Billy Strings Debuts “King of California” Cover and New Original on Outlaw Music Festival Tour
Photo credit: Stevo Rood
Over the weekend, Billy Strings joined forces with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and more to set off the West Coast leg of the 2025 Outlaw Music Festival tour. After commencing the eight-stop series on Thursday, May 15 by welcoming mandolin master Sierra Hull on “Southern Flavor” and “Psycho,” the road warrior and bluegrass pathbreaker met lofty expectations on Friday and Sunday, May 16 and 18, with live debuts of a setting-appropriate Dave Alvin standard and a new original.
For the start to his Friday staging at Los Angeles’ famed Hollywood Bowl, Strings lit up his long-burning Willie Nelson co-write “California Sober.” From this stilling introduction, the artist raced ahead into a set of live essentials, highlighted by peaks like a freewheeling transition from “Malfunction Junction” into “Ole Slew Foot,” his Doc Watson-inspired spin on “Summertime,” “Hellbender,” “Heartbeat of America” and the recent favorite “In the Clear.” Following renditions of “Richard Petty” and “Uncle Pen” that drew intimacy and gravity from the band’s move to encircle a single mic at center stage, Strings set into the first-ever public performance of “I’m One of Those,” a new brand new original that led the way into the set-closing “Turmoil & Tinfoil.”
Strings commenced his Sunday set at Wheatland, Calif.’s Toyota Amphitheatre with a powerful, fast-moving rendition of “The Train that Carried My Girl from Town” that carried the bandleader and his backing quartet into “Black Mountain Rag.” Billy and the band kept the crowd on their toes with a fake-out intro to “Pyramid Song” that bridged the gap between “Likes of Me” and “Secrets,” then found an early improvisation apex in a medley of “Fire Line” and “End of the Rainbow” at the set’s midpoint. The band pulled back to leave Strings in the spotlight for solo takes on “Country Blues” on banjo and “Matty Groves” on guitar, then the outfit reunited for a fitting live debut of Dave Alvin’s “King of California.”
Strings will return to the stage tonight for the Outlaw Music Festival’s stop at Nampa, Idaho’s Fort Idaho Center Arena. He’ll join the revue for three further stagings through May 25, then speed off into his summer touring. Find tickets and more information at billystrings.com/#tour.
Read on for the full setlists from the weekend.
Billy Strings
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
5/16/25
Set: California Sober, Pretty Daughter, Malfunction Junction, Ole Slew Foot, Summertime, Hellbender, Heartbeat of America, Sally Johnson, In the Clear, Richard Petty+, Uncle Pen+, I’m One Of Those*, Turmoil & Tinfoil
Notes:
+ Around single mic
* FTP – Original
Billy Strings
Toyota Amphitheatre – Wheatland, Calif.
5/18/25
Set: The Train That Carried My Girl From Town, Black Mountain Rag, While I’m Waiting Here, Likes Of Me, Secrets&, Love and Regret, Escanaba, Fire Line, End Of The Rainbow, Country Blues#, Matty Groves^, King of California%, Gone A Long Time
Notes:
& “Pyramid Country” fake-out intro
# Billy Strings solo on clawhammer banjo
^ Billy Strings solo on guitar
% FTP – Dave Alvin
Setlists via billybase.net
