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What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone is having a nice week. Last week I travelled to Colorado to visit one of my best friends who lives there and we attended the two nights of Billy Strings at Red Rocks. Ever since I learned about Red Rocks when I was probably like 13 I’ve wanted to go to a show out there, so it was awesome to finally have the opportunity to do so. What fun would a trip be without some bumps along the way, though? Upon arriving at my gate to fly out from Raleigh, my flight was delayed by 4 hours due to a tornado watch at the Denver Airport. No worries, as long as I make it over there I don’t mind. I finally make it to Denver and my buddy comes to pick me up and drive back to his place in Boulder and it’s pouring rain. He told me it’s been raining the last two days straight and it should let up tomorrow cause it never rains for that long there. It did not let up the next day. We ended up getting to the venue at about 6 for a 7:30 show time. We park and throw on all our protective layers, raincoats and ponchos and all. It was also about 40 degrees and windy up in the mountains, so not only was it gonna be wet, it was gonna be cold. We have a couple beers and grab some roadies for the long line ahead. We were hoping the rain would eventually let up some, but it honestly only got worse. By the time we got to the end of the line to get into the show, my water resistant boots and two layers of socks had already soaked through and my pants were drenched as well. Really, the only part that kept dry was my upper body cause I had about 6 layers on. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything else, though. It felt like a true journey just to get to the show and only the strong and willing had made it. The huge amphitheater was still packed out despite the weather. The sound of wind ripping through cheap plastic ponchos filled the air. Nary a joint could even be lit in the harsh conditions. But Billy and the boys finally rolled out onto the stage and the place erupted and the attendees who stuck it through were treated to an incredible show. The whole show was fine tuned and songs thoughtfully picked to address the weather, starting things off with Cold On The Shoulder, a song written by the late Gordon Lightfoot, who just passed away earlier this month. Shortly following this was a performance of Dreadful Wind and Rain (how could you not?), a more recent interpretation (made popular by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman) of a traditional murder ballad dating back to the 17th century. Before the end of the first set was also a performance of one of my favorite Doc Watson songs, Red Rocking Chair. Man, I love hearing them play Doc Watson tunes. Set break rolls around and when the music stops and you’re not dancing, that’s when you notice how bad the weather is. It was raining sideways. Sometimes you would think it was letting up, but then the lights would hit the right angle and you could see it was still pouring. It was like being a wet fish in water. The second set started off strong, but my favorite part of the show was when Billy mentioned how a lot of songs he plays were learned by way of Doc Watson and this next song is one Doc picked up from Mississippi John Hurt, which was Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor. I was so happy to finally get to hear Billy perform it, and at such an amazing venue. Like I’ve mentioned before, that’s the reason I love bluegrass and folk music so much, a song passed down from three of my favorite artists, always reaching a new generation. Another highlight of the show was the performance of It’s Raining Here This Morning, a song made popular by a favorite of Dom and I’s, the Stanley Brothers. I think you can pick up a theme for the show from the song titles. It’s cool to think how different the setlist would’ve been had the weather just been different, but having the rain pour on me at Red Rocks is a memory I won’t soon forget. Okay, I’m gonna do a shorter recap of the second night cause that was really long. The weather was amazing for this show. We ended up getting to the lot to hang out before the show at around 4. It was nice just chilling before the show up there in the mountains. We even saw an elk walking around the top of the venue. Hell, people just walked up to you and handed you free mushrooms. Colorado is a great place. I even got to meet up with one of my best buddies from Memphis who I haven’t seen in years, and he joined us for the show. The weather was great throughout the whole show, but compared to the weather the night before, it felt like the biggest luxury in the world. I’m pretty sure I saw a bunch of shooting stars and a UFO during the second set that night, but that’s still up for debate. Anyway, both nights were incredible, and it was such a fun trip out there. I always love visiting Colorado and hope to make it back to another Red Rocks show. Technically, this write up should be about my record of the week, so I’ve picked out this Doc Watson record Dominic got me for my birthday a couple weeks back, the appropriately titled Memories, which features the aforementioned song, Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor. As me and Dom like to say, you just gotta put it out there in the universe. Sometimes things just work out exactly as they should.