Funk 49 was awesome. Paranoid was alright but he doesn't really have the right voice. I thought he said they did a Johnny Winter just before Funk but dunno which it was. That Stash guy was wacky. His duo is called Mattie and Debbie, his partner was the drummer on stage with Strings for the electric songs. It was a coincidence I was there, I knew I was going to Cambridge yesterday and checked his tour schedule Monday. Voila.
We'll see. Maybe he starts a side band like Garcia did. I wan't to catch him live. But it's not likely that he brings his bluegrass band to Scandinavia
I think his distinctive-ness lies in maintaining the delicate balance between Acoustic and Electric. The zeitgeist of his moment resides in pushing the boundaries of bluegrass’ limitations as far as he can. Beyond that he would just be another white guy with an (electric) guitar, right now he is almost messianic with a mission. I hope to see him ride this tension as far as it goes, the music has been great. We all benefit.
I think the tipping point will be the audience. The crowds are changing, getting louder and trippin balls or hammered drunk. At a certain point you cant play bluegrass to that crowd, you have to go full electric to play over top of them. I dare say this is the last tour where the single mic encore is going to be feasible. You can only throw so many pedals and so much volume on an acoustic guitar before you ask the question, "whats the point?" Same with the double bass, if you play that through a pickup you cant hear the big box or it just sounds washed out. At a certain point a solid body sounds better, is more practical and easier to play. Then its a drum kit and keyboards. This is exactly the progression the The String Cheese Incident and leftover salmon went through.
Itll be a real shame, but I'd have to agree. That was every bit a loud, fired up rock n roll crowd at the Pony on Sunday, and we were actually hanging with two trippin balls Deadheads. There were a few times where the crowd just actually overwhelmed the instruments. I'll hate to see it, but it's probably inevitable.
IF the crowds double in size as they have in the last year, something will have to give. The same thing just happened to Sturgil Simpson. He went from Blugrass > electric bluegrass> psychedelic country > Full blown Rock Band and that was/is bars > clubs > theaters >arenas. By that formula next year will be theaters and headlining the festival circuit. Billy will play an electric on occasion and there will be some sit ins with drums and keyboard players in his sets. God forbid he have a song that that is a "hit" on country or pop charts, everything will change quickly after that. That is the key to the jump to basketball or hockey arenas.
Yeah, when I saw him upstairs at City Winery in Tribeca last year there were maybe 100 people and they seemed older and probably with reasonable incomes, the type who still want to see live music and have time to kill waiting for the Who or Stones to lumber into the local arena every few years (entirely my speculation and let's take into account the cosmopolitan bias of NYC). Last night was packed with kids wearing floppy hats and dancing spasmodically. Plus some older rocker types there for the guitar pyrotechnics, naturally.
Well he certainly had a sit in with drums last night and played Sabbath and the James Gang on an electric. Nice guitar, too. Brisk sales at the merch table so I imagine he's suddenly tasting the peace of mind having enough money brings.
And so the prophecy has begun. the good news is everything will be just fine, going to shows and getting close becomes more of a bitch but he will be who he is.
That is not what I want hear from Billy. Start a rock n roll band. Just don't play bluegrass with keyboards and drums. I don't like that stuff. By the way, I don't think we should blame the audience. It's Billy who started to play with effects and sometimes with an electric guitar. He is the one who makes it more rockin, and of course the crowds love it.
I don't think this is a fait accompli at all. Bands like Greensky and the Stringdusters manage to play larger rooms/venues without sacrificing instrumentation. I'd argue that Greensky is a great blueprint for Billy Strings. They have bluegrass chops, but nowadays they're more of a rock band with bluegrass instrumentation. Greensky played Koka Booth Amphitheater near Raleigh this summer and it was probably 3/4 full? I think it holds around 6k people? It was really the perfect size "big" venue. Something like that during the summers and 1-2k capacity theaters seem to a sweet spot for this genre and I would think that's what Billy's sweet spot will be pretty soon. Sturgill hasn't been forced to change. He's clearly wanted to evolve so I don't find him to be a viable comparison.
Billy and the banjo player have a battery of pedals they were working all night, and Billy did some psych effect stuff like a fuzz guitar sound and some Estimated/Shakedown type sounds during the Creek jam especially. He's got such an incredibly unique thing going right now, I'd really hate to see him become a "country/rock band who does some bluegrass" kind of thing, or worse yet a straight up electric band. I can definitely see the electric bass becoming necessary. The crowd was a real mix the other night - a lot of ordinary looking middle aged people, some younger yuppie types, and some real rednecks. Interesting thing was the younger people I saw were singing along with every lyric - they knew the music. We hung out with these two guys all night long, super nice guys. One was a Deadhead from 1984, and Billy was his new Dead, as he's seen him about 120 times in the last couple of years. Oh, they drove down from Albany, and work for the NY state tax department.
Finally got a chance to listen to the Pony show. Quite a different thing hearing a SBD recording, as the detail of the playing is fantastic but the crowd energy and live dynamic is missing to a large extent. Love to hear a well done AUD or a matrix of this show. Amazing stuff, though. The Mire and Creek jams were just off the charts.
I’d say greensky is largely out of the bluegrass business. And the reason why is they play large rooms.
Haha. I was listening to Chris Pandolfi’s podcast and he talks about the evolution of bluegrass beyond the traditional and all of these groups embody that evolution, IMO.
If he is going to to go electric I would find it more interesting if he chose a hollow body or an arch top rather than just strapping on a solid body.
Sure, I’m not the bluegrass police. I find anyone saying “that’s not bluegrass” to be a bit of a douche. With that said, I’m sure wants Paul said in that podcast is what he generally says and that’s “were mostly a rock band”. To me, greensky is mostly Anders leads and Paul’s songwriting, neither of which are easily identifiable as bluegrass. There is a spectrum and as bands play bigger venues, they move further down that spectrum. and for sturgil, he is certainly doing what he wants. I’m saying what he wants to do has a lot to do with the crowds that are turning out. Last time I saw him it was a schiit show with the crowd. Trying to play acoustic guitar or sing a sensitive song to that bunch isn’t fun.
