Billy Strings Brings More New Songs To Savannah

Billy Strings rolled into Savannah, Georgia’s Enmarket Arena for a two-night stand on Friday and Saturday. The guitarist continued to unveil fresh material after debuting new songs at each previous stop on his spring tour.

Billy and his band — mandolinist Jarrod Walker, bassist Royal Masat, banjo player Billy Failing and fiddler Alex Hargreaves — commenced night one in Savannah with a pairing of “Hollow Heart” and Tony Rice instrumental “Tipper,” the latter played for the first time in 96 shows.

Keeping with the heart theme, Billy Strings and company premiered the new song “Half A Heart,” a mid-paced, minor key ballad. The song saw well-constructed solos from Strings and Hargreaves.

Additional highlights from opening night in Savannah included a breakout of Béla Fleck‘s “Tentacle Dragon (Revenge Of The)” — a song Strings appeared on for the banjo maestro’s My Bluegrass Heart album — and a Billy solo “Guitar Peace” to kick off the second set with The Beatles and The Allman Brothers Band teases. The show came to a close with the band on single mic renditions of “Freedom” and “Uncle Pen.”

Night two got underway with the staple “Dust In A Baggie,” which gave way to Bill Monroe‘s “Bluegrass Breakdown.” Strings fit a new song, “Broken Doe,” into the penultimate slot of the first set. Billy prefaced the tune with a story about the inspiration behind it when he saw an injured deer who he feared wouldn’t last long. But he then saw the deer year after year with fawns.

“It’s a nice reminder that we can keep on, even if we have a crooked leg,” Strings added.

The second set began with “Seven Weeks In County” off Strings’ most recent Grammy-winning album, Highway Prayers. Set two also saw a breakout of traditional “John Hardy” as well as jams on “Malfunction Junction” and “Away From The Mire.” Billy and the band wrapped their Savannah stand with a cover of Danny Barnes‘s “Pretty Daughter.”

Billy Strings spring run continues in Greensboro, North Carolina on Tuesday (April 14). Livstreams and replays for the spring tour are available via nugs.

Watch the debuts of “Half A Heart” and “Broken Doe” along with more video from Savannah below:

Setlists