For all the bluegrass fans out there, Feb. 20-March 1 was the perfect time to be in Nashville, Tennessee. In the shortest month of the year, there was no shortage of unforgettable concerts by some of the genre’s finest – Billy Strings, The Creekers and The Band Loula.
Beer, trucks, girls, whiskey, neon lights, along with heavily pop-influenced country music sound and a sticky Broadway bar, is what most people associate Nashville’s music scene with. But what if I told you that a bluegrass artist just sold out two nights at the Bridgestone Arena and one night at the Ryman Auditorium, consecutively? And this is not the first time. Billy Strings, a three-time Grammy Award winner for Best Bluegrass Album in 2021, 2025 and 2026, turned the weekend of Feb. 20-22 into a celebration of traditional roots and Americana music. I attended one of his shows on Feb. 21 at Bridgestone Arena.
Billy Strings
From the very first song, the music swept the audience up in a whirlwind of electrifying energy and didn’t bring them down until the very end. In his craft, Strings blends traditional bluegrass picking, psychedelic rock and distorted sounds with lengthy improvisational instrumental passages and classic Americana lyrics. It felt intense, dream-like and emotionally raw, all at the same time. Having no openers, Strings played a two-and-a-half-hour show with his band of virtuoso musicians, including Billy Failing on banjo, Royal Masat on bass, Jarrod Walker on mandolin and Alex Hargreaves on fiddle. Their performance left no doubt that they are a once-in-a-generation talent. Each song they played lasted approximately eight to ten minutes and was largely improvised, displaying instrumental mastery.
The concert consisted of two separate sections, with a 40-minute intermission in between. The first section of the concert included songs that featured an extended interchange of solo performances by each member of the band and little singing. For the last three songs before the intermission, “Baltimore Johnny,” “On and On” and “Highway Hypnosis,” Strings was joined by Ronnie McCoury, a legendary mandolin player, singer, songwriter and member of the Del McCoury Band, which has been a major influence on and collaborator with Strings for the past several years.
The second section of the show was longer and featured songs with much more singing and storytelling. It included a lot of the most recognizable tracks by Strings, such as “Dust In a Baggie,” “Taking Water” and “Gild the Lily.” Inspired by the artist’s personal experience of growing up in rural Michigan, these songs reflect battles with substance abuse, poverty and struggles of growing up and growing apart from people. For the last two songs, Strings and the band were joined by Nat Smith, who is recognized for bringing the cello into traditional bluegrass performances.
Even though the Bridgestone Arena seats approximately 20,000 people, there was still room left for genuine human connection. I sat with two sisters who told me they drove from Chattanooga, Tennessee, specifically to see the show. Similarly, many people in the audience traveled from around the South and the Midwest. The whole evening felt like a celebration of the culture and pride of rural America, the America this music makes you fall in love with.
The Creekers
Later in the week, I witnessed a completely different side of the Nashville bluegrass scene. The Creekers, a rapidly rising bluegrass band from Leslie County, Kentucky, sold out four consecutive shows at the historic Station Inn, whose stage had been graced by legends such as Bill Monroe, John Prine and Alan Jackson. It is a small, intimate space that only seats 175 people at dining tables or chairs salvaged from Lester Flatt’s tour bus. When you come in, nobody scans your tickets; your name is simply pencil-written on a list of guests. While you wait for the show to start, your eyes keep glancing back and forth between the countless original posters from shows dating back decades. With this small venue, everybody sits so close to each other that it is hard to stand up and move around, but it facilitates conversation. I sat near a woman who was from the same small town that The Creekers were from, Hyden, Kentucky; she proudly told me about it.
The mood for the night was set by the up-and-coming Hogslop String Band. They played rowdy originals, such as “Down the Road” and “High Hopes,” accompanied by extraordinary guitar and banjo picking and fiddle playing. Closer to the end of their set, they were joined by the talented Hannah Marie Kelley, with whom they performed one of her newest releases, “Yo Momma’s Muscadine,” and a beautiful rendition of “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. With voices reminiscent of classic country, they took pride in carrying on the traditional sound to modern audiences.
