BLUEGRASS BOREALIS
“I LOVE BLUEGRASS the most,” Billy Strings says, “but I want to jam and play a bit of everything I like, from folk to funk.”
On September 28, the day after Rounder Records released his sophomore album, Home, Strings was named the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player and New Artist of the Year. The 27-year-old guitarist blazes a singular path by expanding on impeccable traditional sensibilities with a psychedelic flair. He was born William Apostol in Michigan and grew up a self-confessed “grasshole,” obsessed with legend Doc Watson and modern icon Bryan Sutton. Strings’ guitar-playing father was the first to hook him on bluegrass, but his dad also exposed him to rock music. “I’ll never forget the time when I was seven and my dad made me listen to the first Black Sabbath album.” Strings says. “It scared the sh*t out of me. But it was awesome, and I became big on Black Sabbath by age 12. It wasn’t until about eight years ago that I got pulled into jam music that really stretches out.”
Strings brings it all to the table on both and with his massively popular band. Frets witnessed the first
