Billy Strings returned to downtown Asheville on Wednesday for his second of four sold-out shows, centering the jam-heavy evening on Robert Hunter‘s “Thunder”.
While Tuesday’s run opener highlighted the cross-section of styles that has made Strings a sensation in multiple communities, Wednesday’s show at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena dialed into the long-form improvisation that has made him a household name in the jam band scene. In addition to a 19-minute “Thunder” from the Grateful Dead lyricist, Strings also nodded to Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and—in a rare instance—the Dead themselves.
The evening’s commitment to open-ended exploration was established on the first song with opener “Dust in a Baggie”. Though naturally resented by fans for being Strings’ most commercially popular song (see “Touch of Grey”), Strings, Billy Failing, Jarrod Walker, Royal Masat, and Alex Hargreaves put a lil’ extra mustard on this one. Taking it past the typical 3.5-minute runtime, a modest, around-the-horn jam of clean tones segued straight into “Everything’s the Same”, with the obligatory “I’m going to (your town), I’m going to Maine,” lyric edit.
Billy Strings — “Dust In A Baggie” > “Everything’s The Same” — 2/11/26
Though an “In the Morning Light” in the three-slot stepped on the momentum, the band balanced it out with “Rundown” > “Pretty Daughter”. The double tribute to Jeff Austin, who penned the first song and frequently covered the latter, celebrated the legacy of the late Yonder Mountain String Band mandolinist, who was both a pivotal influence for Strings personally as well as a vital historical stepping stone to arrive at this moment where 7,600-some-odd attendees packed into a sold-out basketball arena to hear bluegrass music.
Billy Strings — “Rundown” (Jeff Austin) — 2/11/26
[Video: LawsonFilms]
And of course, there is no stepping stone to this jamgrass renaissance without the Grateful Dead. After four years of abstaining from Dead covers, Strings reversed course at last weekend’s Athens, GA tour opener with “Cassidy” for the late Bob Weir. More likely than not, Strings will resume avoiding the Grateful Dead teat, but that doesn’t preclude him from covering the song Robert Hunter wrote for drummer Bill Kreutzmann, who ultimately gifted it to Billy.
Though one of the sharpest tools in Strings’ improvisational utility built, “Thunder” has become an increasingly rare treat. A setlist staple 2021–2023, the song only appeared five times in 2024 and 2025, giving it a similarly exalted status to the Dead’s “Dark Star” as the band evolved through the ’70s.
With a Phish “Piper”-like slow build, Billy Strings’ Asheville “Thunder” didn’t reveal itself as such until seven minutes into the song. Strings milked the anticipation with a droning pulse of sustained wah wah-inflected notes, building to a takeoff of the central riff. Opening up into an aquatic jam set to deep blue lights, Strings probed the depths with his echo pedal, wading his way into teases of the Dead’s “Feel Like A Stranger” to add another layer of meaning to the cover. In Phish terms, this was “the hose.” This was the stuff folks travel across the country and even the world to see. And it was just the first set.
Billy Strings — “Thunder” (Robert Hunter) — 2/11/26
[Video: LawsonFilms]
Following the elongated “Dust in a Baggie” that opened the show, set two also got off to an unusual start. As the house lights dimmed, sounds of a guitar emanated from the speakers, although nobody was onstage. Amid some gentle strums and picks, Strings alone took the stage as it was bathed in more deep blue lights. As he sauntered to the few steps in front of the microphones, he took a seat on the step as he played his Home instrumental “Guitar Peace”.
Interweaving teases of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” and the Allman Brothers Band‘s “Little Martha”, the performance took on the feeling of a bedroom practice session. As Strings sat there, alone, with the lights down low, one could look through him to see decades of days, nights, and afternoons spent sitting in his room, practicing guitar, all leading him to this moment.
Crowd roars punctuated the various teases before Strings—still seated—transitioned to Pink Floyd’s “Fearless” and his bandmates reemerged. Ambling back to the mic just in time for the opening lyric, “You say the hills too steep to climb, chiding,” Strings and the blissful ascent of guitar chords set a relaxed, at times subdued, tone for the set of music ahead.
Billy Strings — “Guitar Peace” > “Fearless” (Pink Floyd) — 2/11/26
[Video: Doug Heck]
The gentle strum of “Leaders” didn’t disturb that mellow mood, aside from occasional forays into blistering, psych-rock guitar solos—routinely met with seismic eruptions from the crowd. The jam reached its zenith at the very end as the band became completely free, abandoning all song structure. More avante than atonal, they were a couple of the most exciting minutes of the show.
