Billy Strings Discusses New Album, Journey To Stardom & More On ‘WTF With Marc Maron’ Podcast

Guitarist Billy Strings was the featured guest on the latest episode of WTF Podcast. The Grammy-winning musician spoke with host Marc Maron about the oft-turbulent road he’s traveled to stardom, his long-awaited new studio album and much more.

Billy Strings revealed the likely name of his next album is Highway Prayers. The guitarist said recording of the Jon Brion-produced follow-up to 2021’s Renewal was done and the LP was in the mixing phase as of the time of his chat with Maron. “There’s a lot of tunes about travel and cars and Richard Petty and stuff like that,” Strings said of the album.

Strings had been pondering what to call the album and eventually had an epiphany:

“Just a couple of weeks ago, I’m collecting these songs. I start reading the songs and looking at the lyrics and I go, wait, well this one’s called this and this one’s called that, and that’s about travel. And there’s two songs about a car. And then there’s this, and it is like, this is a song about cars and traveling and stuff. Or a record about that, you know. So I’m just like kind of thinking about, well, what does it feel like to be on the highway and what is music to me when I’m traveling? It’s medicine, you know? I’ve listened to so much John Hartford on the road, and he’s kept it between the lines for me. I just wanted to make a record that is kind of something somebody can put on when they got an hour drive or more ahead of ’em. Highway prayers. Highway hymnals.”

The guitarist also discussed his decision to continue on with a pre-planned fishing trip with friends instead of taking Sturgill Simpson up on an offer to contribute on his Cuttin’ Grass bluegrass album. Strings talked about ingesting LSD during the ensuing fishing trip and spoke about his history with drugs. He noted he’s never had a bad experience with psychedelics but did have a terrible time when he once smoked synthetic marijuana as a teenager. Strings did watch substance abuse hinder the paths of many of those around him.

Billy Strings dove deep into his upbringing in Michigan and all the lessons he learned from his step-dad, Terry Barber, who he truly considers his real father. “He just stepped in and raised us up and that man taught me how to tie my shoes and wipe my ass,” Strings — who was two when his biological dad died from a heroin overdose — told Maron. “I am so his son, when I view the world, I look through a lens that is him. He taught me how to be the man that I am.”

The 31-year-old musician also told the heartwarming story of throwing a fit and convincing Barber to buy him a guitar when he was 4. Barber started showing him chords immediately and introduced Strings to a wide array of music that helped pave the way for his career. Other topics hit upon were the time Strings met Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, the years he spent performing with Don Julin, why he stopped drinking alcohol, moving from his native Michigan to Nashville and the huge role Greensky Bluegrass played in opening him up to improvisation and the music of the Grateful Dead. The lengthy conversation concluded with a solo acoustic guitar performance from Strings of the Delmore Brothers’ “Brown’s Ferry Blues” in the style of Doc Watson.

Listen to Billy Strings’ appearance on WTF With Marc Maron below or via this link: