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Feb. 16, 2024 - This Past Weekend - Theo Von

02:06:45

E483 Billy Strings

Billy Strings is a Grammy award-winning musician, songwriter and guitar player. His latest album “Me / And / Dad” is out now and you can catch him on tour now through the rest of the year. Billy Strings joins Theo to chat about his life in music, growing up in a tough environment in Michigan, bad trips, the time he played guitar for 48 hours straight, tweakers mining for gold, and how Bluegrass can save the world. Billy Strings: https://www.instagram.com/billystrings/ ------------------------------------------------ Tour Dates! https://theovon.com/tour New Merch: https://www.theovonstore.com ------------------------------------------------- Sponsored By: Celsius: Go to the Celsius Amazon store to check out all of their flavors. #CELSIUSBrandPartner #CELSIUSLiveFit https://amzn.to/3HbAtPJ Füm: Start the Good Habit at https://tryfum.com/THEO to save 10% off the Journey Pack today. Current: Go to http://current.com/theo to get Current. Modiphy: Visit https://www.modiphy.com/theovon for 50% off the Last Website You’ll Ever Need. ------------------------------------------------- Music: "Shine" by Bishop Gunn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3A_coTcUek ------------------------------------------------ Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to: tpwproducer@gmail.com Hit the Hotline: 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: https://www.theovon.com/fan-upload Send mail to: This Past Weekend 1906 Glen Echo Rd PO Box #159359 Nashville, TN 37215 ------------------------------------------------ Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheoVonClips Shorts Channel: https://bit.ly/3ClUj8z ------------------------------------------------ Producer: Zach https://www.instagram.com/zachdpowers Producer: Nick https://www.instagram.com/realnickdavis/ Producer: Colin https://instagram.com/colin_reiner Producer: Ben https://www.instagram.com/benbeckermusic/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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	Today's guest is that blue-eyed bluegrass bad boy.
	You know it.
	He's a Grammy Award winner.
	He has a new album, Renewal, that is out now wherever you stream music.
	He's the pride of Michigan.
	He just got back from the Grammys.
	So I'm looking forward to just getting to know him.
	Today's guest is Mr. Billy Strings.
	Shine that light on me I'll sit and tell you my stories Shine on me And I will find a song I'll be singing I love the stars I love the stars Yeah, thanks for coming in, bro.
	No problem.
	I appreciate it, man.
	Thanks for all the wild music, dude.
	No problem, man.
	That's my pleasure.
	How was the Grammys?
	You went to the Grammys?
	Yeah.
	No, it was great.
	I brought my mom and dad out there.
	No.
	And did you get to take them last time?
	I know you've been before.
	Yeah.
	No, the last time I didn't bring my parents, but this time the record that I was nominated for was actually, well, I was nominated for three things.
	But the main one for me was this record that I made called Me and Dad, which is exactly what it sounds like.
	It's a record that I made with my dad.
	And he's the one that taught me how to play and taught me all about bluegrass and stuff and taught me how to wipe my ass and tie my shoes and everything.
	So to kind of grow up and make a record with him was just a big deal, man.
	It was something that I've was like a bucket list thing for me for a long time.
	Like it had been weighing on you a little bit even?
	Exactly.
	Yeah, because I've been on tour.
	Like when I was 19, I hit the road and haven't stopped.
	And, you know, I'm like 31 now.
	And, you know, it was like, man, time just is slipping by.
	And my dad's getting older.
	And I need to make this record.
	And then gigs just keep getting booked.
	And it's like, well, when am I even going to make it?
	And so eventually I just went to my manager and said, yo, let's block off time.
	I need to make a record with my dad.
	Like, he's getting older.
	I'm getting old.
	You know, it's time.
	Like, we got to do this.
	So we did it.
	And it was awesome.
	You know, we got nominated for a Grammy.
	Brought my folks out there and, you know, had them posted up at the Sunset Marquee and just like showed them a great time, you know?
	Yeah.
	And that had to feel pretty amazing just because I think a lot of people want to have that moment where they kind of pay homage to a family member, somebody who's gotten them emotionally there sometimes, you know?
	It's everything to me.
	My dad is just, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't know anything about bluegrass music and Doc Watson and all the stuff that I cut my teeth on.
	And is the reason why I have a good life today and, you know, a career and everything.
	It's all because of when I was a little kid, he was so inspiring.
	You know, he's just sitting around picking.
	And he was like, everybody's kind of, like, we'd have parties and stuff.
	And everybody would just be sitting around vibing and smoking a couple of joints, having a few beers.
	And my dad would be playing until he's like red in the face and everybody's singing along.
