Billy Strings: Live Vol. 1

Billy Strings, né William Lee Apostol, is one of my new favorite musicians. Wikipedia describes him as “an American guitarist and bluegrass musician.” Yes, he is that, but he is so much more: he is bluegrass plus metal plus jam band. Bluegrass and metal have always had a “fastest gun in the West” mentality, and Strings and his band are fast. Jam bands are characterized by their psychedelic meandering, Strings and his band do that also. But their secret sauce is their sense of melody, adventurous spirit, and creating rock drama in their live shows.

My son was the first to alert me to Strings by raving about Strings’ brilliant set at the 2022 Lollapalooza in Chicago. I have been to Lolla several times, and I was hard-pressed to imagine how a bluegrass band could succeed on the big stage of a pop music festival. So I checked out Billy Strings on streaming, and frankly, I was unimpressed. Strings and band were good, but so are a hundred other bluegrass bands, and they can’t command the attention of fifty thousand fans at a pop festival. So I kept listening, and the band grew on me, but I still didn’t fully get it.

Then I saw Strings live in Phoenix in the spring of 2023, and I got it. It reminded me of when I saw Bruce Springsteen for the first time in 1978. I was barely a fan, but I thought I should check out what all the hype was about. Bruce blew my mind. The next day, I went to a record store, bought Greetings From Asbury Park, brought it back to my dorm room, dropped the needle, and was disappointed – this was nothing like the amazing show I witnessed the night before. My Billy Strings experience was similar – I was underwhelmed by the studio albums, blown away by seeing him live, and still underwhelmed post-live with the studio albums. I saw Strings again this summer; his live performance has improved in a year – I became more impressed, but still, the studio recordings did not resonate with me.

Fans now have a live album that matches up to the live show – a recording that genuinely represents the Billy Strings experience. I am excited to see that the album title includes the phrase “Vol. 1” – I hope this means there is more to come (Googling this, there has so far been no word from Billy’s camp regarding any potential future live albums). Strings has most of his shows available on nugs (legal bootlegs), but Live Vol. 1 is a deliberate live album properly mixed and pressed to vinyl and CD (and available on streaming services with two bonus tracks – and a different track order).

The Billy Strings band consists of Strings on guitar and vocals, Billy Failing on banjo, Royal Masat on bass, Jarrod Walker on mandolin, and Alex Hargreaves on fiddle—and they are all great musicians. Although they are primarily an acoustic band, Strings occasionally runs his acoustic guitar through pedals/effects and a guitar synth to create a rock sound. He also uses effects on his vocals. On studio recordings and live, the band primarily plays original compositions. They also cover traditional folk/bluegrass songs. Still, they also are not afraid to play rock and pop songs (at the Minneapolis show, he played some traditional country covers, and at the Phoenix show, he played a Dylan cover – online, I have seen him cover Cher’s “Believe”). The band’s stage presentation resembles a rock show with fantastic lights and video. Billy Strings is not your daddy’s bluegrass band.

Side 1 opens with “Dust in a Baggie” (recorded December 15, 2023, at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Wilkes-Barre, PA). The song was initially released on the album Rock of Ages, which Billy did with Don Julin (2013) and again on his self-titled 2016 EP. This song is a regular part of the String’s live repertoire. The music is arranged and performed as a traditional bluegrass number but is not a bluegrass standard. Instead, it was written by Strings and Don Julin. Lyrically, the song is about getting busted and incarcerated for a trace amount of meth possession (mere dust in a baggie per the song title and chorus).

“Away From The Mire” (recorded June 2, 2023 at Moody Center, Austin, TX) first appeared on Home (2019). This song captures the Billy String sound – he updates the bluegrass sound by running his acoustic guitar through pedals to give it an electric guitar sound. Despite the manipulation, the bluegrass prevails. Again this is a Billy Strings original (cowritten with Jon Weisberger). In various interviews Strings has suggested this is about a family argument. I particularly like the use of the term “mire,” which means both (per Merriam-Webster) “wet spongy earth (as of a bog or marsh),” as well as “a troublesome or intractable situation.” This live version extends the studio version from seven and a half minutes to thirteen minutes. It is jam-band heaven. This is one of Strings’ most streamed songs.

