Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Just finished 3 nights of Billy Strings at Koka Booth here in Cary. They are one of my very top favorite bands right now and Koka Booth is about 3 miles from our house, as the crow flies. Did not disappoint. Over the course of the 3 nights, they did 78 songs and no repeats. The lead guitarist and namesake of the band, Billy Strings (real name William Apostel) led a pretty tough life in rural Michigan surrounded by heavy meth and other drug usage. This step-father introduced him to bluegrass music at an early age and he grew up learning to play that (Watson, Scruggs, Flat, etc). The band does do a good bit of traditional bluegrass, but most of their songs incorporate the jam band and metal influences from Billy's teen years. Many songs, like linked below, can go 15-20 minutes live and you can really feel the Grateful Dead influence. A big part of their success is that Billy surrounded himself with a phenomenal banjo, mandolin, and bass player. All of them are incredible at their craft, and Billy is a phenom on the guitar - best flat picker maybe ever (Grammy's to back up my claim). It's amazing to hear some of the jammy stuff that comes out of his 6-string acoustic guitar, the same guitar that has beautiful tone on a plat picked Red Rocking Chair or Rueben's Train a song or two earlier.
If you are into this kind of music, even a little bit, I encourage you to check it out - especially a live show if possible.
We saw Greensky Bluegrass at The Caverns a few years ago. Amazing experience. I grew up in Surry County here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was surrounded by Round Peak style bluegrass growing up, got sick of it in my teens, and then re embraced it as a young adult.There is a program on some cable channel the showcases The Cavern in Tennessee, an underground cave built into an amphitheater and one of these shows was Billy Springs. He was also the musical guest on Jimmy Fallon last night. Back in the 1970’s I saw “Old and in The Way” with Vasser Clements, Peter Rowan, David Grisman and Jerry Garcia. I have been a bluegrass fan years before that but ….that cemented my enthusiasm for the last 53 years. Many years ago, there was a little old church turned into the “Bluegrass from the Englishtown Music Hall” it was a popular PBS tv show, until it wasn’t. Some amazing bluegrass bands form all over the US. If you run into it on some web pages, check it out…it also is great classic.