Victor Furtado, who plays Crooked Thumb Brewery in Safety Harbor, Florida on May 17, 2024. Credit: Photo by Kristen Crigger Horton

There aren’t many pickers who can hold their own onstage with Billy Strings. Don’t tell that to Victor Furtado, who had a lengthy sit-in on Strings’ show in Boston last summer.

The 24-year-old Virginian is a bonafide clawhammer banjo-wielding virtuoso who first taught himself at the age of nine before ending up onstage at the Grand Ole Opry and in the studio with other revered young guns like fiddler Nate Heath plus scene vets like Mark Schatz and Danny Knicely.

Furtado, who plays with The Wildmans, received the Steve Martin Prize For Excellence In Banjo and Bluegrass and is spending part of his break from the Berklee College of Music in the Sunshine State where he plays a no-cover gig under some oak trees in Safety Harbor.

There’s no cover to see Victor Furtado play Crooked Thumb Brewery in Safety Harbor on Friday, May 17.