	And just I was a little kid being like, damn, my dad's fucking cool as hell.
	You know what I mean?
	And I want to be like that when I grow up.
	And so it was, I was a little shit already wanting to be a bluegrass musician.
	So it's like what I've always wanted to do.
	So it's, you know, it's all because of him and bringing him out there and like walking on the red carpet with him and shit.
	You know, he's, he's small town old country folk.
	Like, you know, it was, it was hilarious.
	We were doing this interview for like Billboard or some shit.
	And the guy's like, oh my God, you guys look fabulous.
	Who are you wearing?
	And my dad's like, well, these are Levi's.
	And my son bought me this shirt.
	And I got my jacket at a Western store.
	And I was just like, this is fucking the best thing ever.
	What are you wearing?
	Hand me up.
	Who are you wearing?
	It's like, Levi's.
	This is my cousins.
	The guy asked us too, asked my dad, like, who, if you could meet anybody here at the, you know, Grammys, who would you want to meet?
	And he said, Tommy Emmanuel, which is so awesome.
	He's just like an amazing guitar player.
	Tommy Emmanuel was?
	Yeah.
	Well, he is, you know.
	Oh, sorry.
	Bring him up.
	Yeah.
	And then he, you know, he ended up meeting Tommy that day.
	So it was just, yeah, it's crazy.
	And who does Tommy play for?
	Wow.
	He's just the man himself, man.
	He plays solo.
	Oh, I'm not even familiar with him.
	Oh, man.
	He's a killer.
	Yeah.
	He's a monster.
	And he's in Australia.
	And yeah, I'm going to Australia in just a week or so.
	Wow.
	Yeah, Tommy Emanuel, he's like, you know, grew up kind of...
	He knows a lot of, I mean, he can flat pick, he can play finger style, he can do everything, but he's a motherfucker on the guitar, man.
	There's a lot of good guitar players.
	I think, I don't know if Tommy lives around here, but there's this other guy, Jack Pearson, that lives here in town, too, that's, like, sort of...
	I feel like a lot of people don't really know about him.
	But he's like the best guitar player I've ever seen in my life, I think.
	Jack Pearson?
	Jack Pearson.
	You get a look at him.
	Man.
	Oh, yeah.
	He's literally the guitar player's guitar player.
	He's the man.
	Jack Pearson, yeah, man.
	He looks like an adventurous guy.
	What makes you say that?
	What makes you admire somebody so much on the guitar?
	Well, I feel like when Jack Pearson touches the guitar, it's kind of like effortless.
	You know, for me, it's hard.
	It takes a lot of work.
	And, you know, I think people that are when you see a true master sit down at their instrument, like at the piano or on their guitar or whatever it is, it's just like breathing for them.
	You know, I mean, watching Jack Pearson's fingers go over the fretboard is just like water.
	You know, it's just so smooth.
	I'm just like, how is that even possible?
	Well, for you to say, how is that even possible?
	It's interesting to hear like somebody who a lot of people would consider amazing at something, how they then see somebody that's amazing at something, you know.
	I'm like, I'm a player, and I've always been a player, but I'm not a master.
	You know, I'm not a Jedi yet.
	You know, there are people that are Jedis on their instruments, bro.
	Wow.
	That's really.
	And then they stick me in the room with them and say, go play.
	And I'm like, oh, fuck, I don't belong here.
	I recently just did this thing with Chris Thieley and Corey Henry, who are Chris Thiele is a literally MacArthur Grant award-winning genius, like the best in the world at his instrument.
	Yeah.
	And what does he play?
	The mandolin.
	Oh, the mandolin.
	Yeah, man.
	There's a famous song, Mandolin Rain, right?
	Mandolin Rain.
	My friend Josh Kelly plays the mandolin.
	He.
	Yeah, it was originally by Hornsby and Range, Bruce Hornsby.
	And then I think he re-washed when you re- Like a remix or redo it?
	Remastered a song or re-did a song, yeah.
	Covered, yeah.
	Covered it.
	Mandolin Rain, yeah.
	So were you see, so you're sitting there at the Grammys with your parents.
	Yeah.
	And you're nominated.
	Wow, bro.
	So that energy, when you're sitting there, because I've never been there, right?
	So like when you're sitting there, is it like, and you know, like, how long do you know that your award is coming up next or something?
	Like, how much?
	Yeah, I mean, to be honest, we were kind of sitting there and like waiting for ours to come.
	And I would kind of go out and, you know, get a little, I got some nachos and shit and I would chill and I'd come back and are we up yet, you know, kind of thing.
	And it was great.
	The performances were great and we were having a good time.
