A recent move to Nashville has been a huge learning experience for the musician.
High-energy multi-instrumentalist Billy Strings is returning to Hoxeyville Music Festival, Aug 18-20. But this time, the Michigan native is traveling from his new home in East Nashville.
His show is always a crowd favorite at the festival, and this year promises no different as the 24-year-old « picker » extraordinaire debuts original music from his new album, « Turmoil and Tinfoil, » a mix of bluegrass, jamgrass and old-timey ballads due out in September.
« While I love the magic of East Nashville, I miss Lake Michigan something fierce, » he said, noting he’s on tour at music festivals and in clubs about 200 days a year. « A musician like me can’t make a living at home. We play lots of gigs and tour and tour.
« We play anywhere, even in the van going down the road. Well, not the driver, he can only sing, » he joked.
« I love Hoxeyville. All my friends are there. Where else can you hang out in the woods until four in the morning playing music? »
Strings has opened for and played on stage with Greensky Bluegrass, the festival headliners, as well as Del McCoury, Grammy winner Sam Bush and Leftover Salmon, to name a few.
Strings, whose real name is William Apostol, received the IBMA 2016 Momentum Awards Instrumentalist of the Year for guitar, banjo and mandolin.
The move to Nashville has been a huge learning experience for the musician.
« I’m performing with guitar players who can play circles around me, » he said. « There’s an unbelievable community of musicians here. I mean, there are some ‘slick pickers.' »
In Nashville, he works with fellow bandmates, banjo player Billy Failing, mandolinist Drew Matulich and bassist Royal Masat, experimenting with new — and old — sounds.
The new album « sounds like the past and the future all at the same time, » he said. « It’s like riding through the cosmos. »