“Long Forgotten Dream” (recorded September 22, 2023, at Renewal, Buena Vista, CO) first appeared on Home (2019). It is pure bluegrass and another Strings original. Lyrically, it sounds like the narrator is trying to make sense of a dream that he has just woken from.

Side 2 opens with “Heartbeat of America” (recorded February 25, 2024, at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN) and first appeared on Renewal (2021). This song has more of a rock song vibe, and at times, Strings’ guitar sounds like Carlos Santana fronting the Allman Brothers. Lyrically, the narrator has smoked some weed and has become very creative:

“Now I’m seeing music that nobody else can see
With all the colors like a symphony surrounding me”

“Dos Banjos” (recorded November 14, 2023, at La Cigale, Paris, FR) first appeared on Fiddle Tune X with Don Julin (2014) – it also appeared on his self-titled 2016 EP. The song is played as a duo with Billy Strings on clawhammer banjo and Billy Failing on banjo (referred to as Dos Billys). Lyrically, the song describes despair:

“The times have changed, the times have changed,
Humanity has lost its way
The people now, the people now,
How they survive, I don’t know how”

Side 3 is a medley of “Fire Line” and “Reuben’s Train” (recorded February 25, 2024, at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN). “Fire Line” originally appeared on Renewal (2021), and “Reuben’s Train” is a traditional bluegrass song that is not on a studio album (however, it is a frequent song in the live set). This track is just over nineteen minutes and is performed mainly with traditional bluegrass instrumentation – as part of the instrumental section, Billy hits the pedals and gets a bit metal. The studio version is slightly more ornate (piano and harpsichord) and considerably shorter.

Side 4 opens with “Turmoil & Tinfoil” (recorded December 31, 2023, at UNO Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, LA), the titular song from Turmoil & Tinfoil (2017). Per Stings in an interview with American Songwriter, “This song is about missing someone who is standing right in front of you. If you’ve ever had a friend who is addicted to hard drugs, you might know what I’m talking about.” Again, this is a Billy Strings original arranged in a traditional bluegrass format but occasionally Billy hits the guitar pedals to give it an electric guitar sound. The band stretches the six-minute studio versions to twenty-one minutes of jam-band glory.

“Richard Petty” (recorded March 1, 2024, at State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA) is not on a studio album. It must be a newer song, as it has only recently appeared in the live set. It is performed a capella (see photo below from a recent Minneapolis show).

Billy Strings dropped two Live Vol. 1 bonus tracks on his billystrings.live website using a nifty WinAmp player straight out of the 2000s. The two songs are also available on streaming services. The streaming version of the album is in a different track order than the vinyl and CD.

“Hellbender” (recorded April 22, 2023, at St. Augustine Amphitheatre in St. Augustine, FL) originally appeared on Renewal (2021) and is pure bluegrass. It is in regular rotation in the live show. The song describes being on a hell of a drinking bender.

“Highway Hypnosis” (recorded June 16, 2023, at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, MI) originally appeared on Home (2019). The band triples the length of the song live from the studio version (although looking online, Billy has doubled the length to nearly thirty minutes at times). The song was written with bluegrass royalty Ronnie McCoury and his son Evan. The song is a driving song where the narrator enters a dream state. There is some amazing solos by Strings and the band. At times, there is almost a funk vibe. Mid-section, sound effects evoke a kind of road chaos that evolves into an audience call and response only to end with some hot picking. This song epitomizes Strings’ adventurous approach to bluegrass.

This album does an excellent job of capturing the excitement of a Billy Strings’ show and is the perfect introduction to Billy Strings. The tracklist is a “greatest hits.” Savoring this collection, I am struck by how seamlessly and tastefully Strings mixes his acoustic and electric guitar textures to create a progressive, uniquely Billy Strings take on bluegrass.

My vinyl edition is the Independent Record Store version, which is two LPs on 180-gram translucent blue vinyl. It is a quality pressing and sounds excellent. The high-resolution stream is 24-bit/96-kHz FLAC (I use Tidal), and it sounds fabulous.