Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will issue Boots 3: The Hickory Show on February 12 via Acony Records. Taped by Bill Bost and Rawlings, the live album captures the duo’s September 27, 1997, stop at Hickory, NC’s Acoustic Stage at the Arts and Science Center Auditorium. Recordings of the show have circulated in bootleg form for years, documenting a pivotal period between the release of Welch’s debut album, Revival and her sophomore set Hell Among The Yearlings. The September 27, 1997, show took place in an intimate 400-seat theater, showcasing the duo’s two-guitar, two-voices, four-microphone approach.
In an album announce statement Welch shared, “Our singing and our playing on that recording is razor focused, whereas now, I hear a greater breadth of what we’ve done for years. It makes me a tiny bit wistful, I hear it and I’m like ‘Oh, I remember that. That’s all we could do.’ But I love it, and we did it with every ounce of our being.”
Rawlings added, “It’s only at truly great shows that you’re relaxed enough, and that the sound is good enough, that you can actually be exploring stuff that you’re working on in real time in front of an audience.”
Along with announcing the project, Welch and Rawlings have shared their first two tracks from the record, “Tear My Stillhouse Down” and their cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho & Lefty.” Welch explained, “One of the most extraordinary things about the Hickory show, and it’s present in the version of ‘Pancho and Lefty,’ is, even though we play that song and we’ve never played it and we don’t know what we’re doing, I don’t really detect any fear. We’re very comfortable and, alright, this solo is gonna be really long because we don’t know how else to get out of it, and we just do it, there’s a strange maturity that in some ways were only just coming back around to.”
In the coming weeks, Welch and Rawlings will return to the road, offering a mix of proper headlining dates and new installments in their Grateful Dead Reckoning tribute series. They will also appear at Bill Kreutzmann’s A Very Grateful Thanksgiving shows.
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings- Boots No. 3: The Hickory Show Track Listing
Volume 1
1 Tear My Stillhouse Down (The Hickory Show)
2 Saginaw Way (The Hickory Show)
3 Ben Dewberry’s Final Run (The Hickory Show)
4 Barroom Girls (The Hickory Show)
5 Wichita (The Hickory Show)
6 Pancho And Lefty (The Hickory Show)
7 One More Dollar (The Hickory Show)
8 My Morphine (The Hickory Show)
9 Red Clay Halo (The Hickory Show)
10 Bright Morning Star (The Hickory Show)
11 Leaving Train (The Hickory Show)
12 Annabelle (The Hickory Show)
Volume 2
13 Tennessee Stud (The Hickory Show)
14 Paper Wings (The Hickory Show)
15 By The Mark (The Hickory Show)
16 Dusty Boxcar Wall (The Hickory Show)
17 Only One And Only (The Hickory Show)
18 Diamond Joe (The Hickory Show)
19 Acony Bell (The Hickory Show)
20 Caleb Meyer (The Hickory Show)
21 Orphan Girl (The Hickory Show)
22 Albuquerque (The Hickory Show)
23 White Freightliner Blues (The Hickory Show)
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings Tour Dates
Sat, Dec 12, 2026 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre*
Sun, Dec 13, 2026 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre*
Tue, Dec 15, 2026 – Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater*
Wed, Dec 16, 2026 – Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater*
Thu, Dec 17, 2026 – Ithaca, NY – State Theatre*
Fri, Dec 18, 2026 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre*
Sun, Jan 17,2027 – Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live
Mon, Jan 18,2027 – Fort Lauderdale, FL - The Parker
Tue, Jan 19,2027 – Clearwater, FL - Bilheimer Capitol Theatre
Sat Jan 16, 2027 – 30A Songwriter's Festival – Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Mon Feb 8, 2027 – Regal Theatre – Perth, WA, Australia
Tue Feb 9, 2027 – Regal Theatre – Perth, WA, Australia
Thu Feb 11, 2027 – Albert Hall – Launceston, TAS, Australia
Fri Feb 12, 2027 – Forth Pub – Forth, TAS, Australia
Sat Feb 13, 2027 – The Paragon Theatre – Queenstown, TAS, Australia
Sun Feb 14, 2027 – Odeon Theatre – Hobart, TAS, Australia
Mon Feb 15, 2027 – Odeon Theatre – Hobart, TAS, Australia
Wed Feb 17, 2027 – The Civic – Auckland, New Zealand
Thu Feb 18, 2027 – BNZ Theatre – Hamilton, New Zealand
Fri Feb 19, 2027 – TSB Showplace – New Plymouth, New Zealand
Sat Feb 20, 2027 – Michael Fowler Centre – Wellington, New Zealand
Tue Feb 23, 2027 – Christchurch Town Hall – Christchurch, New Zealand
April 1- 4, 2027 – Big Ears Festival – Knoxville, TN*
(*) Grateful Dead Acoustic Reckoning Tour Dates
