Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician Billy Strings will continue his extensive headline tour through the spring with 22 newly confirmed shows, including eight arena dates. Upcoming stops include Mobile’s Mobile Civic Center (two nights), Tampa’s Yuengling Center, St. Augustine’s St. Augustine Amphitheatre (three nights), Phoenix’s Arizona Financial Theatre, Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre, Austin’s Moody Center (two nights), Tulsa’s BOK Center, St. Louis’ Chaifetz Arena and Chicago’s Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island among many others.
Tickets for the tour will be available for pre-sale starting tomorrow, December 7 at 10:00am local time through Thursday, December 8 at 10:00pm local time. General on-sale will follow this Friday, December 9 at 10:00am local time. Registration for pre-sale tickets is now open, full details are available at www.billystrings.com/tour. The spring dates follow Strings’ winter tour, which includes 15 additional arena shows with stops at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena (two nights, both sold out), Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena (three nights), Charlottesville’s John Paul Jones Arena (two nights), Atlanta’s State Farm Arena (sold out) and Charleston’s North Charleston Coliseum (two nights) among others. Additionally, Strings will return to the historic Ryman Auditorium on February 26 for a third sold-out Nashville show. See below for complete itinerary.
Billy Strings released Me/And/Dad, the first album he’s recorded with his dad, Terry Barber, last month via Rounder Records (pre-order here). The product of a longtime dream, the record features new versions of fourteen bluegrass and country classics that the two have been playing together since Strings was a young child. In celebration of the release, Strings and Barber were recently featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered” speaking with host Ailsa Chang, while Strings was also featured on “CBS Sunday Morning” earlier this fall speaking with correspondent Conor Knighton.
BILLY STRINGS CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
December 7—London, UK—O2 Forum Kentish Town (SOLD OUT)
December 8—Manchester, UK—O2 Ritz Manchester (SOLD OUT)
December 9—Dublin, Ireland—The Academy (SOLD OUT)
December 11—Glasgow, UK—Galvanizers Yard (SOLD OUT)
December 30—New Orleans, LA—Lakefront Arena
December 31—New Orleans, LA—Lakefront Arena (SOLD OUT)
February 2—Denver, CO—1STBANK Center (SOLD OUT)
February 3—Denver, CO—1STBANK Center (SOLD OUT)
February 4—Denver, CO—1STBANK Center (SOLD OUT)
February 16—Atlantic City, NJ—Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
February 17—Atlantic City, NJ—Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
February 18—Atlantic City, NJ—Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena (SOLD OUT)
February 21—Charlottesville, VA—John Paul Jones Arena
February 22—Charlottesville, VA—John Paul Jones Arena
February 24—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena (SOLD OUT)
February 25—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena (SOLD OUT)
February 26—Nashville, TN—Ryman Auditorium (SOLD OUT)
March 3—Winston-Salem, NC—Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum – Doc Watson’s 100th Birthday Show
March 4—Winston-Salem, NC—Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum
March 7—Athens, GA—Georgia Theatre (SOLD OUT)
March 10—Atlanta, GA—State Farm Arena (SOLD OUT)
March 11—Charleston, SC—North Charleston Coliseum
March 12—Charleston, SC—North Charleston Coliseum
March 16—Cincinnati, OH—The Andrew J Brady Music Center (SOLD OUT)
March 17—Cincinnati, OH—The Andrew J Brady Music Center (SOLD OUT)
March 18—Cincinnati, OH—The Andrew J Brady Music Center (SOLD OUT)
April 13—Southaven, MS—Landers Center
April 14—Mobile, AL—Mobile Civic Center Arena
April 15—Mobile, AL—Mobile Civic Center Arena
April 18—Tampa, FL—Yuengling Center
April 20—St. Augustine, FL—St. Augustine Amphitheatre
April 21—St. Augustine, FL—St. Augustine Amphitheatre
April 22—St. Augustine, FL—St. Augustine Amphitheatre
May 11—Morrison, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre (SOLD OUT)
May 12—Morrison, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre (SOLD OUT)
May 17—Phoenix, AZ—Arizona Financial Theatre
May 19—Los Angeles, CA—Greek Theatre
May 20—San Diego, CA—Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
May 21—San Diego, CA—Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
May 24—Las Vegas, NV—Brooklyn Bowl
June 2—Austin, TX—Moody Center
June 3—Austin, TX—Moody Center
June 7—Tulsa, OK—BOK Center
June 9—St. Louis, MO—Chaifetz Arena
June 10—Indianapolis, IN—TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
June 11—Indianapolis, IN—TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
June 13—Cleveland, OH—Jacobs Pavilion
June 14—Cleveland, OH—Jacobs Pavilion
June 16—Clarkston, MI—Pine Knob Music Theatre
June 17—Chicago, IL—Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
TED DROZDOWSKI
SENIOR EDITOR
I’ve sought refuge during the pandemic—mental deliverance and comfort food for the soul—in my roots. Blues has long been a source of the latter for me. And Mississippi Suitcase is elemental: a celebratory bonfire, radiating Parcek’s virtuosity, creativity, and musical intelligence.
