Watch: Billy Strings makes his late-night debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The performance aims to raise awareness for the National Independent Venue Association.
Photo: Keith Griner / Getty Images
Flatpicking wizard Billy Strings has made his late-night debut, performing tunes off his 2019 album Home on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The performance was dedicated to raising awareness for the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), an organisation seeking federal support for US-based independent music venues, in danger of shutting down due to COVID-19.
Strings’ performance came in two parts. He performed Taking Water (above) at the Station Inn, a popular independently run bluegrass venue in Nashville, Tennessee. This was followed by Watch It Fall (below), remotely jammed with members of his band from each of their individual homes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvFgm1oER4g&feature=emb_title
Now in the midst of a live-streamed tour, taking place on stages across Nashville, Strings will be performing at the City Winery on 23 July; two nights at the Exit/In on 24 and 25 July, and wrap up with a final show at 3rd & Lindsley on 26 July. The tour sets aside a portion of its proceeds to be directed towards several charity organisations, including the NAACP, Backline and the ACLU.
Meanwhile, a recently published fact sheet from NIVA reported that 90 per cent of US-based independent venues were in critical danger of being permanently shut down within the next few months, should federal funding not come through soon.
The association’s members include famed venues from the Troubadour in Los Angeles California and the Bowery Room in New York, to esteemed local music outposts such as Cafe Racer of Seattle, Washington and Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, California.
Learn more about NIVA at nivassoc.org
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