The Incredible Billy Strings Show in Montana I Got Kicked Out Of
Billy Strings is so good, so transcendent, and so transformational for American music right now, it really is hard to put it into words. Forget enjoying the music with the enhancement of psychedelics, even stone sober, Billy Strings and his band can take your mind places otherwise inaccessible under normal circumstances, opening up portals of enjoyment and understanding that is nothing short of life-altering, and in ways that perhaps have never been experienced in the entire pantheon of music before, at least in such vibrant and enriching ways.
And yet, his music is still so tethered and supportive of the roots of bluegrass and country music, it leaves one invaluably inspired by the idea that the traditions of human fingers impressing themselves on wood and wire to make sound will remain relevant well into the digital age, if not eternally. Billy Strings is not just a transformational artist to bluegrass, country, and roots music overall, or to music in general. He is doing things that rival or top all forms of creative human expression.
No doubt, the jam band elements are there in the Billy Strings experience as well. This was certainly evident during Billy’s performance at Under The Big Sky Fest in Montana on Sunday, July 14th to cap off the three day event. There is no recollection of Bill Monroe or Flatt & Scruggs breaking out into Cher’s “Believe,” or the equivalent of their era. But Billy’s performance was more bluegrass standards than otherwise, found it’s most enrapturing moments sharing the stage with Zach Top and trading licks on the old standard “Freeborn Man,” playing an extended version of John Hartford’s “All Fall Down,” and finishing with a murder ballad.
Billy Strings also shared the stage with Sierra Ferrell to perform “One Loaf of Bread” and Cher’s aforementioned “Believe.” Seeing brilliant artists collaborating together enhanced the Billy Strings experience even more. Billy Strings at Under The Big Sky Fest in 2024 was one of those performances that was so good, so enlightening, and so reinvigorating, it almost leaves you depressed since you know you may never reach those same heights again.
From this attendee’s perspective, it was the most fulfilling musical moments experienced since the return of the Turnpike Troubadours at Cain’s Ballroom in 2022. This was even after I was hunted down by security, and forcibly removed from the show halfway through the second song for taking photographs, which I was doing so respectfully, and had every right to do.
Let’s not be over-dramatic here. I was not injured. I was not arrested or detained for an extended period. The security guard named B.J. did put his hands on me immediately, forcibly shoved me in the direction he wanted me to go, refused to engage in any rational conversation, and ultimately, ejected me from a portion of the festival I had every right to be in and the credentials for, and told me to leave.
Before anything else, I want to emphatically underscore that this was not the fault of Under The Big Sky Festival, or of Billy Strings personally. Both the publicists and the owner of Under The Big Sky reached out to me personally to apologize after they heard about the incident, and agreed with my assessment that the security guard was completely in the wrong. Even if it had been decided that I was not allowed to take photos from the location I was at (which I was), they should have requested I put my camera away, not forcibly removed me from the area.
And of course, Billy String himself has more important things to worry about than who or who isn’t allowed where, who or who can’t shoot photographs and where, or who is hired to do security.
More than anyone else, this is the security guard’s fault. He had no cause to kick me out, and was not just ill-informed about the rules in place, but refused to even have a conversation about the situation. After the incident, and after pulling up text messages and emails confirming the information and what I had been told by my contacts at the festival, I located the security guard once again. Wanting to be pragmatic, I tried to explain the situation to him citing the documentation I had. He refused, told me how long he’d been working in the business, and volunteered up, “My name’s B.J., you can tell everyone.”
But moreover, the deeper issue was the photo restriction that had been put in place for the Billy Strings set. This is what stimulated the misunderstanding, and ultimately, my forced ejection.
For those that may be unaware, at most major festivals, concerts, and events, there is an area just in front of the stage referred to as “the pit.” This is where photographers are often allowed to shoot close up pictures and capture other media of performers so they don’t have to fight through the audience or get in the audience’s way of enjoying the show.
It is common for photographers to be allowed to shoot from the pit for the first three songs of a performance, though sometimes they can shoot from this vantage point for longer. And sometimes, management of an artist restricts photographers from shooting from the pit at all, or may only allow certain photographers or outlets access to the pit, or won’t allow anyone to shoot photography at all.
In the case of Billy Strings, a photo release form was sent to me the day of his performance enumerating certain restrictions to shoot him. As photo releases sometimes go, it wasn’t the most restrictive I have seen, but it asked for some unreasonable things. Along with restricting photography to the pit for the first three songs, it also said that I could only use five photographs from the set, that those photographs had to be approved by Billy’s team before publication, and that you couldn’t take any photographs from other vantage points, including out in the crowd, for the entirety of the performance without express permission and accompaniment from Billy Strings management.