Peter Parcek
Mississippi Suitcase
It’s not simply his world-class and richly original guitar playing, which dances on an emotional high wire between transcendent invention and deep tradition, or his songwriting, which illuminates all the corners of our humanity, that makes him such an important and hauntingly expressive artist in today’s blues and roots scene. Or even the way his singing breathes with life and wisdom. There’s also his ability to reframe classic material, whether by Sonny Boy Williamson or Lou Reed, in a way that’s respectful of history and yet resonant in the present. He can be wild and unpredictable, yet resolute as granite. And, like a bonfire, he burns. He is truly a master, and I love this album.
Pink Floyd
Delicate Sound of Thunder
Pink Floyd has been my shelter in this year’s storm. I revisit everything in the band’s and David Gilmour’s catalogs constantly, finding warmth in the weirdness and beauty, and in the empathy of their finest lyrics, and uplift in Syd Barrett’s and David’s performances. So it felt like this reissue, recorded during the 1987 Momentary Lapse of Reason tour, was a gift made for me. The remastered sound and the performances are killer—a sonic, psychedelic spa I can soak in infinitely, and there’s music not on the original release, including the wordless wonder “The Great Gig in the Sky.” And while I love Syd’s left-field virtuosity, nobody has a more beautiful, burnished tone than David, and the delicate precision of his bends and phrasing cut to my heart. I really get lost in his playing, in the best way possible. Adding to my Floydian refuge was the also-just-reissued book Barrett: The Definitive Visual Companion, by Russell Beecher and Will Shutes, packed with early photos of Syd, with and without the band, and his paintings and drawings, including work through the early mid-2000s. It’s a fascination look inside a wonderful and difficult mind.
Henry Kaiser, Mike Watt, Vinny Golia, Wayne Peet, and John Hanrahan
A Love Supreme Electric: A Salvo Inspired By John Coltrane—A Love Supreme & Meditations
This two-album set answers a theoretical: What if Coltrane had survived cancer and joined Miles Davis in pioneering electric jazz? Five of the world’s finest improvisors weigh in via compositions from the two brilliant ’Trane albums in the title. There’s a lot of mystery, satisfaction, and surprise in these 12 performances, as instrumental voices blend and fracture, melodies skyrocket and flare, and notes tumble in a stampeding herd or slowly and elegantly stretch like lazy cats in the sun. Kaiser’s guitar playing is full of energy and invention, but, honestly, so is everyone’s. At times there are clear nods to Sonny Sharrock, who was himself a Coltrane disciple, and the improv supergroup Last Exit. During pandemic isolation, this rune to chaos and control (and Coltrane, of course!) is a marvelous reminder of freedom—and a reminder that free jazz has always been about human, rather than musical, liberation.
Most-anticipated 2021 releases: Please, Tom Waits … please, this year! Any unreleased Sonny Sharrock, R.L. Burnside, or Junior Kimbrough recordings. More great discoveries and productions from Dan Auerbach and his Easy Eye label. And new music from Julian Lage, Anthony Pirog, and Valerie June.
Fleet Foxes
ShoreFollowing a three-year break, indie-folk outfit Fleet Foxes has returned with its fourth studio album, Shore, released this autumnal equinox. Their 2017 release, Crack-Up, saw songwriter Robin Pecknold traipsing into structurally abstract territory. On Shore, Pecknold takes his orchestral, reinvented-’60s-rock sound and places it into a more contextualized format, generously embroidering it with Seattle-born brass quartet, the Westerlies. An intently uplifting work, Shore was written and produced by Pecknold without his bandmates—a first under the Fleet Foxes name.
Pecknold uses the guitar like a composer, writing simple motifs from which he extrapolates scenic, technicolor arrangements featuring acoustic and electric interplay, guiding with melodic lines (“Sunblind” and “Thymia”), creating gentle textures on songs like “Featherweight” and “A Long Way Past the Past,” and at times echoing his Beach Boys-esque, reverb-bathed vocals (“Maestranza”). Shore breathes with a sense of midsummer freedom and contemplation, offering a new heart to a tiring season.
Must-hear tracks: “Featherweight,” “Maestranza”