Billy Strings in St. Augustine this weekend

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Back in St. Augustine, Fla. this week to visit the folks and hit a three night run of Billy Strings.   Have tix for all three nights and the venue is a 20 minute walk from my parents' house.

Anyone else going to these shows?

I won't say I wish I was going because I have an aversion to Florida, but I have no doubt you'll have a blast, Ken.

I am training a new employee next week in Jacksonville. They are putting me up at a hotel Sunday - Thursday. If I make it up there early enough I may hit the show. Coming from Ft. Myers and have a tee time around Orlando at 9:50 so it may be close, would like to check into hotel first. 

Have a great time Ken, triple dose of Billy Strings! 

 Billy Strings shows are a pure blazing musical experience every time. It's very habit forming. Have fun!

Have a great time!

Wish I got to see the venue, but camping at Anastasia State Park next door over winter break was a cool spot for sure.

He's going to stream his May 6,7,8 Ryman shows for free to subscribers on Nugs. https://twitter.com/BillyStrings/status/1519694059740180480

Three nights in a row, Ken?  You better get checked for Tourette's afterwards.

To get you fired up:

https://archive.org/details/billystrings2021-12-10

Track 11 - a jam with a purpose.   It gets lost, it peaks - multiple times - it comes home - almost 30 minutes of bliss

Never miss a Sunday show Fabes.  

With the 7:30 start time I will be there. I seen some tickets on Stub hub in section 101 cheap. Think I will wait a bit to buy a seat though Sunday looks like a lot are available still 

pre-game?
 

Plenty of Tix on Cash or Trade too. Good luck and definitely let's try to meet up prior to the show.

Bela Fleck appearance with Billy and Co. this weekend?

grabbed a seat in section 101 for Sunday 

Double st Aug snub?

hope not

Ha Tim.  That was a comedy of errors.  

Billy and the band were hot tonight and the venue was chill.  Have fun at 420 fest, but if you leave early for whatever reason, stop by the amphitheater.  Although all the shows are officially sold out, there are Tix around.

 

I have 101 sec to my buddy Steve and his wife

there square

dose em for me

Could be hard shoving a chocolate bar down their throat without them noticing 

Aud stream can be glitchy but it's free and going right now https://mixlr.com/billy-streams

Thank you dise 

sounding A+ over here

yes

So far the sound has been great, headphones are a must 

Audience video of the Peggy-O they played tonight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJZylaX4U6A

Left home at 5:15 this morning and just made it to my old home in the Green Swamp for a wake and bake before we hit the golf course to continue the smoke out

 

((((old friends & good times))))

 

see ya this afternoon Ken, listening  to last nights show got me fired up

Shows have been fun so far.   Although all three are sold out, there has been plenty of room in the upper stands where you also get a sea breeze and treetop level views of the lighthouse and surrounding woods (and you aren't blasted in the face with the EDM lights).   Rode down on bikes last night and it took only 10 minutes door to door:

Billy Strings Sign_0.jpg

Have fun golfing Fabes and feel free to text me if you want to grab a beer or whatnot before the show - 503 684-8198. 

Listens to last nights

real heater

Have a blast at the show tonight! The venue looks pretty sweet. heart

Shot a 92 at Legends in Clermont just pulled into overflow parking next to beach. Drinking a couple yuenglins eating a Publix sub, gonna take a walk on the beach and burn. Meeting Ken at some point, great day continuing 

Free aud stream tonight. The house music is rolling, band should be out in about fifteen minutes. 

 

https://mixlr.com/billy-streams

 

 

All three nights were killer.   Amazing how much sound can come out of four dudes with ostensibly acoustic instruments - psychedelic heavy metal bluegrass.  

Billy Strings II.jpg

Good hanging out with you Fabes and hope you had a killer second set.   This was a Sunday show not to be missed. 

Woo hoo fun times Ken, nice meeting you. Billy and Co blew my mind. From traditional to outer space at warp speed. 

Man those bass bombs we got in the first set were pure low end power. Didn't feel nothing close to that in the second set. I think we were in the right altitude for it that first set

We got some crazy entertainment from one of our neighbors that first set, I was scared, very scared hahaha

 

 

 

Sounds like Fabes got the Royal treatment laugh

Tomorrow will be the last night for the free Nugs streams from the Ryman. Bobby did the whole second set tonight. 

Billy 5-7-22.jpg

Thanx for the excellent links krab!yes

My wife, Carrie will be there tonight at the Ryman with her recent UK grad daughter Catie. She's psyched.

That was really great. I'm not a Bobby person but he really delivered the goods last night. Looking forward to tonight's stream!