It is completely unreasonable to ask professional journalists or photographers to not capture media from the crowd during a performance when every single concert attendee has a 4K video camera on their phone. Basically, you are being restricted BECAUSE you have been screened and credentialed as a photographer/journalist when John Q Public can snap away at will. It is especially unreasonable when you are going to have the kind of major collaborations transpire during a performance like we saw during the Billy Strings set with Sierra Ferrell and Zach Top sitting in.
Capturing those collaborations and moments is what Saving Country Music is there to do. That is why I drove 2,000 miles from Texas to be at Under The Big Sky Fest, to chronicle those crowning moments of the event and share them with the public. Billy Strings may get no benefit from them because he’s already at the arena level. But Sierra Ferrell, Zach Top, and Under The Big Sky Festival most certainly do, will, and have. It would be an irresponsible dereliction of duty to not capture the most important moments of a festival because I’ve signed my name to a piece of paper legally restricting me from doing so.
So I did not the sign contract, which meant I had no access to the photo pit for Billy Strings. But it was my understanding that I could still stand out in the crowd and shoot photos, since I wasn’t agreeing to the restictions for pit access. This very same scenario also came up at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June, which Billy Strings opened. We were also told then that we couldn’t shoot from the pit without signing the contract, but could shoot him from the crowd. In that instance, photographers weren’t even told about the restriction until Billy had walked out on stage. So nobody signed it. There wasn’t time.
I always have, and always will follow the rules as they are presented to me, even if I happen to disagree with them. For example, I was told that there was no photography whatsoever for Miranda Lambert. So I shot no photography of Miranda Lambert. However, this exposes the ludicrous nature of the restriction of not being able to take any media from the crowd.
During Miranda Lambert’s set, there was a moment where she chided some people in the audience for not paying attention to the show. I witnessed this moment first-hand. I couldn’t capture it, because I was restricted from doing so, nor did I feel like it was in any way newsworthy as an event, because I could contextualize it from actually being there and experiencing it first-hand.
However Billboard, People Magazine, Us Weekly, LA Times, Whiskey Riff, and other outlets that had no reporters on the ground ran stories about the moment using fan shot video taken on a phone. This means as a journalist, photo releases like the one presented to me by Billy Strings—or photo moratoriums like the one from Miranda Lambert—restrict the media from covering events they are on the ground to witness, while other outlets can sit at home, snarf up fan shot media, and make stories from it out-of-context. This is a complete aberration of journalism.
Incidentally, this ultimately resulted in arguably bad PR for Miranda. As I explained in my recap of the Under The Big Sky Fest, some of the audience seemed disengaged during Miranda’s set. That was the real story behind the moment. Isolating the moment itself was just uninformed clickbait.
Furthermore, no artist or publicist should have the right to make editorial decisions over what photos or media independent journalists are allowed to use. Journalists and photographers should always be courteous to artists, events, and venues and make sure they are being respectful and discreet when capturing media. The three song rule in the pit is very reasonable. Restricting access to the pit is reasonable because that is the space where you closely interact with the performers. Sharing all media with the artists and their representatives is also reasonable. Relinquishing editorial control over that media, and not allowing the media to capture moments from the crowd is not.
Speaking of capturing Billy Strings in concert, let’s just look at the history of Billy Strings and Saving Country Music.
This was the first photo I ever shot of Billy Strings:
This photo was shot in early August of 2017 at the Pickathon Festival outside of Portland, OR—seven years ago. At this time, those deeply embedded in the bluegrass scene knew who Billy Strings was, but that’s about as far as it went. His publicist and manger specifically reached out to me and wanted me to see and cover Billy. It was at Pickathon a couple of years before where Sturgill Simpson first blew up, in part because of Saving Country Music’s reporting on him.
The next time I covered/photographed Billy Strings was in 2018 during SXSW. If there were 50 people in the audience at the small cantina on east 6th street where I saw him, I’ll eat my hat. He was still scandalously under-the-radar, but Saving Country Music was on the beat, singing his praises, and trying to raise awareness.
A month later in April of 2018, Billy Strings played the side stage in a midday slot at the Old Settlers Festival just outside of Austin. Saving Country Music said at the time after naming Strings the #2 best live act in country music:
“We’re living in a moment where a young, up-and-coming former bluegrass prodigy might be the very best thing going in all of country and roots music. Many won’t give this the proper due because they believe bluegrass is too niche, and the ceiling is so low in the genre compared to country proper. But if you’re looking for the singer, songwriter, and player that could parallel what we witnessed Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell do over the last few years, Billy Strings very well may be your answer.”
The next time I saw Strings was in September of 2019 at AmericanaFest. He played at the Cannery complex in Nashville, likely for a stipend of $150. Buzz was finally starting to form behind him, but he was still playing club level venues.
By the time I saw Billy Strings headlining Under The Big Sky Fest in 2021, it was all starting to happen for him. Coming out of the pandemic, Billy Strings would become one of the biggest acts in all of American music.
