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For the third year in a row, Billy Strings and his band will play multiple shows in a row at Orion Amphitheater, in Huntsville, Alabama.

The bluegrass virtuoso turned jam-band superstar returns to Orion on Oct. 23, 24 and 25.

Tickets for Strings’ 2025 Orion run go on sale 10 a.m. Friday. via axs.com. In addition to tickets for the individual concerts, three-night passes are available.

As of publishing, ticket prices weren’t readily available. When they are, we will update this story.

Strings is to 2020s bluegrass what Stevie Ray Vaughan was to 1980s blues. A blazing young guitarist and charismatic singer who reinvigorates a roots genre with hard-earned virtuosity and hot live shows, thereby crossing over to wider audiences.

Earlier this year, Strings won his second Grammy award,, for his first official live album, “Live Vol. 1.” The album features concert recordings of signature tunes like “Dust in a Baggie,” “Turmoil & Tinfoil” and “Richard Petty.”

In ’24, String, a Michigan native now residing in Nashville, also released his fourth studio album, “Highway Prayers.” That LP contains cuts like “Gild the Lily” and “Seven Weeks in County.”

String also guested on rap star Post Malone’s country album “F-1 Trillion.” He’s on the song “M-E-X-I-C-O,” which has been streamed more than 24 million times on Spotify.

Strings’ three nights in Huntsville are the most he’s currently scheduled to play any city on his fall tour, which includes the U.S., Europe and the U.K.

His longtime band features Billy Failing on banjo, Jarrod Walker on mandolin, Royal Masat on bass and Alex Hargreaves on fiddle.

They did two nights at Orion in ’24 and ’23. The ‘23 Orion setlists ranged from originals (“Know It All”) to traditionals (“Tom Dooley”) to rock covers (Mother Love Bone’s “Crown of Thorns”).

Back in 2020, when his star was rising, Strings and band performed at Mars Music Hall at Von Braun Center.

The Chick-fil-A sandwich is one of the South’s greatest cultural contributions – right up there with Mississippi blues music, Tennessee-born filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and video vixen/Louisiana native Bobbie Brown. As magnificent eat as the Georgia-created Chick-fil-A is, in Huntsville there are local non-chain upgrades. Below are five fried chicken sandwiches I love from Huntsville restaurants.

COUNTRY BOY

Peppered Pig, 1305 Four Mile Post Road S.E. Ste. C, pepperedpig.net

You don’t need to know, as Hank Williams Jr. once sang, how to “skin a buck and run a trotline” to dig Peppered Pig’s Country Boy. A big sandwich with vibrant flavors and textures. Beer-battered fried chicken, smoky peppered bacon, melty Colby cheese, piquant collard greens and slippery sriracha mayo. Barely contained between two halves of a comfy roll. Bocephus would be proud.

COLONEL ANGUS

Goodland Pour House, 933 Bob Wallace Ave. S.W., goodlandph.com

A 2013 “Saturday Night Live” skit about the return of a Confederate Civil War hero, posited “Colonel Angus is an acquired taste.” Not so with Goodland Pour House’s fried chicken sandwich of the same name. You’ll like it right away. Tender bird smothered in pimento cheese, and outfitted with applewood smoked bacon, red onion, garlic pickles on a brioche bun.

FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH

Salt Smokehouse, 1300 Meridian St N. D-104, saltssmokehouse.toast.site

If a sandwich with Korean style fried chicken cooked by a Huntsville-via-Mexico chef is wrong, I don’t want to be right. Salt Smokehouse’s Rene Boyzo weaves pollo, sriracha oil, ginger coleslaw, pickles and potato bun into oh yeah. Umami for your mommy too.

SPICY CHICKEN SANDWICH

Blue Oak BBQ, 1000 Mid City Drive Unit 1, blueoakbbqhsv.com

What costs more than twice as much as a Chick-Fil-A and so worth it? Blue Oak BBQ’s spicy chicken sandwich. Fried thighs glazed with hot-sweet sauce, dressed with a couple pickles and north Alabama style white barbecue sauce, on a brioche bun. Pow. Founded in New Orleans, Blue Oak opened their second ever location in spring 2024, within echoes of Huntsville’s Orion Amphitheater.

HONEY BUTTER FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH

Domaine South, 200 West Side Square, domainesouth.com

Succulent fried chicken with delicate exterior crunch. Rich, house-made pimento cheese. Hot honey butter and two surfboard-shaped pickles. Bless this Domaine South sandwich’s bun because that’s a lot of messy yum to support. If each year you mourn the end of Chick-fil-A’s seasonal honey-pepper-piment-chicken-sandwich, prepare to touchdown dance.

