Billy Strings Concert Review: Bluegrass Gold in Atlantic City

It is unwise to bestow upon any one performer the title of “best.” Live music, like any art, is subjective. It’s also a matter of expectations: Metallica puts on a great show, but not if one enters the venue expecting Klezmer music.

But as one exits the pit after a Billy Strings concert, to call him and his band the best live act in the business feels natural. It probably isn’t true. But it might be.

In the most basic sense, Billy Strings plays bluegrass. His band, which consists of mandolinist Jarrod Walker, banjo player Billy Failing, bassist Royal Masat, and fiddle virtuoso Alex Hargreaves, features traditional bluegrass instrumentation. His setlists contain numerous bluegrass standards: Strings’s Feb. 17 show at Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Live featured covers of J.D. Crow’s “Portrait of the Blues,” John Hartford’s “Today,” Flatt and Scruggs’ “If I Lose,” and two songs originally by genre patriarch Bill Monroe “‘Ashland Breakdown” and “Close By.”

And the Grateful Dead shirt-adorned crowd laps it up. It’s an incredible sight — you haven’t lived until you’ve seen 5,000 people jump up and down in unison to an acoustic rendition of the Appalachian staple “Shady Grove” which is believed to have evolved from a song written in 1613.

Strings is a world-class guitar flat picker with an all-star cast of sidemen. It’s no surprise that he plays traditional bluegrass and folk songs at a high level. There are hundreds of artists who can do just that. But it is with his stage presence and production, his use of guitar and vocal effects, and his original music that Strings separates himself from other talented bluegrass acts.

Strings grew up playing both bluegrass and heavy metal, a fact that is evidenced by his demeanor on stage. Far from the buttoned-up nature of old-time bluegrass acts like the aforementioned Monroe, Strings is every bit the rockstar, complete with hair flips, headbanging, sprints across stage, and a steady diet of guitar god poses and facial expressions. His setup also features an impressive light show and a huge screen — both necessities in a venue as large as Hard Rock Live.

Never once did Strings and his band appear too small for the massive arena. That same sentiment extended to the band’s sound: Despite the amplified acoustic nature of their instruments, the five musicians filled the space with ease. When Strings uses pedal effects to make his acoustic guitar sound electric, as he did during a more than four-minute-long guitar solo on his original song “Away From The Mire,” the group is as loud as any rock band.

The only deviation from the show’s raucous volume came during a brief interlude halfway through the second set, when Strings — now playing banjo — joined Failing for a rendition of Strings’s original, “Dos Banjos,” before being rejoined on stage by the rest of the band for a trio of single-microphone performances, including another Strings original, “Freedom” — one of the night’s highlights.

Strings’s original songs range from rock-solid traditional bluegrass (‘Hollow Heart,’ ‘Dust In A Baggie,’ ‘Know It All’) to funky, bass-driven improv-fests (‘Doin’ Things Right’) to spacy, drawn-out jams (“Away From The Mire”). For a band without much instrumental diversity, it’s a remarkably engaging set. Mix in a few bluegrass standards, and there’s something for every fan.

That, of course, is the magic of Billy Strings. Yes, his playing is technically impressive. Yes, his voice is unique and accurate. But it is the diversity of his sets and the adrenaline with which he plays them that has enabled him to take bluegrass to heights it has never seen before — like, for example, Hard Rock Live, a 5,000-seat venue in Atlantic City, which is not exactly known for its bluegrass scene.

There are few artists who can command the attention of that many people for three hours. There are fewer still who can do it without backup dancers or pyrotechnics. There is only one artist who can do it playing bluegrass. And that man is the one and only, Billy Strings.