Just saw Billy's playing Stanford In September Hell yeah

Yeah, odd that it doesn't say the Frost Amphitheater.

 

Better not be the Football Stadium 

 

https://www.billystrings.com/tour

Interesting to see Bobby sit in, and only do one Bobby tune!  (thanks for the vids!)

> Better not be the Football Stadium

I have to believe it'll be the Frost.

There's a new October date in LA too. I hope it'll be the Greek and not the Bowl.

Yeah, probably the Frost -   I'm just over hyping  his popularity 

Wonder if there were any jamgrass purists in the crowd who got pissed that Bob hijacked the whole second set?

I'm not a jamgrass purist by any means, but I would not have been thrilled by that.

jamgrass purists<<<

Yeah, but what is a "jamgrass purist"?

If the "headwaters" of the jamgrass movement was New Grass Revival, wasn't their big thing to have broken from traditional bluegrass? 

Bob was invited he didn't hijack shit. Bluegrass purists aren't going to Bill's shows they're way too uptight for that level of fun. They literally think he's a debil worshipper lmao.

lol...plus Bluegrass gatekeepers are gonna crap themselves when they hear Les Claypool AND Ronnie McCoury played the Ryman tonight.

5/8/2022

Set 1: (8:45 CT)

Secrets

This Old World

Train That Carried My Girl From Town >

Black Mountain Rag

Love & Regret

Close By (1)

Foggy Mountain Top (1)

Lonesome Moonlight Waltz (1)

Highway Hypnosis (1)

Dusty Miller (1)

John Deere Tractor

Pretty Daughter

Over the Falls (2)(3)

John the Fisherman (2)(3)

All Fall Down (2) (10:14 CT)

Set 2: (10:41 CT)

Taking Water >

End of the Rainbow

Rank Stranger 
 

(1) with Ronnie McCoury on mandolin

(2) with Les Claypool on resophonic bass

(3) FTP - Primus

Billy Strings

The Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, TN

8:30 CT

Free stream for nugs subscribers

Mikey M's setlist* 

Bobby's back! 

 

 

Billy just called Bobby a fuckin' legend :) 

Bob "Hiya kids howareya" 
 

Mama Tried <3

Bob's voice is a little riough and it started slow but Billy is bringing the tempo up gently and Bob's following the cue

 

 

Bluegrass purists aren't going to Bill's shows they're way too uptight for that level of fun. <<<

I remember attending the Huck Finn Jubilee in Ontario, CA in 2013 to see SCI ... the bluegrass purists were totally at odds with cheese heads from the get go by setting up chairs up front with some of them really being "grouchy".  I spoke with a few.  To them, we were intruding into their existing turf, but clearly they were still willing to go to the festival and put up with the "interlopers". 

Right? No one's making them go lol if they don't know Billy likes blurring things up they've been living under a rock. Billy's been covering Bob's songs for awhile now it's awesome to see them together onstage finally.

 

Dark Star

hLes behind the Ryman tonight with his fiddle-bass

les.jpg

 

....and Marty Stuart? Damn. What a show. It's 11 here in Utah and he's still going. Amazing.

And now a PITB tease? 

Wow. What a finish! Have a great night everyone. 

Billy Strings 5-8-22.jpg

 

slick beat me to it! 

Looks like Billy gives everyone the Royal Treatment!

77D8C898-AEC4-45FD-9EA1-50BD7772F6C2.jpeg
 

Billy must of seen the shirt I wore on Sunday, and then copied it for the night with Bobby 

Probably! 

jfbl.jpg@jesse_faatz photo credit

I've always loved that shirt, fabes.

Though I don't know what happens behind the scenes, it seems like Billy treats everyone with great respect. Might it be because he grew up playing with his dad? I don't know, but he seems good.

Quite an Odd Couple

Looks like nugs.net is having every scrap of video including live audience video pulled from youtube for copyright violation. I have a paid membership with nugs and would like to relive some moments from the weekend but there's no re-watch after 48 hours. Oh well. In other news, Billy sat in with Primus last night at the Ryman. Here's a video clip Les' wife shot from stage right, not very easy to hear, but it's still fun to see how quickly things are expanding outside the bluegrass universe 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdXG6SfoFb2/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D&fbclid=Iw...

just in case people are hunting down merch

https://billystringsstore.com/

I think Billy Strings will replace Mayer in DeadCo. 

When the DeadCo retirement rumor was leaked on Rolling Stone last month, Mayer was the ONE guy who remained silent and didn’t deny anything in response, the way Bob and Bill and Mickey and Oteil did. (Jeff C rarely if ever talks to the media.)