The show carried on with the main act — The Creekers. The band members are very close friends or related to each other, including cousins Allen Hacker and Tanner Horton, vocalists and guitarists, brothers Jagger and Ashton Bowling on bass and cajon, respectively, Scott Sutton on banjo and the only non-Kentucky native, Anna Blanton, on fiddle. In combination with the intimate environment of the Station Inn, this explains why I felt as if I was watching them play on the front porch of their home.
They began their performance with lively originals, such as “Homesick Blue” and “Leslie County Blues,” paying tribute to the place where they grew up. They moved on to more laid-back, tender songs about love, including their own “Lay You Down” and “Love Of My Love,” as well as a nearly perfect cover of “Heaven Sent” by the SteelDrivers. Closer to the end of the performance, they won the crowd by a cover of “Free Born Man” by Jimmy Martin, with stunning vocals from Hacker and dazzling instrumental parts. While getting teary-eyed, Horton mentioned several times on stage that playing at the Station Inn was their lifelong dream, and I could certainly feel how grateful they were for that opportunity. They ended their set with “Tennessee,” a song that blew up on social media around a year ago and undoubtedly put them in the position to sell out multiple shows at the Station Inn. The Creekers delivered a confident performance, as Hacker’s recognizable Appalachian tone and Blanton’s piercing fiddle, played at times standing on a chair in the audience, carried the listeners to a peaceful creekside somewhere in the mountains (pun intended).
The Band Loula
The weekend came around, and to my utmost enjoyment, I was back at the Station Inn March 1 to see The Band Loula. They are a duo comprised of two lifelong friends and songwriters, Malachi Mills and Logan Simmons. The show was part of a three-day “Swampgrass Nights at the Station Inn” featuring Gary Nichols. There is one more show happening on March 29.
Coming from small-town North Georgia, The Band Loula members self-describe their genre of music as “swampgrass,” blending traditional country, Southern rock and gospel influences into something uniquely their own. From their Georgia accents and easy humor to the rich tones of their voices and the amber hues of their onstage outfits, everything about their presence radiated warmth. As if I was magically immersed in the world of “Sweet Southern Summer,” one of the songs they performed, I could almost smell the “cornbread cooking in a butter pan,” peach pies, honeysuckle and bonfires.
The vocal talent of Simmons, Mills and Nichols absolutely blew me away. Each song was driven by powerhouse gospel belting and intricate vocal runs. I was most impressed by their original songs, “Marshal County Man,” a murder ballad with chilling storytelling, and “Don’t Call Me,” a grand, heart-wrenching love song.
Gary Nichols, a former member of the SteelDrivers, also had a chance to step into the spotlight. Supported by The Band Loula, with an emotive, raspy voice, he stunned the crowd with the cover of “Ghost of Mississippi,” originally sung by Chris Stapleton in the SteelDrivers, and an original song, “Love Is Lonesome,” co-written with Morgan Myles.
The night only grew wilder as the show went on. Suddenly, the small stage at the Station Inn was packed with some of the biggest names in country music. The first surprise guests were Ronnie McCoury, once again, and Rob McCoury, members of the Del McCoury Band, accompanied Simmons and Mills on the mandolin and banjo, respectively. A couple of songs later, John Osborne, the lead guitarist from Brothers Osborne, graced the stage with his presence and mandolin playing. Simmons shared that she used to have a cardboard cutout of Osborne in her closet, so I can’t even imagine how surreal it felt for her to share a stage with him.
Surprises didn’t end there. Closer to the end of the show, The Band Loula’s and Gary Nichols’ old-time idols and Nashville legends, Shelly Fairchild and Ashley McBryde, came out to sing their unreleased song, “End Up In Austin.” McBryde also performed one of her most famous songs, “A Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega,” which became a full-circle moment for The Band Loula, as both Simmons and Mills started their musical careers by playing in little dive bars in Dahlonega, in northern Georgia. The Band Loula, joined by all the surprise guests, finished the night with their original song “Who Gets To Heaven (Nobody Knows).” Only in Nashville is it possible to see The Band Loula, Gary Nichols, Ronnie and Rob McCoury, John Osborne on a mandolin, Shelly Fairchild and Ashley McBryde in one night for under $35, and that is why I love this city.
There is so much more to Nashville’s music scene than what meets the eye or ear. If you are someone who has been craving more raw, traditional, lyric-centered country music, look out for artists like Billy Strings, The Creekers, The Band Loula and many others. They are here, and they are thriving.