Billy Strings doesn’t need Saving Country Music or the media anymore. This website is nothing but a stepping stone. But who does still need support from the media is Sierra Ferrell and Zach Top, who greatly benefited from appearing on the stage with Strings at Under The Big Sky Fest. That is why it was so important to capture those moments and share them in real time.
Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, Kaitlin Butts, Pony Bradshaw, The Castellows, Denim Gold, and other Under The Big Sky performers can all now say they shared a bill with Billy Strings thanks to Under The Big Sky Fest, and will make new fans and gain name recognition from the Strings fans who showed up as saw their shows, or interacted with the media published online.
While other outlets snarfed fan shot video from Under The Big Sky from the Billy Strings set to create buzzy media, Saving Country Music was on the ground, while also showing up early to watch the local sets and opening sets of the festival, and shared those experiences in print and on social media too. One of those early acts could be the next Billy Strings. That’s what Billy Strings was when he played Pickathon in 2017.
– – – – – –
I returned to the main stage area about half way through the Billy Strings set at Under The Big Sky, after the dust had settled from being kicked out. I never re-entered the section I had been kicked out of, nor went anywhere near the front of the stage, nor did I ever use my camera. I stood at the sound board area, which many photo releases designate as a far enough distance from the stage to take photographs.
I did pull out my phone, took some still photos and some snippets of video just as hundreds, perhaps thousands of patrons were doing. At that point, I was covering Billy Strings as a fan, not a journalist since I had already kicked out as one. It was always my intention to honor the spirit of the photo restrictions, even if I didn’t sign the contract.
The issue here ultimately was an ill-informed and aggressive member of security. But it was also the photo restriction that set the table for the experience I had during the Billy Strings set. And from my understanding, I was not the only one. Someone else was physically removed after me for taking photographs. This is unacceptable behavior of how to handle professional photographers and journalists. Many photographers don’t have the proper platforms to share their experiences. Saving Country Music does.
Billy Strings is not the only performer who places restrictions on photographers. Among ’90s country starts such as Dwight Yoakam, Clint Black, Sara Evans, Martina McBride, etc., it’s the going practice. Many put those restrictions in place in the ’90s, and never lifted them, or augmented them to the new reality of smartphones. When all you have is amateur photography and video being shared from these performances as opposed to curated and professional media, it makes the artist look worse, not better.
Also, so many artists, venues, and events have their own media teams now, taking photos and videos. More and more, they are using this as an excuse to restrict independent media from taking photos and video. But this takes out the independent aspect of media being a disinterested 3rd party covering an event objectively. If they are either getting fed media by the event or artist, or are unable to share their own, this creates a dependency on their event or artist they’re tasked to cover.
It’s strange that in the Grateful Dead tradition, Billy Strings is all about sharing, uploading and archiving all of his live shows in full. Yet for some reason, someone taking photographs at one of these shows is restricted, or in certain instances, forbidden. Though it’s unlikely Strings even knows about any of this, let alone signed off on it.
Again, too much could be made of the situation, and it probably shouldn’t be. And it’s certainly not the fault of Billy Strings, or Under The Big Sky Fest. Ultimately, I got to see a majority of the show. I chose to not escalate the situation in real time, though in hindsight, I probably should have. Instead of complying, I should have offered dead weight, told them I wasn’t going anywhere, that I am a journalist and had a right to be in that space, and to take photos. But I didn’t want to disrupt the concert. Because that what good journalists and photographers make sure to never do.
– – – – – – –
Honoring the Billy Strings limit of five photos (including the one of Billy at the top), here are photos of Billy’s bandmate and nothing more. For more photos and video from Under The Big Sky Fest and other live events, follow Saving Country Music on Instagram.
July 18, 2024 @ 12:19 pm
Man, that is wild.
I’d rather a venue/artist have a no camera (phone) policy on attendees than credentialed media, but that may be just me.
It’s also kind of hilarious that it caused such an issue. Last time I saw Strings, it felt like half the crowd was already tripping balls before they showed up and the other half were chain smoking joints in the arena with kids around. Great show though, got “Away from the Mire” and “While I’m Waiting Here”, so I felt blessed by the setlist gods.
July 18, 2024 @ 1:13 pm
I can actually respect if an artist or venue wants to use phone bags to keep people from recording stuff or causing a distraction as long as everyone involved is willing to comply and knows this from the beginning. At a 25,000-capacity outdoor festival, this is a little unreasonable.
I also think concertgoers should be judicious with the use of their phones. Be in the moment. But I also see the value of sharing portions of their experience. This is how buzz is created behind artists, by a groundswell of folks sharing their musical experiences.
There were definitely a lot more “illegal” things going on in that field than me taking photos, though marijuana is now legal in Montana.
