Billy Strings opened his Winter Tour 2026 with the first of a pair of nights at Akins Ford Arena in Athens, Georgia, on Thursday (2/6), with a two-set performance that moved between his own catalog and bluegrass standards.
The 33-year-old guitarist and singer was joined by Billy Failing (banjo), Jarrod Walker (mandolin), Royal Masat (bass), and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle) on their opening night in the 8,500-capacity room.
Strings' tour is a celebration of his steady climb from theaters to major arenas, built on marathon setlists and a catalog that now spans multiple Grammy-winning releases.
The fact that he's done it while staying true to the Bluegrass tradition is nothing short of a miracle.
Billy Strings has had multiple charting albums on Billboard. His most recent LP, 2024's Highway Prayers debuted at #22 on the Billboard 200 and became the first bluegrass album in over 20 years to top the magazine's all-genre Top Album Sales chart.
It also reached #1 on the Bluegrass Albums chart and charted on the Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums lists.
He also appeared on the single “M-E-X-I-C-O” with Post Malone, which reached #83 on the Billboard Hot 100.
But maybe best of all, just last week Billy won his second consecutive Best Bluegrass Album when Highway Prayers brought home that golden phonograph.
Two days later he put something on his Instagram Story that surely sent shivers down the backs of others hoping to one day win that Grammy. Strings wrote on a totally black background, "Just made my best album yet. Fkn stoked.”
The Georgians were stoked right off the bat on the first night in Athens when Billy started off the show with “Bringin’ in the Georgia Mail,” a Charlie Monroe cover.
If that name sounds familiar, Charlie Monroe was Bill Monroe’s older brother; the two performed together in the Monroe Brothers in the 1930s before Bill (later known as the Father of Bluegrass) formed the legendary Blue Grass Boys and defined the modern bluegrass sound.
Billy and the crew moved into “The Fire on My Tongue” and “Long Forgotten Dream,” both from 2019’s Home, followed by the cover of John Hiatt’s “Crossing Muddy Waters.”
The tune is the title track of Hiatt's Grammy-nominated 2000 acoustic wonder that was recorded in just four days.
Never afraid of covers, the first set also included a nod to Gordon Lightfoot with "10 Degrees and Getting Colder."
Then near the end of the first half of the show he gave love to Widespread Panic's 40th anniversary by covering "All Time Low."
During the encore, Billy paid tribute to Grateful Dead guitarist Bobby Weir by playing a pair of tunes all Deadheads know.
“Me and My Uncle,” written by John Phillips, and “Cassidy,” penned by Weir and John Barlow.
Something tells me it won't be the last Bob Weir tribute this year.
Hopefully they will grow even larger than just a pair of crowd-pleasers at the end of a great gig.
Billy continues to travel through North America with stops at the Ryman Auditorium,
Tix available (if you're lucky) on Billy's website.
Billy Strings Winter Tour 2026
2/13-2/14 ExploreAsheville.com Arena, Asheville, NC
2/20-2/21 Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
2/22 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
2/28 Opry House, Nashville, TN
4/02-4/04 The St. Augustine Amphitheatre, St. Augustine, FL
4/08 Benchmark International Arena, Tampa, FL
4/10-4/11 Enmarket Arena, Savannah, GA
4/14 First Horizon Coliseum, Greensboro, NC
4/17-4/18 John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, VA
4/22 Charleston Coliseum, Charleston, WV
4/24-4/26 Fishers Event Center, Fishers, IN
