Photo Credit: Scott Harris

On Saturday, August 26, Billy Strings closed his summer tour at The Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Ala. During the latter half of the musician’s second frame, he covered the song “All The Luck In the World” as a tribute to the late Neal Casal on the fourth anniversary of the musician’s passing. 

After running through a relatively standard initial set of music, which included a debut of “Alabama Jubilee,” a song that was first performed by the comedy duo Collins and Harlan and later recorded and released by Doc Watson in 1968, Strings and his band cascaded through remaining material, “Be Your Man” and “Don’ Things Right” before entering the set break. 

Upon their return, the band opened the frame with “Meet Me at the Creek,” followed by a take on The Stanley Brothers’ “Stone Walls and Steel Bars.” They continued weaving in and out of covers and originals until they arrived at the emotional centerpiece of the night: Casal’s “All The Luck In the World,” off the artist’s second studio LP, Rain, Wind & Speed. 

Despite the first-time status for a live performance, Strings had previously recorded the track with Casal’s Circles Around The Sun bandmates for the 2020 LP Highway Butterfly–sales from the record benefited the Neal Casal Music Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit that provides musical instruments and lessons to students in New Jersey and New York state schools where Casal was born and raised.

Following the first-time cover, Strings and company added in “Red Daisy,” prior to covers of material from Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers and The Moody Blues. They concluded the second set with fan favorite “Turmoil & Tinfoil” before returning to the stage for the night’s encore, a bust out of The Carter Family original “I Ain’t Gonna Work Today,” last played on June 2, 2019. 

Watch a fan-shot video of Strings covering “All The Luck In the World” in honor of Casal. 

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