Billy Strings

William Apostol – born on October 3, 1992, in Lansing, Michigan – is a bluegrass and Americana musician better known by his stage name Billy Strings. He’s a multi-instrumentalist who plays traditional bluegrass instruments such as guitar, banjo, and mandolin. During his early years while growing up in both Morehead, Kentucky and Muir, Michigan, his stepfather introduced him to classic bluegrass music by artists such as Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, David Grisman, Doc Watson and any others. In his teens, he discovered rock artists such as Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, and others. After years of practice, he began collaborating with mandolin player Don Julin in 2012. The duo released a pair of albums – Rock of Ages (2013) and Fiddle Tune X (2014) – before Billy Strings went solo and released the album Turmoil and Tinfoil (2017) to great acclaim. Awards, honors, and accolades came pouring in from Rolling Stone magazine, the International Bluegrass Music Association, Bluegrass Situation, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and more. Billy Strings toured frequently, sharing stages with Dierks Bentley, Widespread Panic, the Infamous Stringdusters, the String Cheese Incident, and many others. Signing to Rounder Records, he released the album Home (2019), which hit Number 1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass chart as well as the top of the Heatseekers chart. He followed that album with 2021’s Renewal, reaching Number 1 on the Bluegrass chart as well as reaching the Top 10 on the Country chart and Top 100 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. In 2022, he collaborated with his stepfather Terry Barber – a bluegrass musician – on the Me/And/Dad EP. A popular live performer throughout his career, he released Billy Strings Live, Vol. 1, his first live album, in 2024, followed the same year by the studio LP Highway Prayers. The album became Billy Strings' first album to top Billboard's all-genre Top Album Sales chart, making it the first bluegrass record in 22 years to achieve the feat. In 2025, Billy Strings Live, Vol. 1 won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album, while Billy Strings reunited with guitarist Bryan Sutton for Live at the Legion, a collection of traditional bluegrass and folk songs recorded in Nashville. He also revisited material from Highway Prayers on the Apple Music Nashville Sessions EP and continued extensive arena touring across North America and Europe. At the 2026 Grammy Awards, Highway Prayers earned Strings another Best Bluegrass Album victory, bringing his career total to three Grammys. He subsequently joined Sutton on "The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap" and recorded "If You're Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough" for Jackass: Best and Last. In June 2026, Billy Strings announced his fifth studio album, So Much for Goodbyes, produced with T Bone Burnett and dedicated to his late mother, Debra Apostol. The 16-track record was preceded by "Burn the Other End," "Mill Town Flood," and "10,000 Miles From a Friend" and was released through Reprise on August 28, 2026.

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