Maybe Mayer is looking for a graceful exit, because while he enjoys DeadCo, he certainly makes WAY more money doing his own music with his own band. 

Is it a coincidence that Billy K had Billy Strings play with him in Hawaii and at Red Rocks, and that now Bobby has been sitting in with Billy at the Ryman and other times? 

DeadCo would offer Billy Strings quite a deal: “We would love for you to keep your awesome career going, and also for you to join us in DeadCo for one or two hugely successful tours a year.” It would be a mutual benefit, because Billy Strings is blowing up. DeadCo would have a different flavor with him, and it would only further catapult Billy’s own career and profile. 

I can very easily see Weir saying to Mayer: “John, I love ya. But if you want to move on, we’ll be just fine.” 

I would not be surprised in the least if, one year from now, Billy Strings has replaced John Mayer in DeadCo.

73838F9D-9D19-44E0-A302-B69F2C641195.jpeg
...

^ I hope he doesn't join D&C and remains his own entity. Maybe a few shows like Dylan did. But more than that is too much too fast imo. Slow the roll.

“Slow the roll” is subjective, depending on who you are, your goals and your limitations.

If DeadCo has a limited shelf life with the original guys, and if you’re Billy Strings and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you to do other things, slowing the roll doesn’t make any sense if DeadCo wants you in the band. He’s not turning that down. 

Looks to me like Bob and Billy are thick as thieves. 

If NOTHING else, this is Bob’s very clear way of saying to Mayer: “I’ve got options.” 

I'd consider buying a ticket for DeadCo in this scenario.

I wouldn't 

Bob's got tons of options. I thought he should have toured with Blackberry Smoke as his backup band years ago. That one TRI session was hot! I could of seen a bunch of shows if that happened.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuiG2tUsP4&t=1950s

Billy would be great with Dead Co

Surprised he has not brought out more of the Old and in the Way stuff, but then again probably looking to add as many heads as possible, and the Dead Catalog will do that 

Blackberry Smoke already has the Yosemite Sam spot filled 

Strings could squeeze in some sit-ins with DeadCorp as he has some regional gaps that could work over Summer but who knows if that's even being entertained. That band barely has acoustic bandwidth as it is though.

...hate to even inquire, dolittle, but what do you care about a "slow roll" or anything related when you said you long ago gave up on shows/the scene anyway? (because of shit heads like me, etc)

@ Straw

Where did I ever say you were a shit head!?

I only stated that the scene had changed to BS and the fools came in. 

Am I wrong??

I hard both Ryman shows and thought they sounded great! I can see Bobby doing a project with Billy Strings but I think it would be it's own thing as I believe both of them would find it more interesting.

Billy with DeadCo makes perfect sense to me, on every level. 

It’s been seven years with Mayer, and it seems like the winds might be shifting where John says it’s been great and goes back to his own career. He is probably the one who leaked out that this is the last year, because it might be the last year FOR HIM. And he never denied it. And John will be just fine. 

Billy would bring a whole new and different kind of energy to DeadCo, and he’s blowing up enough on his own to where he has enough star power. In other words, DeadCo ain’t looking for a cover band player like John K. But Billy Strings is making serious leaps as a star. DeadCo is perfect for that. 

I agree, Woz.

dolittle, instead digging back into that rancid thread to copy/paste your quote, I'll just take take the higher road and be "kind and considerate" as requested by the fine folks who manage this site. Sorry I even brought it up. Happy Trails, Brother. 

Lol

Too bad you missed La Barbaras. But your a imigrant from the mid-west

billy should be wary of entanglement in this kinda thing...

that being said....I'd love to see him in another band or setting that is not 100% bluegrass at jrad speed....

from what I saw from must have been the roses is that he gets it. that certain it....you know.

Billydog ?

Ratstrings ?

either or.   My wife is a go

Billydog ?

Ratstrings ?

either or.   My wife is a go

Billy Strings with Cowboy Bob & The Corral Rustlers

Billy doesn't need D$C. He already made his bones on his own.

Billy Stringcheese Incident Tour

Yep, this kid is killing it on his own terms and would be wise to keep it that way.

...and who cares about Mayer? He is or will soon be out of his record label (mgt?) contract and has already stated his love and devotion to DeadCo, Inc. I am sure he has learned a few anti-establishment tricks from hanging around Weir, etc.

Strung Out Billy-he could do JGB and Billie Holiday covers.