July 19, 2024 @ 7:36 am
My first like that was last year, Bob Dylan at Denver’ Buell Theater. I just opted to leave my phone in the car so not to bother with the bag deal, and thankfully there wasn’t any lag on folks getting in with it. Overall it was refreshing, to look out and not see little lights or folks distracted. Everyone had to actually talk to each other! But that was just a 2800 seat venue so doable…
July 19, 2024 @ 10:10 am
TOOL accomplishes the no phone policy in arenas no problem. And if you do take it out because you don’t know if the policy, you will immediately be heckled by the fans behind you to put it away, followed by a warning by security.
July 18, 2024 @ 12:26 pm
Sorry to hear you had to deal with all that bs. Some security guards think they’re the state police and want to show their authority.
You kind of answered my question, do you think Billy or most other artists are very aware of the restrictions or is it mainly dealt with by their media people. I’m sure some artists like having control over it all, I’d assume some just leave it up to their management. Crazy to think nowadays professional musicians worried about someone taking too many pictures. Thanks.
July 18, 2024 @ 1:22 pm
I don’t think Billy Strings has anything to do with this. Billy comes from the Grateful Dead camp of share everything, allow it all to be shared, upload it all, let everyone participate. The idea that you can go and listen to pretty much all of his concerts on archive.org, and subscribers can get everything from Nugs.net, but some dude with a camera shooting still photos is a problem is pretty crazy.
Billy Strings is a big deal with a huge team around him. Often when artists get a certain size, lawyers, publicists, managers, etc. come in and start implementing all kinds of policies to protect them. And part of the policy is to make sure that photographers aren’t bothering either Billy or attendees at events, which is an important one.
But Billy needs to worry about the setlist for the next show. The people around him need to worry about if they’re respecting the spirit of his music.
July 18, 2024 @ 7:27 pm
I’m glad you replied to this comment. Because this kind of aggressive, restrictive, policy doesn’t match Billy Strings’ concert experience.
I think Strings can still benefit from SCM coverage. One reason I asked you to cover his two concerts in Pittsburgh back in December was to debunk the dismissive, hippy jam band label that many of the commenters like to leave every time you publish Strings articles. Those people have never attended a Strings show and are missing out. That’s why I wrote an article that focused heavily on his bluegrass influences to try and change a few SCM minds.
The same thing you accomplished by reporting on those viral Zach Top and Sierra Ferrell collaborations at Under The Big Sky.
I am sorry this happened to you, especially since you’ve been so good to the Under The Big Sky festival for years covering the local acts and propping up the region. I hope next year you are issued an exclusive media pass that makes an overly aggressive security guard think twice before acting in such a manner.
Last year, because of your coverage of Under The Big Sky, I became a Hogslop fan. But, I didn’t know they released a new song with Sierra Ferrell until I read your previously published recap.
I’ve also become a fan of The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys due to your coverage earlier in the year of Telluride.
Your coverage of these festivals are very important for your readers who can’t attend them. It puts artists on your reader’s radar and sells tickets for these artists when they tour through your reader’s towns.
One final note, it seems Zach Bryan and Billy Strings are in a race to see who could create the most viral concert moments this year (even creating their own together in Columbus, OH). For a while, every time I opened TikTok, there was Zach Bryan with Jason Isbell singing “King of Oklahoma” or Bryan with Bruce Springsteen having an all night revival. Lately, it’s been Strings is matching Bryan’s moments.
July 18, 2024 @ 9:13 pm
“One reason I asked you to cover his two concerts in Pittsburgh back in December was to debunk the dismissive, hippy jam band label that many of the commenters like to leave every time you publish Strings articles. Those people have never attended a Strings show and are missing out. That’s why I wrote an article that focused heavily on his bluegrass influences to try and change a few SCM minds.”
Feel that a lot of us here truly appreciate your perspective, Hoptown.
Trig, Brush yourself off.
Stand tall.
July 18, 2024 @ 12:26 pm
The security guy probably knew you hadn’t signed the agreement for that artist, which is why they pulled you during that. I imagine if you didn’t sign the agreement for Billy Strings, they didn’t want you photographing him as a pro photographer anywhere. They probably need to put on their contract that if you don’t sign, you can’t take professional pictures at all during his set.
July 18, 2024 @ 1:43 pm
The contract was unnecessarily ambiguous in places, and that in part is what led to the conflict. I was not in the pit. I was in an area that I was allowed to be in with the rest of the crowd.
“Professional pictures” is pretty much a meaningless term in 2024. My outdated, high-end consumer grade Nikon d3500 that I shoot all concerts with is dramatically less “professional” with its capabilities than my iPhone 15. The only reason I continue to use it is because it is slightly easier to frame shots with it and take shots faster, and it signals to everyone that yes, I am actually a photographer as opposed to a dude with a phone.
There is definitely a skill and a profession at taking photos. But in 2024, everyone has professional photography equipment. You just aren’t going to restrict that.
