2019/11/10 Billy Strings @ The Stone Pony
Selling out the Stone Pony on a Sunday night is kind of a big deal. Doors at 7, show at 8, got there at 8:06 {already one song in} for the most crowded room I’ve ever seen there, and that’s saying something, Sunday night notwithstanding. It was so crowded, in fact, that for the first time ever I was ushered to the rear cafe door for entry. In crossing the room, I stepped on at least 84 feet, rubbed asses with twice that many people, and said excuse me 212 times. And it was well worth it as we all know, live music professionals that we are, that if you can get past the door, there is often a lot more room in the great beyond. Well, maybe not a lot more room as the crowd did seriously hamper my desire to accumulate steps, but I did find a nice nook a few rows back in front of the speakers stage left.
It’s no surprise that pretty much his entire tour is sold out, including this coming Friday and Saturday at Brooklyn Bowl, because this cat can flat out play. Found some great background in this article from Garden & Gun (note the hyperlink: the String King). Shit, just the fact that it’s in Garden & Gun magazine is cool! Seriously high energy bluegrass, you’d think by the name of the band that it’s just Billy up there, and don’t get me wrong, he is the show, but his bandmates deserve pretty high accolades as well: Billy Failing, banjo; Jarrod Walker mandolin; and Royal Masat, upright bass. Just 25 years old, this kid is a real deal prodigy. After seeing him just once, I find myself wanting to undertake a deep exploration of his catalog. I’ve listened to Billy before, but music has its greatest effect on me when it’s live, and it’s often that a live show will send me to devour a catalog rather than vice versa.
Playing out of a threadbare stage set up, literally only one stage monitor and very few pedals, the simplicity of their gear is in direct contrast with the complexity of their musical offerings. My jaw hung open for most of the night. Upbeat and complex, pushing boundaries that I didn’t even know existed. I can’t recount his setlist, though he did honor some of Jersey’s finest alumni with covers of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” and Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Throw in the Stone’s (ha, see what I did there) “Wild Horses” and Jam On favorite, “Away From the Mire,” and that’s the extent of the songs I knew. “Tennessee Stud,” a song about a horse whose name I figured out all on my own {I’m either that damn good or he kept repeating it during the chorus}, was awesome and gave some insight into his small town upbringing. Most songs fell into the five or six minute category, but the set closing “Likes of Me” > “Meet Me at the Creek” was an exploratory and monstrous jam vehicle of seriously epic bluegrass proportions.
Barely danced due to the crowds though I quietly amassed 7,536 steps of bluegrass bouncing and bopping. What I wouldn’t give to go on a camping trip with this kid! Also of note, Billy draws a very young and enthusiastic (read: fucked up on serious drugs) crowd. Is bluegrass the new rage??? I told my wife that I was going to be home by 10:30, I’d catch a couple hours and leave early. She texted me at 10:30 with the not at all unexpected, “Somehow I knew leaving early wasn’t happening…lol.” I had long ago decided that thirty minutes of music was far greater than thirty minutes of sleep. Even so, the show ended at 10:39 and I was in my driveway at 11:03. I love New York, but that’s the shit right there. Any other wunderkinds want to play in Asbury?!?!?!
