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  #1  
Old 04-10-2022, 05:57 PM
KESTLY KESTLY is offline
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Default I saw Billy Strings last night!!!

So, last night I saw Billy Strings in concert in Santa Barbara, CA. Absolutely, one of the best concerts I have ever seen in my life! He played his signature Preston Thompson Dreadnaught the entire evening, and it sounded amazing. If you ever have the opportunity to see him live, it is quite an experience. It's kind of like Tony Rice meets Led Zepellin...I highly recommend!
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Old 04-10-2022, 06:19 PM
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Rumblefish Rumblefish is offline
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He is quite a talent. I’ve never caught him live but love watching his videos.
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Old 04-10-2022, 06:28 PM
rgregg48 rgregg48 is offline
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Billy Strings is a good player
There are quite a few who are
Better in my opinion.
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Old 04-10-2022, 07:17 PM
Lawren Lawren is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rgregg48 View Post
Billy Strings is a good player
There are quite a few who are
Better in my opinion.
People say this on Tony Rice vids on YouTube too, so clearly he's in good company.
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Old 04-10-2022, 07:35 PM
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In my humble opinion Billy Stings is a force of nature. And a great guy to boot. But he may not be to everyone's taste so no worries...
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Old 04-10-2022, 07:47 PM
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I have seen him many times over the past 10 years. He is an incredible musician and keeps growing.
He’s a very kind, humble individual and very generous.

If you ever have an opportunity to see him in concert, do it! You will not regret it.
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Old 04-10-2022, 08:37 PM
Mandobart Mandobart is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rgregg48 View Post
Billy Strings is a good player
There are quite a few who are
Better in my opinion.
Yes there are and always will be more skilled, cleaner, faster, etc. players. There are and will always be better songwriters. There are probably better entertainers too.

But having watched Billy Strings live twice, having met him as well as seeing hearing and sometimes meeting multiple others who may qualify as "better"....

There are very few who combine songwriting, playing, and dynamic energy quite like Billy Strings. Unlike most of us old AGF'ers and our aging heroes, Billy is young and attracts young people to roots/newgrass/Americana.

There are probably a few "better" players right here on the AGF. Tell me about their packed shows, their festival crowds, how many new players they're attracting to guitar/playing music?

I don't mean anything personally, but I can't help but read a bit of sour grapes into comments like the one quoted above.
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Old 04-10-2022, 08:41 PM
pagedr pagedr is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rgregg48 View Post
Billy Strings is a good player
There are quite a few who are
Better in my opinion.
I think you’re missing the whole point of music if you feel the need to call certain musicians “better” or anything along those lines.
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Old 04-10-2022, 08:44 PM
FLRon FLRon is offline
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Billy is a world class picker, of that there can be no doubt. Are there better players out there? Of course there are, and there always will be. Billy is a multi-skilled performer who definitely knows his strengths, one of which is that he doesn’t try to be something he’s not.
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Old 04-10-2022, 09:01 PM
Wellington Wellington is offline
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He's incredible
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Old 04-10-2022, 09:06 PM
Cibby Cibby is offline
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I'm a lot older 68 and I thought of it as a Greatful Dead bluegrass concert. More so because of the crowd at the concert in Ohio. Then after the concert I thought you know Jerry Garcia was into bluegrass and played it outside of Dead gigs. Anyways hell of a show and picker.
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Old 04-10-2022, 09:24 PM
Lawren Lawren is offline
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I know there's a certain element of competition and one-upsmanship (it's a word!) in bluegrass flatpicking, so maybe trying to quantify talent goes with the territory. But I think that is always balanced out by how participatory the scene is, a genre of music that is as much for the players as it is the audience. I'm not a fan of captions you see on videos like "Billy Strings CRUSHES Doing My Time" like it's a cage match between him and his forefathers. But that's not his posture at all. I think this Doc Watson tribute set shows where Billy's coming from. Besides being a massive talent, he's got a lot of heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk4SWmDbMNI
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Old 04-10-2022, 10:23 PM
Bluemonk Bluemonk is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rgregg48 View Post
Billy Strings is a good player
There are quite a few who are
Better in my opinion.
I guess that could be said of every player on the planet except the very best one. Why waste our time on the lesser ones? From now on, I'm listening to number one exclusively. Now I have to figure out who that is.
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Old 04-11-2022, 01:52 AM
00045 00045 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rgregg48 View Post
Billy Strings is a good player
There are quite a few who are
Better in my opinion.
Why are so bitter?
Music is enjoyment not a competition.

As the late Muddy Waters once said: "there is no best, there are only good ones."
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Old 04-11-2022, 04:24 AM
Italuke Italuke is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cibby View Post
I'm a lot older 68 and I thought of it as a Greatful Dead bluegrass concert. More so because of the crowd at the concert in Ohio. Then after the concert I thought you know Jerry Garcia was into bluegrass and played it outside of Dead gigs. Anyways hell of a show and picker.
I think we've found the elephant in the room. Recovering Deadhead here. (I started a Dead trib band in the 80s, way before it was cool!) Spent a good portion of my musical life heavily into that music and to some small extent, the "scene." But honestly, elements of the scene always bugged me. "Jerry farted and it was THE BEST EVER!!!" That kind of stuff, where the communal "given" is that, well, the Community is what matters over all else, including quality of musical performance. But I still see that both ways, I get it. And I get how many folks do not, it's just not their vibe.

I digress, but I think much of the Billy bashing is related to his embracing of that culture. For better or worse. But culture aside he is monster player and a net positive for acoustic guitar and bluegrass/roots music.
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