To adopt a name like “Billy Strings” is to assume quite a bit of responsibility in the guitar world and it’s with this responsibility Billy Strings wields great bluegrass powers. What was that thing they used to say about great power and great responsibility?
The Origin Story
Were there ever a modern maestro of bluegrass, it’s Billy Strings. Rocketing to the front of the modern bluegrass limelight, Strings has bumped elbows with more than a few of guitar’s greatest names – Phish's Trey Anastasio, The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, for example. There’s no question that Strings must identify with these legendary jam guitarists on some level. Seeing as Strings is no slouch when it comes to virtuosic bluegrass melodies, you’ve got to think, to Strings, there’s always another brighter, bluer pasture just beyond the next measure.
The Secret Sauce
Strings’s go-to instrument is a pre-war-era Martin. Traveling with him all around the world, Strings has excited with this ancient acoustic on the biggest stages bluegrass has to offer. Strings is commonly noted these days for his fast and fluid flatpicking technique that affords him the speed and space for extensive acoustic solos. Wielding his 1940 Martin like a classic country fiddle, Strings bobs and weaves through bluegrass melodies with both the soul and precision of the genre’s best players.
Our Call
The images of rolling hills and wide skies Strings conjures by his playing might lead you to believe his vision of bluegrass is limitless. Because really, what laurels would you want to rest on when your horizons have yet to end?
