Billy Strings Wants To Jam With King Gizzard, Turned Down Sturgill Simpson & More Learned From Ask Me Anything Session

Guitarist Billy Strings returned to Reddit on Saturday to participate in his second Ask Me Anything session. Strings spent two hours responding to a wide variety of questions asked by fans.

The Grammy-winning musician’s session was at times hilarious, at others informative and at others heartwarming. The latter came when a teacher in Michigan shared a photo of her 5th Grade class in 1969 that included Billy’s biological father, William Apostol. Strings’ dad died when Billy was just 2 years old. The guitarist confirmed the child in the picture was indeed his dad and thanked the teacher for the story and kind words she posted. He also shared the story of how he met his wife Ally and what he’s learned from therapy.

Plenty of the session was about Billy’s music. When asked who is “someone you always wanted to jam with,” Strings responded “I wanna jam with GIZZ” in reference to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Billy also confirmed he turned down an offer from Sturgill Simpson to collaborate on his Cuttin’ Grass bluegrass albums in favor of a fishing trip. “yeah, its true. I mean we already had the trip planned and I would have had to bail out on my friends,” Strings wrote. “I hated to miss those sessions and I often wondered if sturgill felt slighted in any way because of it .. I sure hope not.. but we kayaked and caught some smallmouth and it was great.”

Another topic that came up is Billy Strings’ long-awaited follow-up to his 2021 studio album, Renewal. Strings revealed his next LP will be released in the fall, that he’s almost finished with it and that it will include “My Alice.”

Billy also addressed his long-in-the-making collaborative album with Les Claypool. “we were getting together there for a while working on tunes whenever we weren’t fishing,” Strings wrote. “we’re trying to make an album about fishing. we got a handful of tunes, just need to find some more time to get together, but the fish are always biting.”

Last year, Strings invited a bevy of musicians including Claypool, Bob Weir and Trey Anastasio to his wedding. Billy was asked about the tunes played that night. “lots of songs were sang, by a few different bands,” Strings explained. “but a big one was when bob wier sang when I paint my masterpiece for me and ally and it was the sweetest thing ever. The vibes were out of this world. such a special moment,” Strings added of the Grateful Dead guitarist singing the Bob Dylan classic.

A particularly funny moment came when Billy responded to a fan who took him to task for drawing a “lil dick” on his arm when asked for his signature. “aww man I thought you’d like it! I always want to draw dick on people instead of signing them but this time I just let my impulse win!” Strings exclaimed. He then offered to send his a real signature.

Head to Reddit for more from the Billy Strings Ask Me Anything session. Billy Strings launches his spring tour on April 12 in Tampa, Florida. Scroll below to view a complete list of tour dates.