Strings\u2019 success is surely a testament to his extraordinary guitar playing, his convincing vocal delivery and harmony-rich arrangements, and his high-energy performance style. But it\u2019s equally rooted in his earthy, hooky songs, which transpose the world-weary yet whimsical and often homesick themes of classic bluegrass into distinctly modern contexts: hard drug addiction; the slow ruin of alcoholism; battles with negative self-talk. It\u2019s why so many fans\u2014some call themselves \u201cBilly Goats\u201d\u2014refer to his music as their \u201cdaily bread.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Strings phenomenon goes far beyond Nashville. His spring tour found him headlining arenas across the States and alongside alongside Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan at the Outlaw Festival. Strings has also taken his post-psychedelic bluegrass gospel to sold-out crowds across Europe, and this summer\u2019s Australian tour brings him to arena-sized venues in Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, and Brisbane. He\u2019s also a two-time Grammy winner for Best Bluegrass Album: Home<\/a><\/em> in 2021 and Live Vol. 1<\/a><\/em> this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now settled into married life and new fatherhood, Strings has reached milestones once unimaginable for a working-class kid from Lansing, Michigan. His latest triumph: the launch of two signature Martin dreadnoughts\u2014both reviewed in this issue<\/a>\u2014following the quick sellout of his limited-edition Preston Thompson signature model in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I spoke with Strings shortly after his Bridgestone Arena shows to dig into his roots, his ever-expanding sound, and the lessons he\u2019s learning along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ve described being aware of bluegrass guitar as early as age two, when your father began playing Doc Watson songs on his D-28 around the house. How do you think that informed your early development as a player?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My first memories are learning how to just sort of hum tunes with my guitar while I played rhythm. When I was like six years old, I was my dad\u2019s little rhythm player, playing tunes like Doc Watson\u2019s \u201cSalt Creek,\u201d \u201cBeaumont Rag,\u201d \u201cBlack Mountain Rag\u2014all those bluegrass standards. My dad would be playing the melody, and even more than, say, what measure we were on, it was the melody that signaled me which chord to go to next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I spent those early formative years strictly playing rhythm and listening hard to those classic melodies. When I graduated to playing leads and melodies, it was still kind of like humming a little kid\u2019s tune to me, but now I was actually doing it on my guitar. From listening and playing along, I just knew, even before I was ten, where the sounds could be found on the fretboard, so I could just pick out the melodies like I was singing \u201cMary Had a Little Lamb\u201d or something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Was it intuitive for you to exploit the open strings in those fiddle-style melodic figures, or was it a matter of learning how to incorporate them? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Open strings are obviously really important in this music\u2014all your money\u2019s in the first five frets in bluegrass flatpicking. But no, I never had to think about whether the note was an open string or not. Either it would be an open string or it wouldn\u2019t, but I didn\u2019t have to think about it; it just came naturally based on what I had heard and seen my dad do. I feel really lucky that I started playing from that foundation of keeping the rhythm and letting the melodies sink in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes my dad would capo up on the second fret, while I stayed in standard, which is a lot like the whole Doc and Merle Watson thing, where if one person\u2019s playing an open E chord, the other player can capo on the fourth fret and play out of a C position, and exploit open strings there, too. Or, if you\u2019re playing in the key of B, for example, you can just fly that capo up to the fourth fret, and you suddenly have all your open-string G-position licks available to you. I love that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s not to say that closed voicings aren\u2019t great for bluegrass, but it\u2019s a very different sound. There are some great players that used closed voicings: Chris Eldridge can do that, Michael Daves does that a lot, and of course Tony Rice did a lot of that later on when he started hanging out with David Grisman and learning a lot more jazz theory and voicings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a good example: On the tune \u201cFish Scale,\u201d from those great early David Grisman Quintet recordings, Rice is playing that head in the first five frets, with lots of open strings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then, later on in his career, you can actually hear him playing that same basic melody in closed positions up on the seventh fret. I find that so interesting as he got more familiar with the fretboard and started exploring jazz chords and arpeggios, that he finds different fingerings to play the same tune. Tony was always refining his craft, you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n You seem to be taking a similar path, fusing your bluegrass roots with a modal approach to rock-style soloing. And likewise, you\u2019re still a serious student of guitar, even with all the accolades that have come your way.