Last night, Grammy-award-winning bluegrass guitarist and singer-songwriter Billy Strings celebrated what would’ve been the 100th birthday of Doc Watson, one of his greatest influences. The celebration took place at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C., and featured the stylings of Strings along with Bryan Stutton, Molly Tuttle, T. Michael Coleman, Wayne Henderson, Jack Lawrence and Jack Hinshelwood.

The show was hosted by Dr. Ted Olson, a professor of Appalachian Studies and Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies at East Tennessee State University, who co-produced Watson’s Life’s Work: A Retrospective. After the tone for the evening was settled, Strings opened the performance with Watson’s own “Way Downtown.”

Throughout the evening, Strings played songs penned, performed or influenced by the late bluegrass icon, with covers and traditional in abundance. The performance tracked in at nearly 50 songs in total. Tuttle joined Strings on Watson’s “Blue Railroad Train,” “On My Way Back to the Old Home,” “Your Long Journey,” “On My Way Back to the Old Home,” the traditional “All About you” and Henry Whitter’s “Going Down the Road Feelin’ Bad.”

Later in the set, Strings welcomed Henderson (guitar), Hinshelwood (guitar), Coleman (bass) and Jack Lawrence (guitar) for “Sadie What a Lady,” a collaborative track between Marty Stuart, Johnny Cash, Doc Watson & Jerry Douglas. The musicians stayed on for Watson’s “Deep River Blues,” Leon McAuliffe’s “Steel Guitar Rag,” and more. After they stepped on stage, Wyatt Ellis joined Strings for a pairing of “Watson’s Blues” and “Nashville Blues.”

After stand-out covers of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” and Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Right,” Sutton joined Strings for a slew of songs, including jams of “The Train That Carried MY Girl From Town” > “Black Mountain Rag” and “Salt Creek” > “Sheeps in the Meadow / Stoney Fork.” Stutton continued on with Strings until a cover of “Southbound.” From there, Strings performed some songs he has been making all his own, including “Nights in White Satin” by The Moody Blues and Jimmy Driftwood’s “Tennessee Stud.” After a longing and penultimate cover of Patty Griffin’s “We Shall All Be Reunited,” which they were throughout the evening, in music, Strings and his band closed the performance with one last cover of Watson’s catalog, a complex and beautiful performance of “Mama Don’t Allow No Music.”

Billy Strings
Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum – Winston-Salem, N.C.
March 3, 2023

Set: Way Downtown (Doc Watson cover), Shady Grove ([traditional] cover), Down Yonder (Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers cover), Freight Train Boogie (Doc Watson cover), Red Rocking Chair ([traditional] cover), Blue Railroad Train (Doc Watson cover) (with Molly Tuttle), Your Long Journey (Doc Watson cover) (with Molly Tuttle), All About You ([traditional] cover) (with Molly Tuttle), On My Way Back to the Old Home (Doc Watson cover) (with Molly Tuttle), Going Down the Road Feelin’ Bad (Henry Whitter cover) (with Molly Tuttle), Otto Wood the Bandit (The Carolina Buddies cover), Wagoner’s Lad ([traditional] cover) (Billy solo on 4 string banjo), Miss the Mississippi and You (Jimmie Rodgers cover), Open Up Them Pearly Gates (The Seekers cover), Ready for the Times to Get Better (Crystal Gayle cover), Peartree (Doc Watson cover), Sadie What a Lady (Marty Stuart, Johnny Cash, Doc Watson & Jerry Douglas cover) (Wayne Henderson-guitar, Jack Hinshelwood-guitar, T. Michael Coleman-bass, Jack Lawrence-guitar), Walk On Boy (Doc Watson cover) (Wayne Henderson-guitar, Jack Hinshelwood-guitar, T. Michael Coleman-bass, Jack Lawrence-guitar), Steel Guitar Rag, (Leon McAuliffe cover) (Wayne Henderson-guitar, Jack Hinshelwood-guitar, T. Michael Coleman-bass, Jack Lawrence-guitar), Deep River Blues (Doc Watson cover) (Wayne Henderson-guitar, Jack Hinshelwood-guitar, T. Michael Coleman-bass, Jack Lawrence-guitar), Watson’s Blues, (Doc Watson cover) (with Wyatt Ellis), Nashville Blues (The Doc Watson Family cover) (with Wyatt Ellis), And Am I Born to Die? (The Doc Watson Family cover), Georgia Buck (Doc Watson cover), Doc’s Guitar (Doc Watson cover), Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (Bob Dylan cover), Summertime (George Gershwin cover), Give Me Back My Fifteen Cents ([traditional] cover) (with Brian Sutton on guitar), Nothing to It (Doc Watson cover) (with Brian Sutton on guitar), Groundhog (Doc Watson cover) (with Brian Sutton on guitar), The Train That Carried My Girl From Town (Doc Watson cover) (>) Black Mountain Rag ([traditional] cover) (with Brian Sutton on guitar), Greenville Trestle High (Doc Watson cover) (with Brian Sutton on guitar), Salt Creek (The Doc Watson Family cover) (>) Sheeps in the Meadow / Stoney Fork (Doc & Merle Watson cover) (with Brian Sutton on guitar) Give the Fiddler a Dram ([traditional] cover) (>) Whistling Rufus ([traditional] cover) (>) Ragtime Annie ([traditional] cover) (with Brian Sutton on guitar), Southbound (Doc Watson cover) (with Brian Sutton on guitar), In Case You Ever Change Your Mind (Bill Anderson cover), Nights in White Satin (The Moody Blues cover), Tom Dooley ([traditional] cover), Haul de Woodpile Down (Sam Patterson Trio cover), Tennessee Stud (Jimmy Driftwood cover), We Shall All Be Reunited (Patty Griffin cover) Mama Don’t Allow No Music (Doc Watson cover)