BILLY STRINGS
Likely the biggest bluegrass-bred star to earn crossover success since San Diego’s Nickel Creek, Grammy Award-winning guitarist, singer and band leader Billy Strings has made dramatic strides since his 2018 San Diego gig at the 230-capacity Soda Bar. How dramatic? He’s performing here Saturday and Sunday at SDSU’s 4,800-seat amphitheater, where his first show sold out so quickly a few months ago that a second was quickly added. Born William Apostol, the 30-year-old Strings has been embraced by the bluegrass, jam-band and country-music worlds. His growing list of collaborators range from Willie Nelson, Bela Fleck and Molly Tuttle to Dierks Bentley, erstwhile San Diego troubadour Steve Poltz and Grateful Dead co-founder Bill Kreutzmann. Strings and his band are adept at both traditional bluegrass and the “newgrass” style pioneered in the the 1970s by the Sam Bush-led New Grass Revival and the David Grisman Quintet (whose fleet 1977 instrumental “E.M.D.” is no stranger to Strings’ concert set lists). He and his four-man group draw from a deep well, as evidenced by their choice cover version of classics by Bill Monroe, Led Zeppelin, Doc Watson, Pink Floyd, The Delmore Brothers, Bob Dylan, Ralph Stanley, Pearl Jam and more. The 2022 Americana Music Awards Artist of the Year winner, Strings also earned the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year Award in 2019 and its Entertainer of the Year Award its 2021 and 2022. Each generation of listeners deserves gateway artists to breathe new life into weathered traditions and illuminate the musical ties that bind. For millennials and gen Zers, Billy Strings is a near-perfect fit. Long may he run. 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Cal Coast Open Air Theatre at SDSU, 5500 Campanile Drive. $59.50-$64.50 Sunday (Saturday’s show is sold out). ticketmaster.com