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s funny. I\u2019ve been playing my whole life, right? I grew up playing bluegrass around a campfire, and I jumped right into learning fiddle tunes and stuff like that. I thought everyone did that. Music was just like oxygen around our house. It was what you needed to breathe, and luckily I always had a good ear\u2014I could hear something and immediately play it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I first hit the road touring when I was 19, and I literally haven\u2019t stopped. It\u2019s been an amazing ride, but at some point I came to the realization that I really didn\u2019t know what the hell I was doing, at least from any theoretical point of view. I didn\u2019t know any of the names for anything I was playing. I\u2019m being thrown into recording sessions with people like B\u00e9la Fleck, and all these players are talking about how the tune is built from the chords of harmonic minor, or whatever\u2014all this heavy musical language. I felt like I was the little infant in the room that didn\u2019t really know what anybody was talking about, but was pretending to [laughs<\/em>]!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also started getting tired of playing the same types of licks and sounds over and over. I had to have a little talk with my licks: \u201cI love you, licks. You got me here, but you really need some new friends.\u201d So, a couple of years ago, I decided to do something about it, and I started taking proper, regular guitar lessons for the first time, with real assignments and practice routines, with the folks at Sonora Guitar Intensive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bryan Sutton has been a huge influence, as has my main teacher now, Robb Cappelletto, who has me learning pieces by Bach and Coltrane, stuff I never would have been exposed to before, and doing it all with flatpicking technique. It\u2019s made me realize how helpful a real regimented and regular practice routine can be. It\u2019s a little weird that I had never done that before. I mean, I had a Grammy before I even started taking proper guitar lessons [laughs<\/em>]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I can see why that\u2019s an odd position to be in, though it must be said that your playing, even early in your career, was always extremely high-level. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I appreciate that, man. But in a way, it did become a little uncomfortable having so many people tell me how good they thought I was when, really, I hadn\u2019t actually impressed myself<\/em> all that much yet. When I\u2019d hear those kinds of compliments, I\u2019d think, um, have you heard Jake Workman play? Do you know Bryan Sutton? What about Molly Tuttle? And have you listened to Cody Kilby or Jake Stargel? I have a lot of people coming to my shows, and I\u2019m really grateful for that, but I ain\u2019t a better player than those cats, man. Thing is, I want to be as good as them\u2014or maybe I should say I want to be that good at being me<\/em>. That\u2019s it. I want to impress myself, and I feel like I\u2019ve never fully done that yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, I know it\u2019s not all about technique. My first motivation to play the guitar came from watching what would happen when friends of my folks would come over and my dad would be playing all these great tunes on his Martin, and just seeing the joy on everyone\u2019s faces. As a little kid of three or four years old, I knew I wanted to do that, too, and that\u2019s still a big part of what I do. Thing is, though, once you get into bluegrass, and you start wanting to learn how to play \u201cBlack Mountain Rag,\u201d you quickly realize that you\u2019re going to have to develop some real technique. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To this day, I\u2019m very aware that when I put the hours in at home and really practice diligently, I\u2019ll have a much better hold on things when I\u2019m back out there onstage, and because of that, I can bring even more joy to people. And it\u2019s because I\u2019m warmed up; it\u2019s directly because of all the practice that I\u2019m able to play as freely as I do. It\u2019s not just for technique\u2019s sake alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s really interesting to me the way you apply flatpicking to more bluesy, even fusion-style electric guitar territory, using the K&K Double Helix and Kemper Profiler, which is the last thing one expects out of a dreadnought.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, when I was a teenager, I was actually in an original rock band, and I loved playing that riff- and blues-based stuff like Black Sabbath, Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin\u2014playing my little Squier electric through a Pignose amp out in front of the gas station. Thing is, I just don\u2019t feel as comfortable on an electric guitar, so having the Double Helix pickup in my acoustics lets me switch back and forth from rock soloing to bluegrass picking without changing guitars. Bending on those 13-gauge strings is definitely the biggest challenge. Even 12s are no joke to bend on, but the 13s are really hard on my hands. Just lately, I\u2019ve been working on sliding up to those same notes that you\u2019d typically bend up to on an electric, and that\u2019s been cool. I do like to step on the fuzz pedal and really soar. It\u2019s such a different feeling from bluegrass technique. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The arenas you\u2019ve been playing lately certainly aren\u2019t typical venues for bluegrass artists. Between that and the whole celebrity buzz around you, does it feel like a challenge to keep it all down to earth?