Spotlight Album Review: Billy Strings "Highway Prayers"

BILLY STRINGS – HIGHWAY PRAYERS

I first met guitarist Billy Strings about 10 years ago at the Folk Alliance conference in Memphis. Then in his early 20’s, he was playing with an older mandolin player, Don Julin, and it was clear he was something special. Raised William Lee Apostol in Michigan, he was schooled in bluegrass by his stepfather and mastered the art early on. After a couple of albums with Julin, he moved to Nashville, where he quickly established himself, and recorded his first full-length, the self-released Turmoil and Tinfoil. Three albums on Rounder followed before he was signed to Reprise Records this year. He released a live album while he was recording his new studio album, Highway Prayers, and it’s a bluegrass-based beauty!

Highway Prayers was produced in L.A. and Nashville by the veteran producer Jon Brion (Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple). It’s an expansive 20 tracks, and while there’s some filler, there are plenty of gems. The title reflects Billy’s non-stop touring, with his growing popularity leading to regular arena gigs. It features his five-piece touring band at its core (some of whom co-write with Billy), supplemented by guests such as Lindsay Lou and Jerry Douglas. The opening track, “Leaning on a Travelin’ Song” has an acapella opening before kicking into a high lonesome romp with typical mandolin-fiddle-guitar bluegrass solos and shout-outs to some of the cities they’ve passed though.

The second, “In the Clear,” reflects the touring life and shows Billy’s talents as a guitar virtuoso “Cabin Song” and a wordsmith:

They say heaven knows the road is slow
Lord how the hell would heaven know
Just where I’m supposed to go from here
How much longer before I’m in the clear

Other overt highway songs include “Gone a Long Time” and “The Beginning of the End” (“The highway keeps on calling/Can’t wait to see you folks again”). “Cabin Song” is another high lonesome song that showcases the band, as do the instrumentals “Escanaba,” “Malfunction Junction,” and “Seney Stretch.”

But there is more to Highway Prayers than just pure bluegrass. “Gild the Lily” has a mid-tempo Grateful Dead groove. The medley of “Stratosphere/I Believe in You” starts psychedelic before segueing into folk, featuring fiddler Alex Hargreaves (Brooklyn-based but now part of Billy’s band). “Seven Weeks in County” is one of the strong narrative songs, a tale of being framed in jail with the feel of “Ghost Riders in the Sky”:

I’ve got seven weeks in county boys, but I don’t blame the man
I’ve won and lost some poker chips, but I won’t blame the hand
It’s been seven years of famine, but I never blamed the land
Just give me peace and quiet boss, I’ll take it where I can

Another, more comic brush with the law is “Catch and Release,” a talking blues that would do Arlo Guthrie or Charlie Daniels proud about being busted for pot on his way to go fishing by a state trooper:

So that there’s my story and I want you to know
If you’re gonna go fishing ya better take it slow
Better look both ways and keep’er in line
Let this be a lesson to you and your partners in crime
Always watch your 6 and 9, Don’t roll through the stop signs, you don’t always need to make the verses rhyme, don’t be mixing liquor with your wine, if you feel so inclined, keep me in mind
And by the way, only break one law at a time

Another potential for getting busted is “Leadfoot,” a high-energy banjo-driven tune about a guy putting the pedal to the metal in a soup-up car (“Well Leadfoot Leadfoot racing from the sun/Got a 502 in an old Chevelle, he’s lettin’ them ponies run”). Billy is credited with playing all the instruments on the track (except drums), including a 1972 Chevelle sound effect in the opening. Apparently, that’s Billy’s own car, shown on the cover, proving he’s as devoted to speed in his driving as his guitar playing.  (The video for the song is a hoot!)

The album closes on an automotive note, with a shout-out to a race car legend in the title “Richard Petty.” It’s an acapella gospel quartet number:

One of these days
I’m gonna find me a better way to live my life
And carry on without the strife
I know it won’t come easy
But believe me when I say
I’m gonna wake up
And change my ways

I’m not sure what Billy is saying about his professional or personal life. He told WFUV that the thing he was most grateful for in 2024 was the birth of his son, River. Considering that Highway Prayers is the first time in 22 years that a bluegrass album has been the top-selling album across all genres (the last album to accomplish this was the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack in March 2002), it’s been quite a year. But with a humbleness in his talent, it looks like the highway is full speed ahead without speed bumps for his career.

Photo credit: Dana Trippe