Wikipedia Genre: Bluegrass, Jamgrass, Americana, Rock
Home: Michigan
Poster Position: 3 (22nd line last time!)
Both Weekends. Friday.
It's like if Nickel Creek grew up on a steady diet of rock and roll. That tune is from 2017's Turmoil & Tinfoil. Also reminds me of that dude who plays with Allison Krauss - Dan Tyminksi, who did the "Man of Constant Sorrow" vocals. Either way, give me a tune with a slammin' mandolin player and a banjo in the front of the mix, and I'm probably in for a pound.
Dude's real name is William Apostol, so I get the Billy part, and then I guess he did the Strings part because he plays instruments with strings? Kinda like a mob guy going by Joey Bats or Freddy Piano Wire. The name apparently came from an Aunt who noticed his skills on stringed instruments. So its the aunt who has no originality. His step-father was apparently a bluegrass picker of note, and introduced the kid to studs like Doc Watson and Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. Rolling Stone called him a country artist to know and mentioned his prodigious speed in 2017. So, if you dig some fast-fingered pickin' music, then this stuff is right up your alley.
He's taken home a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, and the list of accolades on his Wikipedia page is long and distinguished, and he's won a bunch of other awards in the Bluegrass world. His band is great too - Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Masat (bass), and Jarrod Walker (mandolin).
I've gotten to see him play twice now - once at the 2019 ACL Fest, and then at his ACL TV show taping. Both were freaking amazing. The Fest show was jaw-dropping, shaking-my-head-in-fascination amazing. I had listened to the songs for the preview, but listening on your computer behind a desk is a totally different experience than seeing a pack of wild animals who have mastered their instruments. He was on guitar, but his banjo guy and mandolin guy were also top notch, just highly technical, fast-fingered, beautifully complex bluegrass stuff. I'm very glad I got to see that one. When I was just hanging around, before the show kicked in, this random dude walked up to me and was like "Have you seen them before?" And he had a true religious fervor in his eyes when he asked it. About half way through the first song, he looked over his shoulder and bugged his eyes and mouthed "RIIIGHT?!?" Very entertaining - also, he was totally correct.
His first real music, by himself, was a 2016 EP just called the Billy Strings EP (before that he had a joint album with someone called Don Julin (that is either live music or just recordings done in a room with bad acoustics and some people who cheer every once in a while) that wasn't great). The EP has a fantastic song on there that combines both humor and speed-picking badassery. Country artists have lamented getting arrested and the perils of drugs for years from the outlaw country world, and this one slots right into there, but along with some ridiculous solo freakouts. "Dust in a Baggie," with 14.2 million streams.
"I used my only phone call to contact my daddy, got 20 long years for some dust in a baggie." And holy damn hell, watch him at 2:25 or so when his guitar solo kicks in - his fingers do things that are illegal in 49 states and the District of Columbia.
After that EP, you get 2017's Turmoil & Tinfoil - the one with "Meet Me At The Creek" on it, and then 2019's Home. Home is very good - you can hear the band mature and figure some things out here. They also start angling towards jam while still keeping the bluegrass tilt intact. The top track on that one is "Away from the Mire." Just over 8 million streams.
Finally, in 2021, you get Renewal. These dudes are absolutely fucking kingpins of musical instrumentation. Like, outrageously skilled players. This one has a more modern skin on it - Strings melds bluegrass with a jam band feel on many of these songs to give it a much different feel than traditional bluegrass. And while I know from my marriage that some people will get triggered by mentioning jam, you should really give this thing a chance and just make sure that you want to completely close yourself off to happiness and goodness and the American Way. Up to you. Anyway, if you don't know Strings yet - more importantly, if you haven't seen the dude live yet - then you need to get on board now. His band is made up of killers at each axe - banjo, mandolin, bass, and guitar - and he can be both poignant and witty with his lyrics. I promise you it is good. (although I can definitely recognize a perspective that his band name is dorky as hell). The top track is "Fire Line," which is almost at the end of the album. Must be on a playlist somewhere. 2.5 million streams.
That track definitely gets into the jammy stuff I mentioned before. Heavy on banjo picking and old-school harmonies and fiddle (for the bluegrass crowd), but those faux deep lyrics and the extended soloing and weird spaceship-taking-off sounds shifts it into something for the stoned to zone out to. I really enjoy this disc. I know bluegrass and jam aren't everyone's cups of tea, but I could just keep this one rolling.
Overall, I promise you this show will be awesome. I know a lot of people wouldn't be interested in bluegrass, or jam band stuff, but if you like someone who is ridiculously skilled with an instrument in their hands, then this is the good stuff. Check it out.
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