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U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Monrovia, remains confident that the decision to bring U.S. Space Command to Huntsville will be made shortly after the U.S. Senate confirms President Donald Trump’s nominee for Air Force secretary.

When that happens, it will bring about 4,700 jobs to the Tennessee Valley, the second-term congressman said during his Washington update hosted by the Athens-Limestone Chamber of Commerce at Athens State University on Monday.

“It’s my understanding it will be 1,700 jobs with a 3,000-job spinoff,” Strong said. “You start talking about 1,700 great paying jobs, high education level. You’ve got to have other jobs to spin off to make that happen.”

The congressman said the labor force for Redstone Arsenal, where Space Command would be located, and Cummings Research Park comes from 17 counties in north Alabama and southern Tennessee.

“So, this is not about just Redstone Arsenal,” Strong said. “This is about north Alabama. It shows what our region does. It shows what our region has already done for this country, and what we’re going to do. That’s why I’m bullish on the future of north Alabama.”

Strong said he discussed Space Command with the president during the flight on Air Force One earlier this month to Tuscaloosa for Trump’s speech at the University of Alabama. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also said she discussed the subject with the president when he was in Tuscaloosa and said “Space Command belongs in Huntsville.”

Strong told AL.com the Senate will vote on the Air Force secretary “either this week or next week.”

“That right there will also start the process,” he said, “… which will then bring us a recommendation for Space Command.”

Strong cited a 21-category evaluation that said Huntsville was the best location for Space Command for national security.

“Not what was best for elections,” Strong said, “not what was best for this state or that state, but what was best for the taxpayers of America and what was best for national security. You look at it and those 21 categories, it talked about everything from education to cost to construct, the cost to maintain, and it wasn’t that Colorado was No. 2. Colorado in one of the reports was five. In the other report, they were four.”

See story: Space Command HQ report reveals fears that civilians would not leave Colorado for Alabama - al.com

Proposed NASA cuts

Strong also discussed proposed NASA budget cuts before taking the stage for his Washington update that included the phasing out of the Space Launch System, the super-heavy, expendable launch vehicle that is intended to propel humans to the moon. The SLS, which the president’s budget request calls “grossly expensive and delayed,” is managed by Marshall Space Flight Center.

“That’s the thing, the (budget) process has begun,” the congressman told AL.com. “I believe the folks here at Marshall are doing a phenomenal job. What we’re going to do is go in there and prove what they’ve done working with science, space and technology.”

He said communication has been ongoing with Rep. Brian Babin, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

“We now finally have the budget,” Strong said. “We’ve got to start doing what is best for America.”

The proposed budget seeks $18.8 billion in funding for NASA, down 24.3%, or $6 billion, from the $24.8 billion approved for the space agency last year.

A White House statement emphasized the request’s funding for both moon and Mars initiatives, including new money for private-sector investment.

The agency’s human space exploration program would see a $647 million boost in funding – the only major NASA program to come out ahead in the president’s proposal.

Yet the budget request would cut $879 million from “legacy” spaceflight projects like SLS and the Orion crew capsule by phasing them out after the Artemis 3 mission, which will land humans on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 and is planned for a mid-2027 launch.

Artemis, NASA’s $100 billion, decade-long human lunar exploration program, includes plans for a permanent colony on the moon, which is intended to serve as a steppingstone for crewed Mars missions. Artemis currently consists of 10 planned lunar missions through 2035, all of them intended to launch atop the SLS and to house the crew in Orion capsules.

See story: Trump wants billions cut from NASA, including ‘grossly expensive’ Huntsville rocket - al.com

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What makes for a good place to work in Huntsville?

IronMountain Solutions CEO Hank Isenberg has a list of things companies should consider.

“There are a lot of categories you have to consider, good morale, good insurance, keeping your insurance up to date, having flexible schedules to accommodate the employees, have a really good HR department that takes care of the employees,” he said. “It’s across the board.”

According to more than 8,000 confidential employee surveys conducted at about 200 employers across the Rocket City, Isenberg knows what he is talking about. IronMountain Solutions was named the best place to work among the city’s largest companies by the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber on Tuesday.

“Our employees and our culture are our driving force,” he said in accepting the award as the gold winner at the Chamber’s Best Places to Work Awards luncheon at the Von Braun Center.