Oh Shit! But sadly funny, Dave

Billy Stringcheese Incident Tour<<<

He's definitely getting a lot of milage out of that "iconic" photo of him at the end of his sit-in for Black Clouds.  I'd be OK if that was that, with some more here and there, but not sure about another "Keller" sort of touring collaboration.   If cheese is going to go that general route, might as well give Roans his due before the shelf life expires on the Cap'n Crunch box!

 

I didn’t say that Billy Strings needs DeadCo. He doesn’t. That’s why it would work. 

John Mayer didn’t need DeadCo either. I think DeadCo needed John: a different type of player, different energy. Again, the Fake Jerry guitarist is not it. 

I think DeadCo needs someone like John or Billy more than vice versa: A lead guitarist who already has his own successful career. They do one or two lucrative tours a year, have fun and make money, and then everyone goes back to their own thing. The entire notion that a guitarist “needs” the DeadCo gig is something that is contrary to what they’re looking for. Any guitarist who “needs” the DeadCo gig is exactly who they will avoid like the plague.

My three cents...

I don't really think Mayer is or would be looking to leave D$C. From all his quotes over the years and the looks of enjoyment he always displays when playing in that group I get the sense that he LOVES playing with them.

D$C is a part-time gig and a completely different musical outlet for him, getting to be a part of a band instead of always the central focus/leader, and playing an open improvisational style of music instead of three - five minute crafted songs, challenging him to stretch out his guitar playing in a different way.

And he still gets to have his own career, he's touring arenas right now and releasing his own albums, playing with D$C doesn't get in the way of that at all. If anything, I've gotten the feeling that it will be Mayer that continues some form of D$C when Bob can't carry on.

And I also think that all those things would probably be true with Strings, broadening his own musical landscape, doing something different part-time to keep things from getting stale, and being associated with anything Grateful Dead has never hurt anyone's career, so if Mayer does bow out I could definitely see Strings being happy to take it on, although in my limited experience with Strings playing I'm not sure he has the "weird" electric chops for really good GD style improv.

But then I was convinced from a much more experienced exposure to Mayer's playing that he wouldn't be any good at all with that style of playing, and I was wrong about that, so I could very well be wrong about Strings as well.

(One of the good things I've discovered about about getting older is with so much experience at being wrong about things it becomes much easier to accept the possibility)

Carry on.

>>>>I'm not sure he has the "weird" electric chops for really good GD style improv.

One thing that I really enjoyed during the recent three night run I saw was when they would get into some deep, almost heavy metal psychedelic jams with Billy playing through all sorts of effects.  Sounded a lot more like Eddie Hazel than Tony Rice.  

>> Grateful Dead has never hurt anyone's career <<

Only the keyboardists.

 

Lance, you might listen to the Billy and the Kids from RR last summer. Specifically The Other One. That was the one time I heard that oddly loveable angular playing that we all crave.

> in my limited experience with Strings playing I'm not sure he has the "weird" electric chops for really good GD style improv.

Lance, I know you're not a fan of streams, but did you check out any of the Billy & The Kids shows in Hawaii and Red Rocks? Billy definitely brings the weird on electric, and on acoustic like Ken mentioned.

I'm not sure he has the "weird" electric chops for really good GD style improv.<<<<

I'm not sure either, but as others have mentioned he CAN get "there" ... the question I'd have is what flavor of "there" would it resemble and could I take a steady diet of it?  I have a similar issue with Warren and the way he leans on some of his tones a lot; which I like, but in smaller doses.   Another aspect of William Apostol's playing that might not sit quite well with me for steady GD catalog performance is his tendency to try and get in a lot of notes in a short period of space (at times).   This is not to say he doesn't know how to open things up, but he kind of loses me a bit when in "battle of the bands" mode.

I'll be the first to admit I'm very finicky, but also with you and others in terms of being open to seeing where things could lead.

 

Billy will shine wherever he goes. He's a pro and hopefully he stays on the straight and narrow.path(soft drugs are ok). Stay off of what killed Jerry. Food and smack.

Y'all are crazy lol. That boomer blood is making trouble in your minds, you're speculating on vapors.

Billy has his own amazing band and he's having fun with guests, loves doing all kinds of covers, not just GD stuff, plays electric when he wants to, and he has lots of fun being a guest. His band is great. It's fun, he's happy! Nothing is broken.

>>>>Lance, I know you're not a fan of streams, but did you check out any of the Billy & The Kids shows in Hawaii and Red Rocks? Billy definitely brings the weird on electric, and on acoustic like Ken mentioned.
 

those shows were great

There's a bunch of videos from it on youtube

 

https://youtu.be/qJ3Mc-UZvGE