Watch Greensky Bluegrass & Sierra Hull Unite For Gorgeous Phish Cover In Mexico

Greensky Bluegrass brought out Sierra Hull, Del McCoury, Lindsay Lou, Mimi Naja, Emma Rose and Michelle Pietrafitta as well as “The Dobro Army” of Andy Hall, Andy Dunnigan, Jay Starling and Justin Moses for guest appearances on Friday evening as part of the band’s third and final Strings & Sol 2023 set. Hull’s two-song collaboration with GSBG included a choice cover of the Phish ballad “If I Could.”

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio penned “If I Could.” The Vermont-based quartet recruited acclaimed musician Alison Krauss to sing on the studio version released on the 1994 Phish album, Hoist.

Sierra Hull took the stage with Greensky Bluegrass early in the two-hour set on the Beach Stage at Dreams Sapphire Resort on Friday. The quintet’s first guest of the evening added mandolin and vocals to the GSBG original “Take Cover.” Hull stuck around with mandolin in hand to join the band on “If I Could.”

Hull dueted vocally with Greensky mandolinist/vocalist Paul Hoffman on the Phish cover at Strings & Sol singing Krauss’ parts from the Hoist version. She then replicated Anastasio’s guitar solo on mandolin. Sierra Hull and Greensky Bluegrass previously played “If I Could” at Camp Greensky 2021.

Watch audience-shot video of GSBG/Sierra Hull’s “If I Could” in Mexico captured by Max Berde below:

Sierra Hull’s sit-in came after Greensky Bluegrass’ sixth song of the set. The band — Hoffman, dobroist Anders Beck, bassist Mike Devol, banjo player Michael Bont and guitarist Dave Bruzza — opened with fan-favorites “The Four” and “Windshield.” The latter led into a rare cover of U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name.” Hull’s appearance followed “Fixin To Ruin” and a couple of songs written and debuted with Holly Bowling in Iceland earlier this year: “Solstice” and “Born Again.”

After “Living Over,” the stage was turned over to “The Dobro Army.” Anders Beck, Andy Hall (The Infamous Stringdusters), Andy Dunnigan (The Lil Smokies), Jay Starling (Leftover Salmon) and Justin Moses (Sierra Hull) joined forces on Flatt & Scruggs’ “Fireball Mail,” a Greensky Bluegrass debut.

Legendary musician Del McCoury then emerged on guitar and vocals for “I’ve Endured,” an Ola Belle Reed song previously played by the band when they teamed with McCoury at DelFest 2014. Anders Beck asked Del to sit-in with Greensky earlier in the day at the 3 Generations Of McCourys Q&A session.

The set continued with fellow Michigan-raised musician Lindsay Lou singing GSBG originals “In Control” and “A Letter To Seymour” with the five-piece. Lou, Mimi Naja, Emma Rose and Michelle Pietrafitta then provided backing vocals on a cover of Allen Toussaint’s “Yes We Can Can” before the band went it alone to punctuate the set by working “Reasons To Stay” into “Leap Year.”

View more fan-shot video from GSBG’s Strings & Sol finale thanks to Rob Turner below:

Setlist (via Phantasy Tour)

Set: The Four, Windshield > Where the Streets Have No Name, Fixin To Ruin, Solstice, Born Again, Take Cover [1] [2], If I Could [1], Living Over, Fireball Mail [3] [4], I’ve Endured [5], In Control [6], A Letter to Seymour [6], Yes We Can Can [6] [7], Reasons to Stay > Leap Year

• [1] – w/ Sierra Hull (mando, vocals)
• [2] – Power outage mid song
• [3] – Dobros only Anders with Andy Hall, Andy Dunnigan, Jay Starling & Justin Moses (The Dobro Army)
• [4] – first time played
• [5]w/ Del McCoury (guitar, vocals)
• [6] – w/ Lindsay Lou (vocals)
• [7] – w/ Mimi Naja, Emma Rose & Michelle Pietrafitta (vocals)