"Buying time while he's squirreled away in the studio working on his major-label debut with Jon Brion, Billy Strings released 'Live, Vol. 1', a double-LP culled from shows recorded between April 2023 and March 2024. "Dust in a Baggie" gets things off to a brisk start but don't worry, Strings takes more than enough time to jam. "Fire Line>Reuben's Train" and "Turmoil & Tinfoil" hover around the 20-minute mark, the closing "Highway Hypnosis" stretches out to nearly 16 minutes ... Those extended improvisations are where the pleasure of Live, Vol. 1 lies: It's all about the journey, not the destination".