WITH REHEARSALS FOR his tour just a week away, rising indie-rock star Bartees Strange is surrounded by his favorite guitars and amplifiers. From all indications, this is the hard part of the job.
“If you could see me right now, I have all of my amps in a circle around me and, like, five guitars,” Strange says over the phone from his home in Virginia. “And I’m just like, ‘What’s going to be the perfect combination?’ I can’t figure it out.”
Whether he’s strapped with his Gibson ’59 ES-335 Reissue, ’67 Epiphone Casino or ’59 Fender Jazzmaster, Strange will show up ready to blaze. Over the past year, he’s toured with indie vanguards like Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Car Seat Headrest. But as one can tell from his latest album, (4AD), his own music is a fusion of styles and influences stretching back to his youth, when
