Following Larry Sparks' “John Deere Tractor,” Billy wished the bluegrass great a happy 79th birthday before launching into a cover of “Psycho” which bled into “Thunder,” Strings’ adaptation of Robert Hunter lyrics gifted to him by Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann.

The single mic segment got underway with the band, sans Hargreaves, performing Highway Prayers cut “Richard Petty.” Alex then returned along with The Food Stamps’ fiddler Jesse Wells and guitarist CJ Cain.

The collaboration kicked off with a pair of songs from the Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs catalog, “Doin’ My Time” and “99 Years (Is Almost For Life),” the latter inspired by the Dave Evans and River Bend version. The collab continued with a Billy Strings debut of the traditional, “Worried Man Blues” ahead of The Stanley Brothers standard “Ridin’ That Midnight Train.” Check out a clip of “99 Years” below:

Set two began with Billy Strings’ solo section of originals “Catch and Release” and “Sorrow And Me” followed by the Delmore Brothers’ “Brown’s Ferry Blues.” The guitarist then unveiled another traditional, “Old Man Below,” to seal the solo sequence.

Set two came to a close with a run of songs beginning with the title track to Strings Grammy-winning 2019 album, Home, which contained a Led Zeppelin “Kashmir” fake-out.

The quintet then delivered a cover of Bob Dylan's “Tangled Up In Blue” tagged with John Hartford's “All Fall Down.” Strings and company played with the Little Mermaid classic “Under The Sea” across the pairing. The show came to a close with a cover of “Sophronie.”

Strings followed his shows in Los Angeles by attending Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Fest. Vedder recruited Strings to join Pearl Jam for two songs after the pair played “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town” together.

Billy Strings livestreams and replays are available via nugs. Stream official audio below:

Check out more clips from the Orpheum Theatre below:

Setlist