July 18, 2024 @ 1:48 pm
I can agree with you that it’s arbitrary in 2024 to restrict pro photos when cell phones can do almost the same, but the security wasn’t thinking about that, he was thinking about seeing a guy with a big pro size camera shooting a set when he was probably told no pro photographers outside of the pit in that set.
Also, there are nuances in concert photography that you do notice the difference with. Like the lights almost always screw with your shot but on a DSLR, they can process that a lot better.
July 18, 2024 @ 2:06 pm
I understand what the security guard was thinking. But…
1. He was wrong.
2. Even if he was right, he had no cause to put his hands on me and physically move me like I was a drunk beating on my girlfriend, and eventually eject me from an area i had the right to be in.
3. Even after the situation was diffused, refused to have a conversation and deal with the situation pragmatically so I didn’t have to write and article about it for savingcountrymusic.com.
July 18, 2024 @ 2:55 pm
The security guard is clearly another small-dicked gatekeeper who was likely bullied when he was younger and has an overinflated sense of his place in the “music business.”
Clowns like this are nothing new.
I once dealt with a gatekeeper years ago when I was taking my dad to meet his hero, George Jones. When Nancy (Jones) saw me, she waved off Mr. Tiny Pecker and took Dad back to meet George (and had George sign his stuff that the gatekeeper said he couldn’t get signed).
On to the next cool thing, Kyle.
July 19, 2024 @ 5:55 pm
That security guard should sign up with the secret service, they could have used him in Butler PA last weekend
July 21, 2024 @ 4:24 pm
Did you consider asking to speak to his supervisor?
July 21, 2024 @ 4:46 pm
Only after I went into Whitefish to get a Karen haircut.
Actually I think he was the supervisor.
July 18, 2024 @ 12:36 pm
I’m sure you were fuming mad at the time but you did the right thing by not disrupting the show for anyone else. Sucks this happened to you but it’s a good lesson on how to handle a shitty situation with class and not ruin anyone else’s experience. Your write-ups have been a fun read and you definitely experienced some amazing moments. I hope after writing this article you are able to let it go and only remember what a great festival this was overall.
July 18, 2024 @ 12:40 pm
Could you please explain to me the logic, from the artist’s perspective, of putting these types of restrictions in place? I mean, I get that Billy Strings doesn’t need Saving Country Music anymore. But I can’t understand why any artist would want to restrict this type of publicity.
I understand that photos can be taken out of context, but that’s true no matter what you do. If there are certain media outlets that they know skew things to purposely make the artist look bad, then ban those particular venues; I really do fail to see how the artist can gain from putting such restrictive rules in place.
July 18, 2024 @ 1:53 pm
Publicists want to control the narrative. That is their job. Unfortunately, some publicists want to control it too much, and in my opinion, those publicists often do a disservice to their clients. By not allowing journalists to cover Miranda Lambert’s set, it was instead covered by the public with their phones, and that did not work out for her.
Right now a lot of this is being driven by how Billy Strings and most any artist at the club headliner level is going to have a full-time individual or team creating social media content for them. An artist’s team want a monopoly on that content, because they want you following the artist’s social media, not an independent journalist who isn’t going to always follow the narrative the publicist wants you to see. So they restrict access to the media so they can control everything you see about that artist.
However, this stamps down on buzz. If you see something awesome from an artist, you know they’re painting the picture they want you to see. If you see it coming from me, you know it’s my honest truth, because if I don’t like something, I’m going to say that as well.
July 18, 2024 @ 1:05 pm
As Trig well knows, I’ve been photographing musicians for years. I’ve been published various places including a print magazine, that I wrote many feature articles for, and subsequently reviewed various festivals and music events. I’ve had identical issues that mirror what Trig described. One time in particular, I was photographing a music legend with press pass from the pit. After the three allowable songs, we were dismissed from the pit area by security staff, no problem. Then things went wrong. I had a complimentary ticket to be there and as I decided to take in the rest of the show, I walked to the lawn area where I was allowed to be. I had packed up my camera, and had zero intentions of photographing anymore, and had the gear in a pack on my shoulder. I simply sat down on the lawn in the crowd. A hyper- spazzed overly aggressive security guy ran at me like I was some sort of threat, got in my face screaming at me like I was a criminal, which created a scene. I attempted to explain, my position, I had a legit ticket to the event in general admission, I also had a press pass. I even told the guy I was done shooting and simply wanted to enjoy the show. He wasn’t having any of it. I had to be escorted like a criminal to the exit gate and do a walk of shame. Wow. So much for any appreciation of favorable coverage. The lower level people who worked for the promoter, reported me , made a formal complaint to the media outlet I was shooting for and banned me permanently from that venue. Good stuff.
