Billy Strings and the gang kicked off their December tour on Friday night in the ancestral home of bluegrass, Kentucky, with their first of two nights at Louisville’s massive basketball arena, the KFC Yum! Center. In a surprise turn at the end of the show, area fiddle legend Michael Cleveland popped down from his nearby Indiana home to join the band for a rollicking, six-song sit-in on their towering stage.
As the snow that blanketed and shut down the city earlier in the week started to melt on Friday, music fans were reminded that even in a winter wonderland, the grass in Kentucky is blue. Heck, native son (and Strings’ fave) Bill Monroe coined the name of the genre when he dubbed his backing band “The Bluegrass Boys” all those decades ago. With the whole city ready to get out of the house and get rowdy after a couple days of being shut in, the audience was primed to be excitable—not that they needed any extra reason to look forward to seeing this once-in-a-generation artist do his thing.
After an electrifying “Dust In A Baggie” opener served as a final tuning and P.A. check, the night was off and running. The first lyrical nod to Kentucky of what many to come was included in the ensuing “Hellbender” (“In the cold early morning in the hills of Kentucky…”), and it received its predictable roar of appreciation from the crowd. Little did the audience know the amazing honorifics the state and Monroe, one of its favorites sons, were set to receive before the night was done.
Billy greeted the crowd as the rest of the band did a speedy bit of fine-tuning, noting that he had often driven by the opulent Ohio River waterfront venue and told himself, “We’re gonna play there one day,” and how happy he was that, finally, that day was here. The first set was dominated original material by Billy and the band, which likely tipped in-the-know fans in the crowd that something was brewing in set two. The satisfying mix of tunes and tempos gave everyone in the band a chance to stretch out and show what they can do.
Fiddler Alex Hargreaves, in particular, made the most of the many opportunities he received to show the vast range of skills and styles at his command. Not that bassist Royal Masat, mandolinist Jarrod Walker, and banjo maven Billy Failing were anything less than top-of-their-game sidemen throughout the frame.
Following his appreciative but somewhat weary remarks about his seemingly endless road trips with hies first cover of the night, “Hello, City Limits” (fittingly by Red Allen and The Kentuckians), Strings again referenced the evening’s venue, easily viewed from Interstate 65, as a familiar landmark on his regular route home to Nashville. He went on to spend, metaphorically, “Seven Weeks In County” with the night’s first true improvisational odyssey beyond the earthly realm of bluegrass.
After returning from deep space, Strings immediately took the audience on a different kind of musical journey, turning to the more spiritual side of the dial. Honoring his Grandmother, Billy and his band joined voices for the gospel classic “Harbor Of Love” from The Stanley Brothers before rounding out set one on a strong note with “Red Daisy” and Larry Sparks’ “Slow Train”.
The lyrical beauty of set two opener “Gild The Lily” was upstaged by the raw, pulsating bass lines of Royal Masat in the opening seconds of “Heart of America”. Fiddler Alex Hargreaves had a similarly transfixing spotlight during the “Malfunction Junction” > “Little Maggie” two-fer that followed. After a near-transcendant “Hide & Seek”, Billy stepped to the mic to announce “the moment you’ve all been waiting for, even if you didn’t know it was coming” and brought out Michael Cleveland to thundering approval.
While the bluegrass fiddle virtuoso from Southern Indiana plugged in and got in tuned, Billy went to one of the front-stage mics and urged banjo maestro Billy Failing and Cleveland to kick off the next tune. Quick to oblige, the pair delivered some sweet dixie sounds as the first of what would be six songs with Cleveland, the Bill Monroe-popularized “Sally Goodwin”, flared to life. While Failing and Cleveland wailed those opening notes, Strings danced a wild fueled by the maelstrom of music being made, flailing himself in time to the tune.
Strings and the rest of the band joined in for the subsequent “My Rose Of Old Kentucky”, the second of the night’s clutch of Bill Monroe staples. Hargreaves and Cleveland teamed up for Monroe’s mournful “Sitting Alone In The Moonlight”, marking its first-ever appearance in the Billy Strings repertoire. Jarrod Walker provided an impressive, melodic mandolin middle for the tune before the entire collection of players went off to the races with “Molly & Tenbrooks”, an apt equestrian ode for the city that hosts the Triple Crown jewel, the Kentucky Derby.
After a heart-wrenching “With Body and Soul”, there was only time for a quick but beautiful last song, “Roll On Buddy, Roll On”, before Cleveland and the entire collection of musicians were forced to call it a night. Strings lamented the situation on mic but promised “more fun tomorrow” as they ceded to curfew. Whether those wishes include more Cleveland or not is anyone’s guess, but if this was only a one-off visit for the guest fiddler, the bowman had certainly made the most of it.
Though Strings didn’t call any attention to the “Bill Monroe” theme of the night’s epic finale the late guitarist’s music certainly haunted the stage. It was gratifying to see, once again, that though Strings’ star continues to rise, he never seems to forget his humble beginnings. His humility speaks well to the potential for his own continued climb to seemingly unlimited heights. While the size and scale of the production at Strings’ performances is ever-growing, one thing never changes: the level of love, heart, and soul he puts into giving fans the best show possible.
Watch fan-shot videos of the six-song sit-in by Michael Cleveland below via YouTube user Doug Heck below. Scroll down to view the full setlist and photos from night one of Billy Strings in Louisville. Download the full audio or revisit the full video webcast of the show via nugs here. Find tickets to upcoming Billy Strings tour dates here.
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Billy Strings w/ Michael Cleveland – “Sally Goodin” (Traditional), “My Old Rose of Kentucky” (Bil Monroe)
Billy Strings w/ Michael Cleveland – “Sitting Alone in the Morning Light” (Bill Monroe, FTP) – 12/5/25
Billy Strings w/ Michael Cleveland – “Roll On Buddy, Roll On” (Tradutuibak) – 12/5/25
Setlist [via BillyBase]: Billy Strings | KFC Yum! Center | Louisville, KY | 12/5/25
Set One: Dust In A Baggie, Hellbender, While I’m Waiting Here, Taking Water > Ice Bridges, Show Me The Door, The Fire On My Tongue > Ole Slew Foot, My Alice, Hello, City Limits, Seven Weeks in County, Harbor of Love, Red Daisy > Slow Train
Set Two: Gild the Lily, Heartbeat Of America, In The Morning Light, Malfunction Junction > Little Maggie, Hide and Seek, Sally Goodin [1], My Rose Of Old Kentucky [1] [2], Sitting Alone In The Moonlight [1] [3]Molly And Tenbrooks [1] [4],With Body & Soul [1] [5], Roll On Buddy, Roll On [1]
Notes:
[1] w/ Michael Cleveland on fiddle
[2] Last Time Played 2024-04-26 | 125 show gap
[3] FTP – Bill Monroe
[4] Last Time Played 2024-04-13 | 130 show gap
[5] Last Time Played 2025-02-28 | 71 show gap
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