From “Thunder” (“There is thunder at the border / And thunder on the plain… Thunder in the phrases /Of the politics and lies… Thunder in the government / And in the courts of law”), through “Fearless” (“Fearlessly, the idiot faced the crowd, smiling / Merciless, the magistrate turns ’round, frowning”), “Leaders”, “Dealing Despair” (“Well the folks around here don’t get along anymore / Everybody’s dealing despair / Few are the flowers to stop and smell / Exasperation lingers in the air”), and Blaze Foley‘s “Cold Cold World”, some lyrical undertones began to take shape. Feelings of despair and helplessness, being abandoned by one’s leaders, and a general cynicism at the magnitude of society’s problems abounded through the songs.
Following a pair of reflections on a wasted life left behind, “Enough to Leave” and “California Sober”, Strings honored bluegrass legend and North Carolina native Doc Watson with what Billy considers “one of the most beautiful songs,” the Doc-adopted traditional “Alberta”. Strings’ cover of the song sharing its name with a Canadian province came the day after Canada suffered its worst mass shooting in decades, after an 18-year-old woman in British Columbia killed at least eight people and injured 25. While Billy made no overt references to any specific events, the second set tapped into the current zeitgeist of fear and uncertainty rippling across North America.
Adding some levity, Strings quipped after the tender cover, “Figure if somebody out there gets pregnant tonight, you can name your daughter Alberta.”
With the clock winding down and the solemn final notes of ecological reflection “Watch it Fall” fading out, Strings and the band eschewed the encore break and dug into the low chuggle of John Hartford‘s “All Fall Down”. They started the song with 12 minutes until the 11 p.m. curfew, and they fit as much as possible into 11 of them. “All Fall Down” can usually stretch on for upwards of 20 minutes, but on this evening, they got there in half that time, running out all the gas for a jam that emitted the sensation of mainlining espresso.
With a minute to go, Billy Strings played the musical equivalent of dropping a sleeve of Mentos into a two-liter of Diet Coke, shaking it up, and releasing it onto the streets of downtown Asheville. It was borderline irresponsible to work a crowd up into that kind of frenzy and turn them loose, and we’re lucky there weren’t any riots. It was chaotic, cathartic, and a perfect argument for why bands shouldn’t take encore breaks.
Billy Strings — “All Fall Down” (John Hartford) — 2/11/26
[Video: LawsonFilms]
Check out videos and audio from the second night of Billy Strings’ 2026 run in Asheville, plus images by photographer Ashton Sikes. We’ve got the night off tonight, Thursday, but are due back at the arena on Friday and Saturday. If you’re in town for the day between, there’s still plenty of music happening all over Asheville. Check out a rundown here and restream the entire 2026 winter tour on nugs. [Editor’s note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your subscription or purchasing a download via the links on this page helps support our work covering the world of live music. Thanks for reading!]
Revisit Live For Live Music‘s full coverage of the 2026 Billy Strings Asheville run: night one (Tuesday, February 10th) | night two (you’re reading it) | night three (Friday, February 13th) | night four (Saturday, February 14th).
Billy Strings — “Pretty Daughter” (Bad Livers) — 2/11/26
[Video: Doug Heck]
Billy Strings — ExploreAsheville.com Arena — Asheville, NC — 2/11/26 — Full Audio
[Audio: Zmanatl]
Setlist [via BillyBase]: Billy Strings | ExploreAsheville.com Arena | Asheville, NC | 2/11/26
Set One: Dust in a Baggie > Everything’s the Same, In the Morning Light, Run Down (Jeff Austin) > Pretty Daughter (Bad Livers), Doin’ Things Right, The Lonesome River (The Stanley Brothers and The Clinch Mountain Boys), Know It All, Seney Stretch, Don’t Be Calling Me (at 4 AM), Thunder (Robert Hunter) [1]
Set Two: Guitar Peace [2] [3] [4] > Fearless (Pink Floyd) [5], Leaders, Dealing Despair [6], Cold Cold World (Blaze Foley), Thirst Mutilator > Running, Enough to Leave, California Sober, Alberta (Traditional), Watch it Fall, All Fall Down (John Hartford)
[1] “Feel Like a Stranger” (Grateful Dead) tease from Billy Strings
[2] Billy Strings solo; started playing from backstage, walked out, and took a seat on the front step of the stage
[3] “Here Comes the Sun” (The Beatles) tease
[4] “Little Martha” (Allman Brothers Band) tease
[5] Band joins Billy on stage
[6] “This Heart of Mine” (New Grass Revival) Fake-out intro