It was the sixth time his company won first place and 10th victory in the competition overall. With its 10th win, IronMountain Solutions joins three other companies in the Best Places to Work Hall of Fame: Intuitive Research & Technology; Modern Technology Solutions, Inc., and People Tech.

“We’ve finally got it down,” Isenberg said. “Now we’ve got to give space for other people to win.

IronMountain Solutions wasn’t the only winner. Integration Innovation, Inc. (I3) was the silver winner and Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. was the bronze winner in the category of companies with 251 or more employees.

“There’s a healthy competition we enjoy in Huntsville,” Integration Innovation, Inc., CEO Richard Kretzschmar said. “It’s unique to our community.”

He added he had the pleasure of “leading a team of 820 folks that are committed to the culture we have, that are growth minded and look for ways to add value to the company every day.”

KODA Technolgies, Inc. was the gold winner in the large company category with between 101 and 250 employees. Monte Sano Research Corporation was the silver and Intrepid won the bronze.

KODA representative Dusty Nix said the company’s employees’ commitment to culture helped it win its category.

Offset Strategic Services, LLC, won the medium-sized company award for firms with 51 to 100 employees. QTEC Aerospace and Mission Driven Research, Inc., were in silver and bronze positions.

“We’re servant leaders,” Offset Strategic Services CEO TJ Wright said. “Our job is to serve our employees, serve our customers. This is really a servant-leadership mentality. Hire the best people. The best people aren’t the best people on paper. It’s the right attitude with the right goals, the right objective and moral compass. So, we find really good people. That’s what my team has done. We’ve built a great team.”

Focus Physiotherapy Huntsville won the small business category (25 to 50 employees), followed by Pinnacle Financial Partners and Capstone Research Corporation. New Hope Children’s Clinic won the micro business category, followed by Erica Lane Enterprises and Cahaba Federal Solutions.

Chamber Vice President of Image Development Claire Aiello said the awards are based on employee feedback.

“They really want to improve,” she said. “So, they keep these people. It’s all about retention. You don’t want to hire somebody who is going to hop to another company three months from now. You want to get a good person and keep them. You want to get a good team in place and keep them. These companies do that. They all have employee surveys that they do. They win based on the points they accumulate most. But an outside company handles that process for us.”

“Over the years I read them, and I pay attention,” Isenberg said of the surveys. “We try to make sure we are servicing the parts that the people care about.”

Companies also received health and wellness awards. The winners were Integration Innovation, Inc.; NMR Consulting; Mission Driven Research, Inc.; Focus Physiotherapy Huntsville; and Erica Lane Enterprises.

Rock radio in 1983 was populated with melodic hits like Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian,” Def Leppard’s “Photograph” and Journey’s “Separate Ways.”

Meanwhile in Huntsville, Alabama, a young band called The Knockabouts recorded a batch of corrosive haymakers with titles like “Sick Society” and “Youth Prison Cell.”

The Knockabouts are said to have been Alabama’s first hardcore punk band. Hardcore’s a more extreme, more concise version of punk rock music.

Some best-known hardcore bands include Bad Brains, Black Flag and Dead Kennedys. Names many mainstream music fans at least know from seeing the T-shirts, even if they’ve never heard the music.

The Knockabouts recorded 15 blistering originals in a 1983 session at local recording studio Sound Cell. One of those songs, “Where’s My Vietnam?,” appeared on the compilation album “Barricaded Suspects” by Pomona, Calif., label Toxic Shock.

The same year, The Knockabouts self-released a cassette titled “On Suffering Remembered,” featuring eight tracks from the Sound Cell sessions. Later, in the ‘90s, San Francisco label Prank Records released “On Suffering Remembered” on seven-inch vinyl.

Now, for the first time, all 15 Knockabouts tracks from the Sound Cell session are being released on a full-length compilation album aptly titled “Angry Young Men.”

Side two of the album features another 15 tracks, recorded on a boombox during band rehearsals. Together, these recordings are a crucial document of a locally iconic Huntsville band.

Knockabouts’ frontman Donnie Sharp says of the release, “I think it’s pretty cool that it’s finally happening. And it probably never would have happened if it wasn’t for Wyatt.”

That would be Wyatt Akins, who’s releasing The Knockabout album on his label Music Has A Meaning. Akins says, “I thought this stuff has got to be released. There’s just no reason it’s not, and I got with Donnie and asked him if I could do it.”