	Just like, I have a hard time sometimes being in loud environments because I like my ears ring constantly and I'm super sensitive to like if I'm in a restaurant and somebody scratches their fork on their plate or something, like, dude, I'll snap.
	Dude, I will literally call the fucking police on somebody who bangs their server against their plate too loudly.
	I don't know what it is.
	I know what it is.
	It's unbelievable somebody would do that.
	If there's a business that has chairs that when people pull them out, they make the most insane screeching sound and ruin the experience.
	And I will never go back to there.
	I will Google review there, but I will never return.
	There's a coffee place nearby.
	Somebody pulled a chair out the other day.
	I used to love that place.
	I will fucking not even drive by there in the daytime anymore.
	I will go around because I don't even want to bring my energy over there where people are scraping stuff on the floor.
	But yeah.
	Yeah.
	So do you guys get like burnt, like you said, your ears ring?
	Is that a common thing amongst like, I guess, musicians?
	I never even thought about that.
	Yeah, I mean, some people get it.
	It's called like tinnitus or tinnitus.
	Oh, yeah, I've heard of tinnitus.
	Wait, how does it say that it's pronounced?
	Because this is the actual audiologist lady, when I went there and they, the doctor lady, she calls it tinnitus.
	But I'm like, I don't get fucking arthritis.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	I don't get it.
	It's called tinnitus, right?
	Yeah.
	Yeah, I'm not in like a shingillicus or whatever.
	Or like in a wheelchair.
	Tinnitus.
	No way.
	Tinnitus.
	That's what it says.
	Tinnitus.
	Oh, Tinatus, I think, is something you get in Memphis, probably.
	It's a little bit more.
	Tinnitus.
	Yeah, but that lady's the same lady in my cart.
	That lady is not.
	I don't trust that lady.
	Yeah, she can't even tell.
	Like when I play a song, she can't even recognize it on the fucking phone.
	She can't recognize A, my sister's name, okay?
	I can't call my sister anymore because that lady won't let me.
	And she can't even get me to Murfreesboro.
	So, yeah, I'm out.
	Do you know in advance at the Grammys if you're going to win or not, or you don't know?
	No, we have no idea.
	Wow.
	And, you know, it was just, to me, it was like all about bringing my folks there and having that experience.
	You know, we went the last time.
	It's just an honor to be nominated and to be even spoken in the same sentence as the other nominees, like Molly Tuttle and Sam Bush and Willie Nelson was in that category.
	And, you know, it's just, for me, it's like to even be in the a classmate of these people is like, cool.
	I'm in the same class at least.
	I'm good.
	That's enough honor for me.
	Like all I've ever wanted in my life is just to be like a respected musician.
	And that's, you know, I guess like what it really is, the Grammys and stuff is just being recognized by your peers.
	You know, and so it's a great honor, you know, but it's really nice to win.
	Like I won one and it's cool, but it's not why we do it, you know.
	Oh, yeah.
	I would have loved to gotten my dad one.
	Yeah.
	But Molly Toddle's record and her band and what she's been doing, she's been working her ass off.
	I got to tune into her.
	Yeah, she's so glad you hear her say some of these names because I start thinking how I got to get into more new music and I'm just not getting enough of it.
	Man, there's a lot of great bluegrass happening.
	And I think there's like something happening right now where people are like getting back into bluegrass again.
	Or like, you know, banjo music and kind of hillbilly music.
	Well, I think people are generally, I think there's a general feeling in the universe.
	For me anyway, I know it is, that I want to get back to something that feels like less industrialized.
	I want to get something back to something that feels a little bit more connected to something human inside of me.
	Man, I think that it goes in circles almost.
	If you think about, I mean, back in the day, like, let's say in the 50s and early 60s and stuff, there was a time where Blue Moon of Kentucky was like the biggest song out.
	Wow.
	It was like one of Morgan Wallin's songs or something.
	It was like the biggest hit.
	It was like Miley Cyrus Flowers.
	Blue Moon of Kentucky, Keep On Shining.
	There was a time where Bill Monroe's song was like the biggest song out.
	You know, Elvis covered it.
	That was on the B side to one of Elvis' first releases.
	Yeah.
	But and then it's kind of like rock and roll came out, you know, and stuff started getting really electric.
	Drums, you know, all this stuff started happening.
	And then in the 60s, there was like this sort of whole barefoot sort of hippie movement where people wanted to get organic and back to the earth again and play acoustic instruments and feel their feet on the grass.
	And, you know, and then the 70s happened, which was just fucking, in my opinion, just one of the best eras of music.
	Really?
	And everything.
