Buena Vista, Colo. —
Billy Strings has got a lot of things figured out in terms of holding a festival.
This was my takeaway after soaking up my first day of the band’s Renewal festival, which is in its third year.
The spot is perfect for a festival of this size, with a stream rolling through the property and next to some campsites, but I’ve grown to love Buena Vista over the last decade or so — so I might be biased.
The event attendance is capped at around 7,500 people, keeping it somewhat intimate for fans, especially those lucky enough to catch the namesake perform to smaller crowds.
I rode a bicycle to the festival grounds, about a mile from brothers’ place, though I was made to enter the grounds on the north side of the festival grounds, which added several miles and some frustration to the effort. After that, having the bicycle to get back worked out pretty good.
The weather, though on the cool side especially after sunset, was just about as perfect as you could hope for at a crowded music festival. It kept us cool as the performers stoked the fire.
I hadn’t seen Billy (aka William Apostol) perform since August 2022, when his band played Surly Festival Field in Minneapolis and Bluestem Amphitheater in Moorhead, Minn., near Fargo. Those were both different but excellent shows, and I loved the way the band played to the two different crowds.
I can tell how far his band has progressed as a unit since then.
Last night’s two-set show was full of jams, creativity, well-played originals and covers, space grass (my favorite), and sit-ins, with the likes of Leftover Salmon’s guitarist Vince Herman and mandolinist Drew Emmitt, as well as East Nash Grass’s Cory Walker (Jarrod Walker’s brother) on banjo and Gaven Largent on dobro for a few of songs.
Strings embraced the fact that it is his festival, and sat in with Herman and Emmitt during their earlier 5 p.m. set, and then sat in with them again on the Soapbox stage, after his show. He told everyone he’d be there, and egged bassist Royal Masat to join him or he’d be forced to play bass.
Masat was about the only member of the band that didn’t crowd onto that smaller side stage later as it turned out, though Billy stuck to guitar.
Apostol has only gotten better at allowing his bandmates, all of whom are extremely talented, to lead the band off on improvisational excursions. He’s a once-in-a-generation talent, but the real gift this band has is its depth and musical talent across the board, coupled with their willingness to take chances as they jam.
On this night, some of the best of those moments were touched off by banjoist Billy Failing and fiddler Alex Hargreaves, but I feel every member played big roles throughout the show.
They opened with “Pyramid Country,” the first of four songs off 2017’s Turmoil & Tinfoil. Both Jarrod Walker and Failing got quite involved early in this show.
The band covers a lot of instrumental ground, getting dark, psychedelic, and trippy at times, with a little help from Billy’s effects pedals that turn his acoustic guitar into a high-voltage electric axe. He blasted off into space, one of several galactic forays in this show, on that opening song, exploring funk and blues and a whole lot else that is hard to describe.
Billy delivered his first vocals of the night on “Ole Slew Foot,” a Johnny Horton cover, and the first of 11 covers that made up 40 percent of his setlist according to billybase.net.
One of my show-mates, Steve Bateman said he thought he heard “Heartbeat of America” teases or quotes during “Pyramid Country,” and whether it was there or not, the band did play the song, the first of six songs off the 2021 LP “Renewal,” for which this festival is named.
“Well I rolled a little spliff and tightened up my shoes
And I went to the corner where I lit the fuse
Disgusted by the loneliness I couldn’t lose
I sat and wrote a little verse to the ‘rona blues”
Apostol cranked up the electric effect pedal again on this song, and he did it throughout the night, a staple of his live performances.
The band played “Know it All” off Renewal and then played “All of Tomorrow” off Tinfoil & Turmoil.
“Highway Hypnosis” off 2019’s Home was another space vehicle for the likes of Walker and Failing.
Failing did not disappoint as this song got into exploratory territory, directing the traffic into space, where the band, including Billy himself, all got some.
There were a trio of covers starting with John Hartford’s “With A Vamp in The Middle,” Béla Fleck’s “Tentacle Dragon (Revenge Of The),” and Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys’ “I Only Exist.”
The Starlink satellite crossed overhead late during the set, and that seemed fitting because of the cosmic nature of the band’s playing. All members seemed to turn it up a degree as they jammed into the set closer, “Tinfoil and Turmoil.”
The second set started out with four Billy Strings’ originals, with “Long Forgotten Dream,” “While I’m Waiting Here,” “The Fire On My Tongue,” and “Must Be Seven.”
Then a cover of Eddie Noack’s “Psycho.”
Emmitt and Herman came out and performed Leftover’s “Down in the Hollow,” with Emmitt on vocals. Hargreaves’ fiddling stood out on this one, and both guests had their moments to shine with their instruments.
The band played Apostol’s and Walker’s “Gone A Long Time.”
Then Apostol vocalized what he does often just in his cover choices. He mentioned his mother Deb saying that of all the shows she saw over the years, including the likes of the Grateful Dead, bluegrass singer and guitarist Larry Sparks stood out the most.
It was clear that few in the crowd knew Sparks music well, by a show of hands, but Billy wanted us all to look deeper into Sparks.
The band proceeded to cover Sparks’ “I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages.”
Cory Walker and Largent come out for the next pair of covers, “West Dakota Rose,” and “Old Swinging Bridge.”
But the jam that rose out of “West Dakota Rose” was something to behold. Masat held down a feel-good vibe on his upright. Greaves shredded, and Largent’s dobro playing set up Greaves again. Largent had some beautiful phrasing going on here, and then Apostol came in hot.
Failing took a thread high and beautiful as well. Cory Walker had something to add with his banjo.
Jarrod Walker had some contributions here.
This jam was probably the highlight the night for me, as it brought out some emotions I didn’t expect to come flooding out.
Largent sang for “Old Swinging Bridge,” which was originally released by Glen Neaves, though BillyBase.com says Billy’s version is inspired by James King’s 1993 recording of the song. Billy said the band had been waiting to find the right time — and vocalist — to give this song justice.
This performance was a live debut for Billy Strings.
Billy joked about “Big Dick Energy,” before the band set in.
Next up was “Show Me The Door,” off Renewal.
“She ebbs and flows like water,
and she feels just like wine”
Then the band covered Bob Dylan’s “Drifter’s Escape,” for the third time this year.
The show was coming to a close, and there was one more cover, Doc Watson’s “My Love Come Rolling Down,” before the closer “Hide and Seek” off Renewal.
They finished off on a strong note, and Billy told the crowd at the encore-less set that he’d be back on the “Soapbox” stage, where he did emerge, joining Herman and Emmitt. That was the real encore, and the stage got packed as members of the host band trickled onto stage.