“My dad loved Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and he also loved Doc Watson, Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, so when my dad played Rock and Bluegrass, the two got mixed up a little bit,” Strings says from his current home in East Nashville. “That came through in his playing and I think it comes through in mine.
“When I was little, I played a lot of Doc Watson and learned all those fiddle tunes. That’s all I cared about when I was 6,7, 8 years old. But I’d hear my dad play and think, ‘Yeah, that rocks,’ and I’d try to put that flavor in my stuff. It’s not just flat-picking or machine-gun notes. I’m not afraid to bend the strings. Hell, I’ll break the strings to make some cool sounds.”
At 11, Strings got a CD Walkman for Christmas and pilfered a Johnny Winter disc and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon from his mother’s CD book. They became the soundtrack to walks to and from school that year. As a teenager, he absorbed and translated “the classic psychedelic hippie Rock thing,” which led down a new path.
“All my life, I’d been playing with my dad and his older friends, and I wanted to play with people my age,” Strings says. “I got wrapped up in the Metal scene and that was fun. We used to rent out our own venues to throw our own underground shows in Ionia and Grand Rapids.”
The boredom of small town existence is often the catalyst for alcohol and drug use, and Strings fell into that pattern. The positive that emerged from that period was the realization that he really loved Bluegrass.
“I didn’t even own an acoustic guitar at that time,” Strings says. “I went to my dad’s house and I said, ‘Teach me “Salt Creek” again.’ When I was little, I just played rhythm and he would pick out the leads. I said, ‘Teach me how to pick the leads.’ I could take a solo on a Blues riff, but I couldn’t play a fiddle tune because I had no sense of how to play the melody. Once I figured it out, I was hooked. Now it’s my electric guitar that collects dust.”
Strings expanded his Bluegrass/Folk experience working the music scene in Traverse City, but he was also employed as a hotel lobby attendant and partying heavily. After meeting music veteran Don Julin, the pair played shows together and Strings gained valuable knowledge from his mentor.
“Don and I played some music together and started getting a bunch of gigs,” Strings says. “He said, ‘If you want to do this, I’ll keep booking it.’ It got to the point where I’m looking at the hotel pay stub and the pile of cash from the week of gigs and it’s the same thing. That’s when I quit my little job — the only real day job I ever had.”
Strings also got sage advice from Blues harmonica legend Peter Madcat Ruth, who told him, “Moderation in everything, including moderation.” Strings adopted that wisdom and quit drinking just over a year ago. But Strings learned his best lesson from Bluegrass icon Sam Bush when they played a multi-band bill and all of the players hit the stage for the big finale. Bush and Strings performed their solos and then retreated.
“I took my break and then circled around to the back of the stage,” recalls Strings. “I figured, ‘Hell, there’s 20 people up here, I’ll take a drink of my beer.’ So I quit playing for a second and right then and there, I looked at Sam Bush, and his eyes were closed and he’s playing the shit out of the rhythm. He’s not anywhere near a microphone, he doesn’t care if anybody’s listening to his mandolin part, he playing for the sake of the song, giving that song every ounce of his soul. That was one of the biggest lessons ever, to me.”
Through his years of playing and gigging, Strings has met many of his musical heroes, including Del McCoury, Bryan Sutton (who plays on Strings’ upcoming full-length debut, Turmoil and Tinfoil, slated for a September release) and the great David Grisman, whose music was introduced to Strings by his father.
“I got a call from the Dawg (Grisman), and he wanted me to play guitar with him,” Strings says. “I got to sit my dad down and say, ‘This is David Grisman. You need to know him.’ Then me and Del McCoury and David Grisman and my dad got to pick for awhile. It made my dad so happy. It’s those moments — happiness, things coming full circle, family, friends, music, laughter — that’s wealth.”
Turmoil and Tinfoil will be comprised almost entirely of Strings’ original songs, performed by his longtime touring band of banjoist Billy Failing, bassist Royal Masat and mandolinist Drew Matulich. The new material will continue to showcase Strings’ Bluegrass strengths but will also explore more of his full musical range.
“We just experimented more with studio sounds,” Strings says. “We tried all sorts of stuff. EP was kind of a Bluegrass album, but there’s a lot more than just Bluegrass on this one. It’s one of those things where, stylistically, I think it’s cool. I don’t try to stop anything, I just let things flow how they’re going to go.”
To answer the obvious question, Strings is not his given name; he was born William Apostol not quite a quarter century ago. He acquired his nickname as a youngster and utilized it when he began playing out.
“I had no idea it was going to take off like this,” Strings says. “Sometimes I have to explain myself, but it’s a good nickname. I’ve had it forever and it’s very easy to remember, so I’m not going to ditch the stage name. I caused this big old wave and I’ve just got to keep riding it.”
BILLY STRINGS plays the Southgate House Revival Thursday. Tickets/more info: southgatehouse.com.