So ridiculous this happened to Kyle. Perplexing why someone as seemingly cool as Strings would even have a strict photo policy. I understand the Taylor Swifts of the world where image and appearance are everything, and they are paranoid of a bad photo getting out. I get that. My response, is you end up shooting a lot of images rapid fire and nobody ever sees my bad ones. I always make an artist look good in my published photos, it’s the right thing to do. I’ve found in general that more niche less popular genres of music, are usually better opportunities to photograph. The artists are hungry for positive press. Many artists here at SCM fit that bill.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had very rewarding experiences doing this over the years, and that’s kept me going.
Kyle’s skill level has noticeably increased over the years and he’s bringing us enviable photos, that any artist would appreciate, so a promoter or publicist would be a fool to interfere with his work flow. SCM is a great platform that is doing more than any others focused on Country music.
July 18, 2024 @ 2:02 pm
If I post a bad photo from an artist, that looks bad on me just as much as it does on the artist. I would never do that intentionally. Sometimes when working at a festival, people wonder, “Why didn’t you post a photo of so and so?” Sometimes it’s because I didn’t get a good one.
I could share other war stories of having been hassled by security. The reason this one graduated to the next level is because just like you, it wasn’t just about taking photographs, they decided to kick me out when I had every right to be there. At some point it raises to the level of targeting photographers and journalists. And that’s a problem.
July 19, 2024 @ 9:44 am
“If I post a bad photo from an artist, that looks bad on me just as much as it does on the artist. I would never do that intentionally.”
Absolutely! I’ve been photographing musicians for a dozen years now, and I take pride in what I post.
While I understand that “bad” is a subjective term, nonetheless I’m sometimes puzzled by what some folks call “bad”. For instance, I get that the purpose of the “first three songs” rule is to have the photos taken when the artist is still freshly coiffed and hasn’t worked up a sweat. But so often the best photos of a show–the ones that make people say “wow!”–are gotten during the finale. The finale, in a good show, is not just the last song played. It’s when the artist pulls out all the stops.
July 19, 2024 @ 12:19 pm
Fat Freddie, so true! Honestly if I could have my way, I’d save the photographing for the encores. That’s when you get the energy and the expressiveness. First three, are normally more sedate. Stand behind the mic and stare wooden like at the audience. Yawn
July 19, 2024 @ 12:33 pm
The “first three songs” rule is ludicrous and unhelpful to the artists. Like you said, sometimes it’s the sweaty photos that’s the best. Most all collaborations come in the middle or at the end of sets. I do respect that you just can’t have photographers having out in front of the audience the entire show. But if an important collaboration happens, the pit should be re-opened to make sure it’s captured. This very specifically was the reason I refused to sign the Billy Strings photo release.
July 18, 2024 @ 1:10 pm
I suppose if there was a blanket “no professional cameras” policy and you had to sign the contract to be exempted from it, then the security guard could have been correct. Not clear if that was the case.
Regardless, all this noise is counterproductive, as you say. There will inevitably be photos, might as well allow some good ones to be taken.
July 18, 2024 @ 1:51 pm
Just FYI, that’s Drew Matulich on mandolin in the 2017 photo, not Don Julin.
July 18, 2024 @ 2:55 pm
Good piece. Reading it I wondered if Billy has the Robert Fripp style aversion to cameras, but that seems unlikely because Billy has really only played in the age of cell phones. I’ve seen Fripp stop a show because someone used a camera but I got lucky because they didn’t leave the stage. The warr player actually ended up with the camera somehow.
The whole thing seems confusing. Also probably not the first or last power tripping security you’ll meet.
July 18, 2024 @ 3:03 pm
“Billy Strings is so good, so transcendent, and so transformational for American music right now, it really is hard to put it into words. Forget enjoying the music with the enhancement of psychedelics, even stone sober, Billy Strings and his band can take your mind places otherwise inaccessible under normal circumstances, opening up portals of enjoyment and understanding that is nothing short of life-altering, and in ways that perhaps have never been experienced in the entire pantheon of music before, at least in such vibrant and enriching ways.”
This has to be one of the most hyperbolic paragraphs I have ever read, and I love it! I enjoyed it so much because I know you believe this, Trigger. Your passion for music is undeniable. This is how I felt every time I saw Rodney Crowell live during his Fates Right Hand, The Outsider, and Sex & Gasoline period. It’s how I feel when I listen to a Guy Clark or Jackson Browne album. That’s what good music does to people like us. Keep on keeping on!
July 18, 2024 @ 3:31 pm
I was comped a ticket to Billy’s Saturday night show the last time he played Asheville.
A few observations.
1.People follow him around all over the country without buying tickets. Once show night comes, they walk past the line with “ticket wanted” sign in hand.
2.All sorts of substances can be found in the crowd. I was offered some magic mushrooms. No, thank you. I’ll be 61 on Saturday ,and that sort of stuff is for a young man.
