Concert review: Billy Strings wows crowd in opener of three-night St. Augustine run

Somewhere out there is a place where country, bluegrass, jazz and rock all come together, and Billy Strings is building a house right there on the corner.

Strings, who played the first of three sold-out nights at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Friday, is too country for country. He's probably best categorized as bluegrass — his band has a stand-up bass, banjo and mandolin, but no drums. But even that doesn't really fit, largely because of Strings' out-of-this-world guitar playing.

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He played the same guitar all night, an acoustic Preston Thompson Dreadnought model. And sometimes it sounded like an acoustic guitar. But then Strings would step on one of the effects pedals at his feet and everything would change. Close your eyes and you'd swear you were hearing Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana, Roy Clark, Jeff Beck, Chet Atkins, Jimi Hendrix and a "Star Wars" blaster battle, all on the same song. Remarkably it all came from an acoustic guitar. Some of Strings' solos were jazzy, others spacey or downright metal, but almost all of them were blazingly fast. He played in rock and metal bands as a teen, and it shows.

Just when you were picking your jaw up off the floor, he'd seamlessly hand the solo off to banjo ace Billy Failing or Florida-raised mandolinist Jarrod Walker, either of whom can keep the crowd bouncing until it is Strings' turn to take off again. Walker, Failing and bass player Royal Mast kept things on track, providing the percussion just by striking their strings when not soloing. The band would go on instrumental jams, swapping off and going on and on until, when they got back to the chorus, you'd almost forgotten what they were playing.

Strings, the reigning International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainer of the Year, sold out three nights at the same venue last year, one of the first shows back as the pandemic began to fade. "There's nothing like having your friends here, all in one place," Strings told the crowd midway through the evening's first set.

Friday night, the amphitheater was as full as it ever gets, with people all the way up in the bleachers on a lovely, slightly breezy night. The crowd was on its feet throughout the night, from the opening notes of "Dust in a Baggie." People were square-dancing in the standing-room pit near the front of the stage during some of the faster numbers.

Strings and his band played songs from Bob Dylan ("I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine," appropriately enough), Bill Monroe, Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Doc and Merle Watson and the Stanley Brothers. No one has managed to take that kind of music to the masses the way Strings has over the last few years. Even if it isn't your thing, you can't help but admire how well Strings and his band play it.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Billy Strings plays bluegrass in overdrive at St. Augustine concert