Happy Grammy Awards week.
In honor of the esteemed awards this Sunday and the incredible country music and bluegrass artists nominated this year, I thought it would be fun to walk down memory lane.
Billy Strings took home Best Bluegrass Album during the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, and this year, for the 66th Grammy Awards, Strings could take home three awards at the end of the night. Strings has pioneered modernizing the bluegrass sound, bringing the genre to a younger audience of listeners and taking it to massive crowds throughout his arena tours.
While I hope that one day we get justice for the genre and they start announcing bluegrass and smaller Americana/Folk categories during the show’s streaming, at least we have performances from bluegrass royalty to look back on. During the 64th Grammy Awards, Strings and his band took to a Las Vegas rooftop for a killer seven-minute performance.
Many viewers were disappointed because only a snippet of Strings’ (nearly eight-minute) performance was shown during the evening broadcast.
On the rooftop in Las Vegas, shaggy-haired Strings showed the world that they needed to keep an eye on him with his performance of “Hide And Seek.” Like any of his other performances, he is dialed in from the first pick of his guitar. His fingers move up and down the guitar neck like lightning, and his band follows along with every pick.
Watching this performance and seeing how much Strings’ showmanship has grown is impressive. Although his talent has been unbridled from day one, he has grown into his skin and lets it show on stage today.
Nonetheless, this performance is killer, and the Grammy Awards would have done bluegrass right by showcasing this full performance.
I am very excited to see what Strings walks away with after the awards show on Sunday. The bluegrass genre is stacked with incredible nominations, showing that if bluegrass continues to grow the way it has, the category will become just as cutthroat as the pop categories.
For fun, check out his 2022 red carpet interview, where he talks about his pre-stage rituals.
