Billy Strings built a festival in his own back yard and used the first night of it to play his new record start to finish. The inaugural Ionia Freak Fair ran across August 28 and 29 at the Ionia County Fairgrounds, near his hometown of Muir, Michigan, and sold out both days.
Friday coincided with the release of So Much For Goodbyes, and Strings marked it by performing the T Bone Burnett co-produced album from beginning to end, in tracklist order, for his entire first set. With Billy Failing, Royal Masat, Jarrod Walker and Alex Hargreaves, he opened on "I'm One Of Those" and worked through all 16 tracks, closing the 92-minute set with the instrumental "Debra's Waltz", named for his late mother Debra Apostol.
Guests moved through the album as it went. Lindsay Lou shared vocals on "Mill Town Flood", "Live To Tell" and "Wrestling An Angel", with Mark Lavengood and Leftover Salmon drummer Alwyn Robinson joining for the second of those. Strings played "Still I Crash" alone.
The second set went back to the wider repertoire and gathered more of the bill. Lou and Lavengood returned for "Rank Stranger" and Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing On My Mind", the latter played for Dolly Parton and marking Strings' first performance of the song since February 27, 2020, a gap of 524 shows. Leftover Salmon then piled on for "Gild The Lily" and their own "Down In The Hollow", with Vince Herman on guitar, Drew Emmitt on mandolin, Andy Thorn on banjo and further contributions from Kyle Tuttle, Jay Starling and Robinson.
The lineup Strings curated is the detail that makes the event unusual. Alongside the bluegrass and roots acts on the main stage, he booked a Pyramid Scheme Pinball and Metal Tent carrying Bane, Cryptopsy, For the Fallen Dreams, Heartsick, Flesh and Blood Robot and See You Next Tuesday, and turned up on that stage himself.
Saturday brought a guest-free first set built around a sequence connecting "On The Line", "Train 45" and "Ruby", a pairing of "Malfunction Junction" and "Ole Slew Foot", and "Turmoil & Tinfoil". The second set opened the doors again: fiddler Michael Cleveland on "With Body & Soul" and "Maiden's Prayer", Sierra Hull adding mandolin to "Baltimore Johnny", and then Strings' father, Terry Barber, taking lead vocals on "Life To Go" and "Someday You'll Call My Name" with Hull, Cleveland and Lavengood behind him.
The ensemble followed with "Little Cabin Home On The Hill", which Strings had not played since June 2025. The weekend also produced two separate news items of its own: Leftover Salmon and Lindsay Lou sang 9 To 5 for Parton on the Friday main stage, and Strings joined Cryptopsy onstage in the metal tent.
The album behind all of it is So Much For Goodbyes, released that Friday, and the rest of his country dates are on the tour guide. Livestream replays of the Strings, Greensky Bluegrass and Leftover Salmon sets went out to nugs subscribers.
The facts
- Billy Strings played all 16 tracks of So Much For Goodbyes in order on the festival's first night
- The first set ran 92 minutes and closed with Debra's Waltz, named for his late mother
- Ionia Freak Fair ran August 28 and 29 at the Ionia County Fairgrounds and sold out
- Strings booked a separate metal tent alongside the bluegrass main stage
- His father Terry Barber sang lead on Life To Go and Someday You'll Call My Name
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