Sharp hasn’t always been a fan of the crystalline Sound Cell recordings, even if the band sounded raw and explosive on them. Akins was pleasantly surprised he was into releasing them on the compilation.

Sharp says, “Anytime somebody appreciates what you did and says it means a lot to them, that’s a pretty good feeling. It kind of validates what you’ve done. At the time, you’re just doing the best you can to kick ass and raise hell, you know?”

In addition to Sharp, a Lee High School grad, The Knockabouts’ original lineup boasted guitarist Rusty Jackson, bassist Steve Tallyn and drummer Greg Skalka.

The band played their first show, which included Ramones and Sex Pistols covers, in the basement of a house in Sharp’s neighborhood. Eventually, the band’s lineup shifted to include Randy Sanders, Steve Richmond and Jeff Keagle.

Early on, Sharp drew vocal inspiration from Exene Cervenka of seminal Los Angeles punk band X. “When I heard her,” he says, “I was like, she doesn’t sing like a singer. She’s just out of control. She’s crazy. I was like, OK, I can do that.”

Sharp’s stoked rehearsal tapes are part of the vinyl release. He and Akins combed through a box of cassettes to select the tracks. Sharp says these feral recordings “sound closer to what we sounded like.”

He singles out “One The Verge Of Nothing,” written by Skalka, as one of his favorites from the rehearsal tapes. “We were pretty intense in those days,” Sharp adds.

Among the Sound Cell tracks, Akins considers “Fast Pulse” a highlight. Also, because he was a young skateboarder back then, the song “Concrete Surfin’.” Akins says, “All of that stuff is just ingrained because I listened to it so much.”

Mike Kilpatrick, of classic local bands like Frigidaires and former touring musician with X, digitally cleaned up the cassette recordings in his home studio for the vinyl release.

Kilpatrick also contributed to the album’s liner notes. He wrote, “The energy and utter abandon of a Knockabouts show was quite a vision. You couldn’t take your eyes off them, because you might miss something.”

The expansive booklet accompanying the vinyl compilation also includes contributions from Skalka, Jackson and Fret Shop owner Mark Torstenson. Tons of classic photos of the band, too.

The Knockabouts detonated the city’s punk scene. As a teenager, Akins joined in with his own band, playing bass with Dead Pigeons, who played shows with The Knockabouts at local places like the University of Alabama in Huntsville as well as in Atlanta and Birmingham.

Akins says, “When the Dead Pigeons started, these guys were like four or five years older than we were, and they would still come and see us play. And that meant a lot to us.”

The Knockabouts resonated beyond the Southeast. In 2018, British rock magazine Kerrang published a “United States of Punk” highlighting their choices for the best punk band from all 50 states. Knockabouts were selected to represent Alabama.

Huntsville’s punk scene later birthed countless bands, notably the unholy, metallic and worldwide touring Cancerslug. It continues to flourish today with pillars like the band Property and recent standouts like Heel Turn.

Sharp’s a fan of them all. “As long as you have young people,” he says, “you’re always going to have some version of hardcore punk.”

Recently, Sharp’s latter-day band The Go-Go Killers were part of a bill of local edgy bands, put together by Huntsville rockers Casket Kids, that brought a crowd to Von Braun Center‘s Mars Music Hall.

“We looked up in one song,” Sharp says, “and here are some people picking up somebody in a wheelchair while we’re playing.”

Saturday, May 17, The Knockabouts original lineup is reuniting. Sharp says it will be the band’s first show together since a 1986 show they opened for Glenn Danzig fronted band Samhain.

The Knockabouts’ free, all-ages reunion show goes down at the Brewers Cooperative, at Stovehouse, address 3414 Governors Drive S.W. Local punks Paint Huffer are the opening act. The show starts at 7 p.m.

Two hundred copies of the ”Angry Young Men” compilation album have been pressed. They’ll be available at the reunion show, and later at Vertical House Records. In 2024, Akins’s label’s first release was another local punk treasure, a 40-year-old unreleased album by his band, Dead Pigeons. Neither of Akins’ label’s releases are available on streaming services.

Asked for his next local music excavation, Akins says," I’ll keep it secret. But it’s an equally as important group., I’d love to keep doing it. There’s a lot of that stuff back then that wasn’t heard, and I feel like it should be.”

Sharp and Jackson still reside in Huntsville. Skalka‘s in Austin and Tallyn’s in Nashville. They’ve been rehearsing for the last week or so. Sharp can’t wait to unleash. Asked what he loves most about singing with The Knockabouts, he says, “There’s no safety net.”