Watch: Billy Strings Appears on ‘Fallon’ for First Time, Performs “Seven Weeks in County”

Before the turkey hit the oven and the potatoes were mashed, Billy Strings appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for the first time in his musical history. The bluegrass golden boy’s debut on the late-night program bolstered an opportunity for him and his band, Royal Masat, Jarrod Walker, Alex Hargreaves, and Billy Failing, to shine the light on a feature off their initial major label debut, Highway Prayers, with “Seven Weeks in County.” Watch below. 

In the program’s typical fashion, Fallon introduced the night’s musical guest with the vinyl edition of Highway Prayers in hand. Preluding the band’s contribution to the talk show, its host mentioned Strings’ nominated status as a Grammy nominee for Best Bluegrass Album. In turn,  the five-person ensemble seized the instrumental start of the song about famine and the allure of the country’s slowed-down pace, a mind-shifting counterbalance to the hunger crisis. 

Strings strum on the acoustic guitar opens the number, which was first played in a live setting last New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2023, at UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, and 19 times since its debut, making for well of experience to pull from during Wednesday night’s televised performance. The troupe set out to tell the audience a story, co-opting the narrative-like delivery with a sense of bluegrass importance–storytelling about rural regions and tribulations. 

Strings’ sixth studio album, Highway Prayers, was released on September 27, 2024, to broad recognition and acclaim. It features 20 original tracks that predominantly reside in the bluegrass ether, with regard to and space for branches of psychedelia, outlaw country, and rock-and-roll–while holding top slots on the Billboard charts. 

Following the band’s Thanksgiving Eve appearance on Fallon, they will take part in a two-night stand at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., on December 6 and 7, prior to follow-ups slated for December 10 at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., December 12 at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, which preclude their sold-out musical spree in Austin, Texas, on December 13 and 14. The concerts above come before the band’s highly anticipated three-night New Year’s run in New Orleans on December 29-31. Tickets remain on sale. 

Order Highway Prayers, and scroll down to watch Strings on Fallon.