	Man, I feel like people were just making kick-ass records then.
	I feel like the records sounded good.
	The way they were recorded was just like the gear at that time was just killer.
	And I don't know.
	There's something about all when I go through my collection, the records from the 70s stand out as like, for one thing, people were, you know, when they were in the studio, they were like working hard.
	Maybe they just had really good cocaine or something.
	Yeah.
	Oh, they probably did.
	I mean, we can't even, it's sad our kids can't even get good cocaine in this country anymore.
	It's kind of fucked.
	I know.
	Oh, it's unbelievable.
	It was a decent upper.
	I mean, you'd have a trucker would get there.
	Yeah.
	He could get his load done and get home to see his family.
	And now he can't even do it because he's on, you know, he's overdosed somewhere.
	He's insane, man.
	Yeah.
	He's on those gas station uppers, which don't do anything.
	Yeah, or he's stopping every five minutes to do a bump because the shit ain't anything and he can't even make his haul, you know?
	It's like that disco shit used to make the whole trip, man.
	You feel like a dentist.
	You just got back from the fucking dentist after that shit.
	You know, your whole body felt like you got a molar pulled out of it.
	They pulled a molar out of your brain, man.
	Yes, that stuff was probably so good.
	I bet one little line would get you, like, guaranteed to get you to Atlanta.
	I'd write an entire album.
	I'd write an album.
	I'd fucking, yeah, man.
	I'd be like, well, let's triple this guitar part.
	Let's have three drummers.
	I need more did reduce, you know, and let's record it all to tape and it's going to sound incredible.
	I need a tambourine.
	Yeah.
	But now, dude, I'll do a couple.
	Yeah, I mean, or I'm sober now, but I would do a couple of Grams or whatever.
	And it's, this shit's got so much Sherwin-Williams back end on it.
	It's like, just don't, it's just not worth it.
	Drywall.
	Next thing I'm planning to do drywall.
	It's like.
	It's just not worth it anymore.
	And yeah.
	I mean, I think I like held out for like the last couple years.
	I was like, okay, someday I'm going to come across something good.
	But it just never happened.
	I was like, okay, it's actually over.
	Like, just, it's not worth it anymore.
	Especially with all the fentanyl and shit.
	Like, people are dying from just, you know, I know people that have just gone out to just, you know, have a harmless little party.
	Yeah.
	You know, and ended up dead because they did like a line or something.
	It's really horrible.
	Yeah.
	Oh, that's unbelievable.
	And the fact that that family never got prosecuted that started that opioid epidemic, that didn't help anything either.
	Sorry.
	The Sackler?
	Yeah.
	Oh, man.
	Dude, I wake up.
	I think half of America wakes up furious about that every day, that that family got off the hook.
	I mean, I grew up in a small town.
	A lot of my homies were at that time, like, it was, you had people stealing from their grandmas and shit, stealing their, you know, TVs and shit to sell to get money to buy oxies and shit, you know.
	And I remember doing that shit a little bit.
	I'd do it like, because it was just around.
	I mean, like I said, I grew up in a small town.
	I just never really had any rules.
	Where were you at?
	Well, I grew up in this little town called Muir.
	Muir?
	Population 666 last time I checked, which is hilarious.
	Yeah, one.
	John Muir?
	No?
	I don't know.
	Just Muir, and it's right outside of this town called Ionia in Michigan.
	Ionia, maybe I've heard of it.
	Yeah.
	Well, you look up the population of Muir, Michigan.
	And Ionia was probably a slave town, I'm guessing, just by the name of it.
	It's a prison town.
	It is?
	There's like, I mean, when I was living there, there was like, there's like seven prisons there.
	Wow.
	Like, most people either work at the prisons or, like...
	Yeah, are getting hauled off to them.
	There we go.
	I told you, dude.
	666 people.
	It's a small ass town.
	And Ionia was like, you know, the town where I went to school and all that.
	Why are we talking about Ionia again?
	We're just saying, what was it like?
	Like, fancy.
	Oh, yeah.
	Oxies.
	People getting oxies.
	Man, when I was in school and shit, I was a terrible student.
	I, you know, I had a handful of teachers.
	Like, my home life was like kind of colorful at the time.
	It was.
	And this, you had your dad was the music guy you spoke about?
	Yeah.
	My parents, you know, are both just like really awesome.
	They're kind of old hippies and but they're like hippies and red, half hippies and half redneck in a way.
	And it's like, it's they're just kick-ass.
	They taught me about so much good music, you know.
	My mom and shit taught me about like everything from Hendrix to the Beatles and Zeppelin.
