Billy Strings Conquers All: 15 More Choice Cover Songs By The ‘Guitar Player of The Year’

When we published the first iteration of this article in 2019, Billy Strings was on the cusp of becoming a household name, having recently graduated to headlining slots at first-rate bluegrass festivals and selling out clubs and theaters across the country. It’s no surprise then, given his generational songwriting and guitar pickin’ abilities, that the bluegrass maven’s star has exploded in unprecedented fashion ever since. The list of accolades and high-profile appearances he has garnered in the past few years is simply staggering: multiple International Bluegrass Music Association awards for “Guitar Player of the Year” & “Entertainer of the Year” in 2021 & 2022, three Grammy nominations and a “Best Bluegrass Album” award in 2021 (Home), a live televised appearance at the 2022 Grammy Awards ceremony, the Americana Music Awards “Artist of the Year” in 2022, nationally televised appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert…

Bluegrass groups aren’t supposed to achieve this level of popularity, especially those with traditional sans-percussion lineups. How can some kid with an acoustic guitar and no drummer open for Metallica on the main stage at Lollapalooza? Or book headlining tours with multiple stops at amphitheaters and cavernous arenas normally reserved for professional sports teams and nationally touring mainstays such as Elton John or Phish? Sure, there have been other modern bluegrass acts like Yonder Mountain String Band, Hot Rize, New Grass Revival and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder who have enjoyed similar levels of recognition but even their accolades, impressive as they are, seem to grow paler in comparison as Strings’ trajectory continues on a rocket-fueled course to the top.

Despite his whiplash-inducing schedule over the past few years, Billy has shown no signs of slowing down with the recent announcement of his upcoming album, Me / and / Dad (out 11/18) as well as an ambitious touring slate in 2023 with more than forty shows already scheduled nationwide through July.

Join us as Glide commemorates Billy’s upcoming international fall tour with a look at fifteen (more) of our favorite cover songs from the artist’s expansive catalog:

1. “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy” (Peter Rowan): Written by bluegrass legend Peter Rowan and released on the 1973 New Riders of the Purple Sage album The Adventures of Panama Red, this sing-along-special, which name-checks the likes of Martin Mull, Kris Kristofferson, and Rita Coolidge, the latter of whom were newly betrothed when the song was originally released, has been a semi-regular part of Strings’ setlists since 2018. 

2. “In Hiding” (Pearl Jam): Strings’ affinity for Pearl Jam is readily apparent as several of the Seattle-based rockers’ songs have been regular inclusions in his setlists since 2017, including “Crown of Thorns”, “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town”, and “In Hiding.” Released on Pearl Jam’s 1998 album Yield, “In Hiding” was inspired by author Charles Bukowski’s penchant for occasionally checking out from society for a few days at a time in order to clear his head, and affords Strings an opportunity to match Eddie Vedder’s dramatic vocal delivery, often with goosebump-inducing results. 

3. “West Dakota Rose” (Chris Henry & The Hardcore Grass): This lively instrumental, which Strings debuted in 2021 and has been performed dozens of times since, was written by Nashville-area musician Chris Henry, whose group The Hardcore Grass once featured mandolinist Jarrod Walker’s brother, Cory Walker, on banjo.

4. “Fearless” (Pink Floyd): Strings and his talented ensemble have done a masterful job of reinterpreting this psychedelic classic from Pink Floyd’s legendary 1971 album, Meddle, during its handful of live performances since 2021. 

5. “Little Maggie” (Traditional): Originally recorded in 1928 by the guitar/fiddle duo of Grayson & Whitter, “Little Maggie’s” roots trace all the way back to the “white blues” era of Appalachia and has been covered by countless artists, from Bob Dylan to Robert Plant, though arguably the definitive version of the song was recorded by The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1948. With nearly two hundred live performances since 2015, “Little Maggie” counts as Strings most frequently played cover song by a wide margin and has long since been a fan favorite thanks to its high-energy arrangement. 

6. “All Fall Down” (John Hartford): Among the most idiosyncratic artists of his time, John Hartford’s unique approach to songwriting and recording has left an indelible mark on the burgeoning modern-progressive bluegrass landscape with bands such as Greensky Bluegrass and Leftover Salmon performing his songs on a regular basis. Strings is no exception as he’s made Hartford’s material a mainstay of his live shows – there are only a few other artists he’s covered more often – including this red-hot arrangement of “All Fall Down”, from Hartford’s 1972 album Morning Bugle.

