Billy Strings Honors Doc Watson with Bust-Outs and a Debut at North Carolina Spring Tour Closer
Photo credit: Stevo Rood
Billy Strings’ Spring Tour has been a wild ride. Since April 3, the bluegrass firebrand has been carving his way up the Southeast with night after night of sprawling two-set performances, packed with surprises as always. Over the weekend, he reached his final destination of Cary, N.C., and wrapped the run with shows at Koka Booth Amphitheatre on April 17, 18 and 19. This closing trio brought a heaping helping of highlights, including five bust-outs, a debut and countless tributes to the great Doc Watson.
Strings opened up Thursday night with Doc & Merle Watson adapted traditional “Red Rocking Chair,” among the songs most closely associated with the legendary bluegrass innovators. This intro was particularly striking given his arrival in the Tar Heel State, where the father and son lived for the whole of their celebrated careers. This was the first of several homages to the bluegrass forebearers; through the first set, Strings shared “Ole Slew Foot” and “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down” among some his most beloved originals before picking into the set-break with “John Deere Tractor.”
In his second set, Billy brought on the first bust-out of the weekend with Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys’ “Methodist Preacher,” his third-ever cover of the track and his first since last July. The bandleader and his trusty accompaniment of banjoist Billy Failing, fiddler Alex Hargreaves, bassist Royal Masat and mandolinist Jarrod Walke merged this surprise into a ripping rendition of his original “Dust in a Baggie,” then blazed through more fan favorite originals like “Love and Regret,” “Love Like Me” and his second-time cover of Doc Watson’s ‘68 classic “St. James Hospital.” After wrapping the second set with “Highway Hypnosis,” he honored Watson yet again with an encore of “Shady Grove.”
On night two, Strings stormed the stage with his recent Highway Prayers standout “Leaning on a Travelin’ Song,” then tore off into a set highlighted by two bust-outs: Peter Rowan’s “Blue Mule,” and his version of “Maggie Walker Blues,” which draws distinct influence from Watson’s iteration, both of which were staged for the first time since December 2023. The quick-picking golden boy closed out his first frame with a particularly elaborate treatment of The String Cheese Incident’s “Black Clouds,” ornamented by a fake-out intro of “Pyramid Country” and notable tease of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper.”
Strings commenced his second set with a solo performance of “Catch and Release,” which primed the crowd for a tender live debut of “Matty Groves,” once again paying tribute to Watson. Even more salutes to his influence came in the form of “Streamline Cannonball,” and “Along the Road,” while he cited side of his singular style a tease of the Grateful Dead’s “Scarlet Begonias” in “Gild the Lily.” This fourth sprint of the North Carolina series culminated in “Little Maggie” and an encore of the Delmore Brothers’ “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar,” presented for the first time since March 2021.
For the final performance of his Spring Tour, Strings set out with a segued dash through “Taking Water,” “Ice Bridges” and “Must Be Seven.” With his first run of “Greenville Trestle High,” Strings returned to Watson’s expansive canon, and he tipped his hat again with the solo set-two opener of “Groundhog” and high-spirited later entry of “Tennessee Stud.” To finally close out the expansive three-night run, Strings marked the 50th anniversary of a storied Great Lakes disaster with his third cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Strings will return to the stage on May 13 for a series with the touring Outlaw Music Festival tour, on which he’ll join Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and more for eight performances along the West Coast. For tickets and more information on his full tour itinerary, visit billystrings.com/tour.
Find the full setlists from Strings’ three-night run in Cary, N.C. at billybase.net.
