The singer-guitarist processes the grief of losing his mom last year to a drug overdose
Billy Strings is still coming to terms with his mother’s death last June. The singer and guitarist takes one mere stop in that journey with his new album So Much for Goodbyes. Due Aug. 28, the album is Strings’ direct response to the gut punch of losing a parent to a drug overdose.
“I made this record to honor my mother. To notice and embrace this very significant period of grief in my life and make art from it. To turn my heartbreak into songs while using my guitar as a coping mechanism as I always have. It’s always been there for me to lean on through the hard times, and I figure it always will…until it’s my time to say goodbye,” Strings said in a statement.
The album announcement arrives with a new song, “Burn the Other End.” It’s an ominous, brooding stomper of a track, paired with a music video that suggests a crossing of the River Styx — the dead’s final journey.
Strings produced So Much for Goodbyes with T Bone Burnett. Releasing via Reprise Records, the LP features the artwork of Strings’ mom, Debra Apostol (Strings’ given name is William Lee Apostol).
The Grammy-winning musician is recovering from a broken leg he suffered back in April while riding his skateboard backstage after a show in Charlottesville, Virginia. He makes his anticipated return to the stage on Thursday, July 2, for a taping (and livestream) of Austin City Limits that will air later this fall. He’ll then perform on Saturday at Willie Nelson’s annual Fourth of July Picnic in Austin.
Last week, Strings posted a memorial to his mother online on the anniversary of her death. “It was the worst day of my life and it just seems like yesterday. It’s still just as sharp. Sometimes I’m afraid to go to bed because in my dreams I just cry and cry and I want her back,” he wrote. “I wonder about reincarnation. I see her everywhere.”