7. “Lumpy, Beanpole & Dirt” (Bad Livers): This bluesy plodder with one of the greatest song titles of all time was written by Danny Barnes of the Bad Livers, an eclectic Austin, TX-based outfit known for combining elements of bluegrass, folk, punk, polka and countless other genres, whom recorded it for their 1998 album, Industry And Thrift. It has remained something of a rarity amongst Strings’ live performances though with only a dozen showings since 2016.

8. “Slipstream” (Béla Fleck): Originally recorded on Béla’s 1988 solo album Drive with an all-star cast consisting of Mark Schatz, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Tony Rice & Sam Bush, this jazzy instrumental has maintained a steady presence in Strings’ setlists with nearly forty performances since 2018. 

9. “Seven Bridges Road” (Steve Young): While Strings and his bandmates are primarily known for their instrumental prowess, acapella numbers (well, mostly acapella) such as country music artist Steve Young’s “Seven Bridges Road” allow the group to showcase their equally impressive vocal abilities thanks to the gospel-infused arrangement originally conceived by English musician Iain Matthews on his 1973 album Valley Hi which was ultimately popularized years later by The Eagles after they unceremoniously copied Matthews’ version almost note-for-note with zero credit or acknowledgment.                                                                        

10.  “Señor” (Bob Dylan): Dylan’s haunting ballad from his 1978 album Street-Legal is another of Strings more common covers with close to sixty performances since 2016 and features a compelling arrangement that was seemingly inspired by Hot Rize’s Tim O’Brien, who recorded it for his 1996 Bob Dylan tribute album, Red on Blonde. 

11.  “How Mountain Girls Can Love” (The Stanley Brothers): Among the most seminal entries in the great American songbook, this Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys classic was originally released on their self-titled 1958 album and was ultimately recorded nearly a dozen additional times by Ralph Stanley or various other Clinch Mountain Boys members over the next several decades. 

12.  “Sally Goodin” (Traditional): This century-old fiddle tune was originally recorded in 1922 by Eck Robertson and is considered to be among the first-ever known recordings of country music. The origin of the song’s title is a hotly debated topic, as is common with many traditional songs from that era, with most theories revolving around a “fair maiden” named Sally who decided the most sensible approach to finding a husband would be to *checks notes* conduct a fiddle contest and marry the winner, whose last name happened to be Gooden (the song title has since been appropriated to “Goodin”). Sure. While Strings and his bandmates had previously only trotted out this instrumental mainstay when they happened to be joined by a guest fiddler, it seems destined to become a regular part of his live repertoire now that violinist Alex Hargreaves is a full-time member of Billy’s musical collective.

13. “Pretty Daughter” (Bad Livers): This rousing Bad Livers track, from their 1992 album Delusions of Banjer, is a brief, and somewhat controversial, a tale that recounts a father’s love for his daughter which ultimately leads him to murder one of her suitors with a pick-axe in the woods. With close to fifty live performances since 2016, Strings has transformed this heartwarming story into a bonafide showstopper thanks to an intense jam that often leads to a dramatic conclusion. 

14. “Ole Slew-Foot” (Johnny Horton): With music adapted from Jimmy Martin’s 1958 instrumental “Bear Tracks”, rockabilly icon Johnny Horton composed this hard-charging number about one of America’s oldest and most popular folk-tales in 1960 before releasing it as a B-side on a 7” single entitled Miss Marcy in 1961. A widely covered song that has been performed by artists ranging from The Grateful Dead to Johnny Cash, “Ole Slew-Foot” has appeared over sixty times in Billy’s setlists since 2015, often via a ferocious segue out of Strings original instrumental “Pyramid Country” or Bill Emerson’s “Home Of The Red Fox.”     

15. “Circles” (Post Malone): Billy’s unlikely friendship with Post Malone spawned after the renowned rapper/singer came across a video of Strings performing his anthemic original “Dust in a Baggie” on a friend’s couch as a teenager on YouTube. Since then, the pair have remained close, with Strings inviting Malone out for a rollicking rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues” at a California gig earlier this year. “Circles”, a downtempo track from Malone’s 2019 album Hollywood’s Bleeding, was the LA-based musician’s fourth single to top the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and while Strings has only publicly performed the song at a pair of 2020 concerts, his unique arrangement and emotional vocal delivery make it a worthy candidate to return to his live catalog.