The Infamous Stringdusters + Silas Herman & The Tone Unit

The Infamous Stringdusters have spent 2026 celebrating their 20s from seemingly every angle. This past February, they released 20/20, a collection of 20 songs commemorating 20 years as a band. Prior to the album’s release, the quintet of Andy Hall on Dobro, Andy Falco on guitar, Chris “Panda” Pandolfi on banjo, Jeremy Garrett on fiddle, and Travis Book on double bass embarked on the 20/20 Tour, marching through the seasons en route to a mid-September stop at Troubadour in West Hollywood and beyond.

Two decades of surviving (and thriving) as a bluegrass band in the modern music industry is practically a feat fit for a hoedown. Beyond being cause for celebration, that kind of longevity comes with a responsibility to bring along the next generation, especially in a genre as niche as bluegrass tends to be. To their credit, the Dusters followed through not only by taking Silas Herman & The Tone Unit on the road, but also by inviting them onstage on select nights, including the encore of their visit to WeHo, for the traditional fiddle tune "Angeline the Baker."

The Dusters' undercard came with its own connections, too. Silas is the son of Vince Herman, best known as a founding member of Leftover Salmon. Thanks to his father, Silas grew up around the bluegrass scene, long before he founded The Tone Unit in 2024.

As for the headliners, whether picking new tunes, old favorites, or beloved covers, these Nashville-formed jamgrass veterans continue to set a standard of excellence for musicianship and crossover creativity.

The fresh material proved particularly piquant at the Troubadour. "Holding On to You" blended beautifully into "Dead Man Walking," with Jeremy leading the latter on vocals while lending a measure of melancholy on fiddle. The twang of "Hit the Nail on the Head" made for a surprisingly smooth entree into the tried-and-true balladry of "Gravity," with Travis leading vocals on both. From there, "Life Moves On" proved to be a pitch-perfect comedown, with plenty of time for the pace to pick up before "Looking for Something Good" closed the main set. All told, five of the night's 18 songs came from 20/20, though neither lead single "Working Man Blues" nor "The Voyageur," the album's music video showcase, made the cut.

All the while, the Dusters showed off their chops within and beyond bluegrass. They established their bluegrass bona fides with an opening run of their own "It'll Be Alright" into "Sirens" before taking an adjacent step with a cover of The Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey." A few songs later, they reached well outside the genre for their well-established cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven," with Jeremy laying earnest vocals over Panda’s banjo. Later in the set, they sandwiched a pair of rootsy songs (The Delmore Brothers' "Going Back to the Blue Ridge Mountains" and their own "No More to Leave You Behind") between inventive renditions of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" and The Police's "Walking on the Moon."

That responsibility to the next generation came into full view in the encore. Six nights earlier at Portland's Revolution Hall, Silas had sat in on mandolin for "Angeline the Baker." At the Troubadour, the Dusters brought out the entire Tone Unit, with 10 players happily cramming into the club’s modest stage while the crowd rooted and hooted to the mass of combined musicianship.

The Infamous Stringdusters will stay busy through the end of 2026. They'll play three dates across North Carolina in mid-October, including two with Broken Compass Bluegrass as support, before wrapping up the year with Strings & Sol in Mexico come December, followed by a two-show New Year's run at the Boulder Theater in Colorado.