Billy Strings is a bluegrass musician, guitarist, singer, and composer from the United States. He has put out four studio albums, including Home, which took home the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2021. He also received the award for Live Vol. 1 in 2025.
Who is Billy Strings?
Billy Strings was born William Lee Apostol on October 3, 1992, in Lansing, Michigan. Strings views Terry Barber, a successful amateur bluegrass musician, as his father after his mother remarried him after his father passed away from a heroin overdose when he was two years old. Later, the family relocated to Muir, Michigan, and subsequently to Morehead, Kentucky.
His parents developed a methamphetamine addiction when he was still an adolescent. He went through a phase of heavy drug use after leaving the family home when he was thirteen.
Eventually, his family became sober; Billy became “California sober” and only used cannabis and other “light drugs” (psychedelics) after quitting hard narcotics and alcohol.
Barber had a significant impact on his stepson, exposing him to Doc Watson, Del McCoury, David Grisman, Bill Monroe, John Hartford, Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, Larry Sparks, and other traditional bluegrass musicians at an early age.
In addition to being a fan of rock and metal, Billy Strings played in hard rock and indie rock bands during his adolescence and was influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Widespread Panic, Phish, the Grateful Dead, Def Leppard, Between the Buried and Me, and Black Sabbath.
After observing Apostol’s proficiency on a variety of traditional bluegrass instruments, his aunt gave him the stage moniker Billy Strings.
Career
Nilly Strings was requested to play with Traverse City, Michigan, mandolinist Don Julin, who wrote Mandolin for Dummies, on a paid gig in 2012. The following four years were spent in collaboration. In 2017, Strings was listed by Rolling Stone as one of the “Top Ten New Country Artists to Know.”
Strings has been asked to perform for various artists, including Phish, Dierks Bentley, Del McCoury, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir, David Grisman, Tommy Emmanuel, Larry Keel, Sam Bush, The Marcus King Band, Greensky Bluegrass, The Infamous Stringdusters, The String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon, Widespread Panic, and Tool.
Strings has appeared on the well-known PBS musical television shows Bluegrass Underground and Austin City Limits. Among others, he has toured with Cabinet, I’m With Her, Leftover Salmon, Greensky Bluegrass, and The Infamous Stringdusters.
He has named Greensky Bluegrass in particular as a significant influence and his “favorite band” among the bands he played with early in his career.
Acoustic Guitar named Strings one of the six new bluegrass rising stars in February 2017. The songs “Sittin’ on Top of the World” and “Billy in the Lowground” were also co-written by him and Molly Tuttle.
Billy Strings will be the first performance at the new cave for the popular series Bluegrass Underground in the caverns of Pelham, Tennessee, according to a March 2018 PBS announcement.
Strings revealed the album Me/And/Dad, a collaboration with his father Terry Barber, on October 3, 2022. George Jones, Doc Watson, Hank Thompson, A.P. Carter, and others contributed to the CD, which was published in November 2022 and features traditional country and bluegrass music.
On September 27, 2024, Strings’ fourth studio album—and first for Reprise Records—was made available. On October 12, 2024, the album became the first bluegrass album to debut at number one in Billboard’s all-genre Top Album Sales survey.
Personal Life
In 2014, Billy Strings met yoga instructor Ally Dale at the Ore Dock Brewing Co. in Marquette, Michigan, and they started dating. In the early years of his career, Dale also served as his tour manager.
After dating for nine years, they were married in a private ceremony at the Hoxeyville Music Festival venue in Wellston, Michigan, on September 9, 2023. At the ceremony, musicians Bob Weir, Les Claypool, and Trey Anastasio gave performances.
They revealed they were expecting their first child together on June 22, 2024. September 29, 2024, was the birthdate of their son.
