Bluegrass savant and jam-scene rising star Billy Strings performed his first of two sold-out nights at Brooklyn Bowl Williamsburg on Friday, Nov. 15. The blistering two-set show was punctuated by a four-song sit-in by Brandon “Taz” Niederauer to close the second set.

The first set opened with “Dust In A Baggie,” a fitting opener as a video recently surfaced of a young Strings performing the song all the way back in 2012. “Likes of Me” came next, followed by a sequence of “Home of the Red Fox” > “Letter to Seymour.”

Later in the set, Strings delivered performances of a few cuts from his September 2019 release, Home: “Hollow Heart,” “Must Be Seven,” “Love Like Me” and “Highway Hypnosis.” The set closed with the band’s take on “In Hiding” by Pearl Jam, which Strings has covered before.

The second set began with “Everything’s The Same,” also from Home. However, the highlight came later in the frame, when Strings invited “one of [his] favorite guitarists on the planet,” Brandon “Taz” Niederauer to the stage. Niederauer, who on Nov. 13 delivered a sold-out performance at The Bowery Ballroom, has sat in with Strings before, this past May in New Orleans.

Taz joined the band for a quartet of songs, beginning with “All Time Low,” a Widespread Panic tune from their 1999 album ‘Til The Medicine Takes. While Strings and his band plucked away on their acoustic instruments, Niederauer provided contrast on his D’Angelico signature electric guitar. Strings (along with Niederauer) closed the set with “Train Train.” “Let’s do it again tomorrow,” said Strings as the set concluded. The band returned sans Taz for a “Roll On Buddy Roll On” encore.

Check out full videos of both sets below, via the Relix YouTube channel, as well as the complete setlist.

Billy Strings
Nov. 15, 2019
Brooklyn Bowl Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Set I: Dust In A Baggie, Likes of Me, Home of the Red Fox >Letter to Seymour, There Is A TimeHollow Heart, Must Be Seven, How Mountain Girls Can Love, Love Like Me, Highway Hypnosis, Train That Carried My Girl From Town >Black Mountain Rag, In Hiding

Set II: Everything’s The Same, I’m Still Here >Last Train to Clarksville, White Dove, Run Down, This Heart of Mine >Dealing Despair, All Time Low*, All Fall Down*, Pyramid Country* >Train Train*

Enc: Roll On Buddy Roll On

*with Brandon “Taz” Niederauer