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Back when I first started my career, I used to wear a suit and slick my hair back, because that\u2019s how all the old bluegrass guys looked, and I was just so knocked out when I saw those kinds of players at festivals for the first time. A part of me thought that I had to do that, but eventually it felt inauthentic, like I was putting on a costume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These days it feels more comfortable for me to strip all that stuff away and keep my head in my guitar and my singing, and try to outmaneuver most of the extra stuff that comes along with this industry, but I admit it\u2019s a lot to handle. Look, I love having our amazing light show and our awesome production. The people in our crew are really talented, and they provide a really entertaining show for the folks. That said, it\u2019s nice to just strip it down, shine a single light on me and the band with just our fully acoustic instruments, and stand around a microphone and sing. So we make it a point to do that for a few songs at every show. At the end of the day, most everything I do comes from Doc Watson, and so that\u2019s home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If anything, what\u2019s changed things the most for me is becoming a dad last year. Music has always been my main thing. It\u2019s always been how I\u2019ve gotten through the tough times and how I\u2019ve made friends. I\u2019m a pretty shy person, but I pick up the guitar, and it becomes a lot easier for me to talk to people. During this wild rise of the last few years, there\u2019s been a lot of pressure. I\u2019m really hard on myself about the music, and I genuinely want to sing and play really well every night. Plus, I\u2019ve got a lot of plates that I\u2019m spinning in the air between being a bandleader and helping to manage a business. I try to keep everybody who works with me happy and try to keep everybody entertained at every show. It\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But lately I find that if I\u2019m onstage stressing about everything being perfect, I can look up and imagine my little boy\u2019s big gummy smile when I get home, and it really frees me to not worry so much. I used to think that I wrote my best songs when things were difficult or painful for me, but lately I\u2019m aware that I\u2019m playing better and much more freely than I ever used to, and it\u2019s because I\u2019m just in a better place in my life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s Tobe Bean\u2019s world\u2014I\u2019m just living in it,\u201d jokes Billy Strings. Bean, the veteran guitar tech whose CV includes stints with artists as diverse as John Mellencamp and Marilyn Manson, says of his boss, \u201cI\u2019ve worked for a lot of amazing guitar players in my time, but I\u2019ve never seen anybody play like Billy Strings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With two mammoth full-sized processing racks behind him, Bean hands me Strings\u2019 no. 1 Preston Thompson DBA dreadnought, strung with 13s, and asks me to try bending a few notes. He switches to the guitar\u2019s K&K Helix soundhole pickup, which Strings uses to drive a Kemper Profiler Soldano SLO-100 patch for electric-style lead work. \u201cThing is, the kid absolutely wails on these,\u201d shrugs Bean. \u201cBending notes like Hendrix. It\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strings\u2019 massive offstage processing towers may appear to be overkill\u2014and in lesser hands, they might be. But his precise phrasing and smart use of effects yield punchy rhythm work, psychedelic detours, and a lead tone that, as Bean puts it, hits \u201clike the throaty neck pickup on a Gibson Les Paul or ES-335.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strings\u2019 main acoustic onstage is a 2017 Preston Thompson DBA, nicknamed Frankenstein for its many mods and Old Faithful for its years of service. Like most of his acoustics\u2014including his backup Thompson, aka Bride of Frankenstein\u2014it\u2019s outfitted with three transducers: a K&K Pure Mini pickup; a Shure WB98H\/C clip-on mic for the house mix; and a K&K Double Helix in the soundhole for electric tones, switched on and off via a discreet lower-bout toggle. \u201cSome people may find that a little blasphemous on such a nice guitar,\u201d Strings says, \u201cbut it\u2019s what works for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each acoustic\u2019s K&K Pure Mini gets added warmth, gain, and EQ shaping via a Grace Audio BiX preamp. Like his blinged-out Martin D-45, the two Thompsons are outfitted with D\u2019Addario XS phosphor bronze (.013\u2013.056) strings. Strings uses Elliott Capos\u2014favoring the fourth fret \u201cfor playing all your G licks in B\u201d\u2014and BlueChip TP48 picks for precise flatpicking and a silky top end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a Two-Rock amplifier in tow, and the Kemper Profiler mentioned above, it\u2019s no surprise that the electric-curious Strings calls on dozens of boutique effects pedals as well. Among his favorites are his signature Chase Bliss Wombtone; Source Audio Nemesis Delay and C4 Synth; DigiTech Polara, NativeAudio Pretty Bird Woman chorus\/vibrato; Eventide H9 multi-effector; and Electro-Harmonix Freeze, PitchFork, and Intelligent Harmony Machine. Strings controls the chaos from his onstage perch with a clutch of expression and volume pedals and an imposing RJM Mastermind GT-2 MIDI Switcher, along with a Radial SW4 Balanced Switcher and Radial JX44 Guitar Signal Manager and Switcher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One guitar remains untouched: Strings\u2019 cherished 1940 Martin D-28, free of pickups or mods, and always close at hand for pre-show warm-ups and hotel room picking. It also served as the blueprint for Martin\u2019s new D-28 Billy Strings and D-X2E signature models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Martin D-28 is just so American\u2014it\u2019s like baseball or something,\u201d says Strings. \u201cIt\u2019s the sound that\u2019s captivated bluegrass guitarists for decades, including me. \u2014JVR<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Billy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/BillyStrings_5499-5-BS_DanaTrippe.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024&ssl=1\")
![\"Not](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/030125_BridgestoneArenaN2_JesseFaatz-7390.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
![\"Backstage](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/022225_StateFarmArenaATL_JesseFaatz-8683.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1\")
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Wired for Bluegrass<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>\n