3.At the “merch table”, no prices were listed. How hard is it to put a Post-it note with $25 (or whatever you’re charging) on a T-shirt? (Merle Haggard was right. They should have never stopped calling them “souvenirs”.
4.And. Here. We. Go. I really wanted to like him. But after a little while, it seemed to me that there was too much noodling and not enough song. We get it, dude. You can play. So, after the end of the first set, I left and went down the street to see an R&B band at the Weinhaus. Oh, well. There’s always Blackberry Smoke next month at Silverado’s.
July 18, 2024 @ 4:28 pm
“You see it your way. I see it mine and I’ll be fine.”
July 18, 2024 @ 6:41 pm
“It’s stoner jamming, much like the dead. It’s cool as fuck when you’re as high as the band, but it gets old real quick when you’re straight.
July 19, 2024 @ 7:12 am
Happy Birthday, tomorrow!
July 19, 2024 @ 12:47 pm
Thank you, Di. Hey, you live near Indianapolis, don’t you? Reason why I ask is our friend, Mr. Benoit, will be playing the Vouge on Oct. 16. Now, Wednesday seems like a strange night to have a show, but I figured I’d give you a heads up, anyhow.
July 18, 2024 @ 3:40 pm
Big Management can be such an incredible p.i.t.a. There’s so much overreach. Big management can be tremendously helpful in certain stages of an artist’s career, but I’ve come to the conclusion that there are situations when a management’s only goal has become to sustain itself and to keep being able to feed off the artist they are supposed to be supporting.
I’ve been witness to journalists being forced to hiding under a table when a certain band walked through a backstage room because, according to management, the band would absolutely lose their sh** if they noticed any journalists around. Handlers the size of heavyweight boxers were manning every door. When it was my turn to finally interview the artists, i was expecting absolute monsters, but they could not have been more sweet and forthcoming. It was clear that management was shielding the artists from everything, making it look to them like everything was a smooth running machine, while running amok with self-importance in their absence and micro-managing all kinds of sh** just for the sake of micro-managing and creating jobs for themselves.
When it comes to the restrictive photo contracts, I have seen many of those back when I was working for a local show promoter. That was in the late 90s (!). It seems these contracts have not changed their wording, as if the world of technology had not changed drastically and irreversibly. Back then it was maybe possible to control an artist’s image and to keep unflattering photos from being published – in these days of social media that idea is of course a joke. But Big Management is not going to change the contracts they are used to working with for ages to accommodate anyone. In their world, minnows do what they are told and keep their mouths shut.
July 18, 2024 @ 4:11 pm
I was a record company publicist down in LA for three years. I NEVER asked anyone from the media to sign or agree to abide by a photo agreement like that. Just idiotic and dumb. That is one of those things people do because “everyone does it” or because they were taught to do it, with no thought at all as to why or what purpose it serves. My perspective was always come to the show, enjoy it, and take every damn photo you want.
Anyway, keep doing what you are doing.
July 18, 2024 @ 5:18 pm
This is very true, especially when it comes to publicity, and photography rules. There are a lot of publicists going about their business thinking that the big spread in Rolling Stone is the way to get their artist attention. In reality, it’s a timely Instagram or Tik-Tok post that will get the 20 times the exposure. Meanwhile, the three song rule and restricting photographers is a dinosaur from the ’90s that needs to go extinct. That doesn’t mean that photographers should have carte blanche to disrupt concertgoers throughout a show, or mill about in the pit like it’s a front row seat. But it’s a completely different reality from what it was even before the pandemic, and some publicists are still hung up on things that frankly just don’t matter anymore even more so than the rest of the antiquated country music industry.
July 19, 2024 @ 6:26 am
Amen brother!
July 18, 2024 @ 4:38 pm
Typo alert: “Strugill Simpson”
July 18, 2024 @ 5:08 pm
Strings needs to know the details if what’s going on. Yes, he is to be partially blamed. Another diva in the naming?
July 18, 2024 @ 6:24 pm
“Billy Strings at Under The Big Sky Fest in 2024 was one of those performances that was so good, so enlightening, and so reinvigorating, it almost leaves you depressed since you know you may never reach those same heights again.”
This is how I felt after seeing Billy at UTBS back in ‘21. Been chasing that dragon ever since.
July 18, 2024 @ 6:57 pm
Had an approval to shoot Michael Bublé. But they wanted photo approval and guess what. They approved ZERO photos. Even the house photographer had none approved. Why bother approving accreditation then.
July 18, 2024 @ 9:26 pm
whatever “they” may claim. margo price is behind this.
#Team Trigger. Illegitimi Margo Priceum non carborundum
(never let the Margo Price get you down)
July 19, 2024 @ 4:35 am
Will you do a write up on his recently released live album? I listen to a lot of his shows (and have been to about 10) and I find the mixing and mastering official live album to really enhance the experience well past what soundboards offer.
