Billy Strings Concert Tickets

ABOUT BILLY STRINGS

American guitarist and bluegrass musician Billy Strings was born William Lee Apostol in 1992 and was raised in Lansing, Michigan. His step-father, Terry Barber, was an accomplished amateur bluegrass musician and a huge influence on Billy, introducing him to traditional bluegrass musicians. The stage name Billy Strings was originated by his aunt, who saw his proficiency on several stringed bluegrass instruments.

CAREER

In 2012, Strings was asked to perform with Don Julin, a mandolin player from Traverse City, Michigan, and author of Mandolin For Dummies. Over the next four years, the pair continued to perform together and recorded and released two collaborative albums: Rock of Ages (2013) and Fiddle Tune X (2014).

The International Bluegrass Music Association awarded Strings with the 2016 Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the year and that same year, he was named by Bluegrass Situation as a scene tastemaker.

2017 saw Strings named by Rolling Stone as one of the Top Ten New Country Artists to Know in 2017. That September, he released his debut album, Turmoil and Tinfoil, which was named by Lisa Snedeker of HuffPost as one of the best albums of 2017. The album reached number three on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart. That year, he was named one of the six new rising stars of bluegrass by Acoustic Guitar magazine and released two collaborative singles with Molly Tuttle: "Sittin' on Top of the World" and "Billy in the Lowground."

The following February, the magazine published an article titled Bluegrass Prodigy Billy Strings Plots 2018 Spring Tour, calling him "one of the latest breakneck guitar pickers to emerge in the bluegrass world." That March, PBS announced that Billy was to play as part of the renowned series Bluegrass Underground, where he would be the first performer to play in the new cave where the series now films in the caverns of Pelham, Tennessee.

In July 2019, he was signed to Rounder Records, releasing the album Home on the label that September. The album reached number one on the Heatseekers Albums and Bluegrass Albums charts and number 11 on the Emerging Artists chart. On September 26, he was voted the International Bluegrass Music Association Guitar Player of the Year.

In March 2021, Home won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. That summer, he joined Bill Kreutzmann's Billy & the Kids for a number of shows. On September 24, 2021, he released Renewal, his third studio album. As with its predecessor, it topped the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart.

2022-present: Me/And/Dad

Strings was nominated for six awards at the 2022 International Bluegrass Music Awards. For the second consecutive year, he won Entertainer of the Year. His track "Red Daisy" also won Song of the Year.

On October 3, 2022, he announced that his next album would be a joint project with his father, Terry Barber, titled Me/And/Dad. It is a collection of traditional, country and bluegrass music from George Jones, Doc Watson, Hank Thompson, A.P. Carter, and others.