July 19, 2024 @ 8:21 am
The new Billy Strings live album is being considered for review.
July 22, 2024 @ 7:44 am
That would be a challenging review.. Not sure how you would approach that one.
July 19, 2024 @ 4:56 am
To me unless there is a specific venue policy, this stuff always goes back to the artist. Sure they have managers and pr teams that control it, but the artist signs off on it and should take the heat. They are afterall the ones who could change it. To me it just follows the old addage of getting too big for your britches. I need to listen to him more cause i just havent been swept up into his charm yet. Not saying his playing isnt great or anything. I like good old fashioned bluegrass so always on the look out for more.
July 19, 2024 @ 6:25 am
“Basically, you are being restricted BECAUSE you have been screened and credentialed as a photographer/journalist when John Q Public can snap away at will.”
This is what often drives me really bonkers. Apparently they’re fine with people taking photos provided they are NOT good ones?
July 19, 2024 @ 8:14 am
If it’s an outdoor festival, the policy should be for vetted professional photographers with lanyards and credentials to shoot whatever they want to from the pit.
In this day and age, it is absurd to have a policy that stipulates anything different.
Trig, you’re a talented photographer. It takes a musician to know how to really capture other musicians. Thumbs up!
July 19, 2024 @ 10:33 am
Speaking of others that can use some media attention, I was at 49 Win last night with Zandi Holup opening. Zandi should be gaining some traction here soon. She had Addie Levy with her playing fiddle and mandolin. Check Addie out, great bluegrass pickin and has an album coming out next week.
July 19, 2024 @ 10:50 am
As a regular attendee at Merlefest, Bristol Rhythm & Roots, and sometimes Floydfest, it’s most always a photographer’s paradise. Snap away with your Nikons, Sonys, Canons and iPhones. I’ve gotten great shots of a lot of performers. My favorite of is of Doc Watson where I snuck behind stage at Bristol.
Then one year at Merlefest, when Robert Plant was the Sunday headliner, they announced before his show that no photography was allowed (granted, this was before iPhones became the photography tool that is now). Even point & shoots weren’t allowed, and here I’m sitting with a Nikon D80 200 zoom lens. Security tried to stop us but they gave up part way through. Too many people were taking photos. My best shot of Plant was after the show though, when he was walking to his bus. He had taken off his ‘costume’ shirt, down to his undershirt, a size or two too small for his no longer rock god physique. He was more golden girl than golden god. I made sure to share that photo on social media…. Don’t tell me I can’t take photos 🙂
July 19, 2024 @ 12:21 pm
I can relate and sympathize. I watched a photographer/journalist friend being “escorted” away from taking photographs at a Loretta Lynn show in 1983. Yes, I am that ancient. It is a shocking, disturbing feeling when you are doing nothing wrong and you are within the rules and you have press permission, as he did. The good news is that this man became friends with Loretta over the decades – so here’s hoping Billy Strings and you become friendly one day!
July 19, 2024 @ 12:30 pm
I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t want to become friendly with Billy Strings or any of the artists. I’m not here to make friends and curry favor. I’m here to be an objective journalist and cover this music free of personal entanglements. I learned that lesson with Sturgill Simpson. That doesn’t mean I can’t be “friendly” if i happen to meet them, which I always am.
Journalists and professional photographers should be given reasonable access to events to do their job. And no, it’s not enough that events, venues, or artists have their own in-house photographers. It’s the job of the media to be independent of the subjects they’re covering.
July 21, 2024 @ 2:53 pm
His personal photographer Jesse Faatz is amazing. Dude is always running all over during the shows top to bottom, side to side. Maybe they figure he is good enough to cover for all? Billy is “doing things right” and for my money is the best show out there right now. Everytime you see him it’s seems like it’s better than the show before. Billy is incredible and can do no wrong. Also seems like a genuinly good dude who repects his audience. Only beef I have is with the fucking rail riders. Those people are all assholes and can go suck an egg. Other fans unlike most country shows are typically kind. I’ve noticed country shows in general have the biggest dickhead fans, more fights, more booze, more trouble than it’s worth.
July 21, 2024 @ 3:02 pm
Strings has a great multimedia team around him capturing everything and sharing it. And since they have better access (and equipment) than myself, they also can get better media.
As I said in the article though, if we start to rely on all media and news gathering on the artists themselves, where is the objective, 3rd party notion in covering them? Would we only rely on the teams of Joe Biden (or whomever the new nominee will be) and Donald Trump to supply news and information about them? Of course not, because they would be bias. That is what the media is there for as the 4th estate.
Since this article, Strings has chimed in. Didn’t say much, but was clearly disappointed I got kicked out. I don’t think any artist would be on board with this. It’s their teams that put these restrictions in place.