	And my dad taught me about Bill Monroe and Doc Watson and Flatten Scruggs and about fishing.
	And, you know, it's just like they were different parents, you know.
	And during the time, I mean, like when I was in middle school and high school and stuff, like I said, it was stuff was kind of crazy, you know.
	At home, you mean, at the house?
	Yeah.
	And, you know, we're all like, you know, my parents are recovering addicts, you know.
	Oh, yeah.
	Aren't we all?
	Yeah.
	I am.
	Yeah.
	I was at a meeting two hours ago.
	Yeah.
	Well, good.
	That's awesome, man.
	yeah, no, no judgment at all.
	Half our audience is there.
	No, and man, they're doing so great these days, and we all are too.
	It's like we've all sort of made it through some crazy shit, and we made it out the other side, and we went, holy shit, how the hell do we do that?
	But that is all that is to say that I'm super proud of my parents, you know, these days.
	And I'm proud of myself, you know, we all made it out of that shit.
	It was crazy.
	Or did you struggle too sometimes?
	I don't want to say like that I never struggled because, I mean, I was never like an at, like a hardcore addict to anything.
	I mean, I haven't drank in seven years, but I don't, even then, it's not like I, I guess I'm an alcoholic.
	I would just, I don't know when to stop.
	Like every once in a while.
	It's like, it's not like I even drank all the time or anything, but every once in a while, it's like, man, we had a good gig.
	I remember the last night I drank was like June 16th, 2016.
	And we had this killer gig and it was crowded was ape shit.
	We sold a bunch of merch and it's like, yes, man, like, let's go to the bar, like, drinks on me.
	You know, and we had, we were all drinking.
	I mean, I did Coke that night.
	I was drinking wine, beer, and liquor.
	And it was just, I didn't eat anything like for a day and a half.
	And it was just crazy.
	So I woke up the next morning and I had the worst hangover ever.
	And I was like, oh, and we got in the van.
	We had to drive like five hours to make it to the next gig to get there by three so we could load in sound check and play our gig.
	But I thought I was good to go.
	And then when I got in the van, I go, oh, hold up.
	And I went and puked by the bushes or whatever.
	Got back in the van.
	10 minutes later, I'm going, oh, fuck, pull over.
	And then every 10 minutes for, you know, it took us seven hours to drive the five-hour drive because I had to stop and puke.
	We were late for load-in and sound check.
	We had to set up our gear in front of the audience.
	I'll just hung over.
	It was like embarrassing.
	It was all because I was so drunk the night before.
	And I was like, I'm never doing this again.
	And I haven't drank since.
	Well, they're probably weighed on something.
	Yeah, sometimes when there's a moment, I feel like for me anyway, I know, and it just sounds like it.
	Like, if there's a moment where you can get enough reflection where like it costs you something that means something to you, like in a moment.
	My career was just, I could see it.
	It's like, man, if I don't fuck this up, I could actually turn this into something maybe.
	It was like at the point where it's like, I shouldn't blow this, you know?
	Dude, that's crazy.
	Because that kind of moment doesn't happen to a lot of people.
	You know, where you just have that perfect thing where you're on stage, you're loading in.
	You're like, fuck, we're late.
	It's because of me.
	It started as like, okay, I'm not drinking at least for the rest of the weekend.
	Yeah.
	And then, and then, yeah.
	And shout out to everybody that's ever said that.
	You know what I mean?
	It's like, I'm not, okay, at least till next weekend or whatever.
	Till this baby's two.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	And then so that turned into, well, I'm not drinking for the rest of the week.
	And that turned into two weeks, months, two years, seven years?
	Yeah.
	Wow.
	It's like, now I, you know what a big moment for me was when I realized how many times I had slept in the hotel room with them little mini bottles in my fridge and I never even fucking thought about it.
	Yeah.
	One day I was in there and I reached in there to grab a Coke or something and I realized that I was reaching right past a bottle of Jack Daniels.
	And then I realized how many other times I had done that before and then I never even fucking thought about.
	Well, I'm all alone in my hotel room right now.
	I could just fucking, nobody would know.
	And I've never even thought about it.
	It's like, wow, it's really kind of out of the back of my mind.
	That's so good.
	And I think people have started to evolve.
	I was looking at a chart the other day that drinking has gone, it's not as big on college campuses.
	That it's just that drinking has kind of, it started to like dissipate or whatever the desire for it is.
	Did you go to college?
	Yeah, I went to LSU and we were drinking over there.
	I think I was kind of like you.
	I didn't love getting all wasted, but.
	Oh, I fucking loved it.
	You did?
	Oh, yeah.
	I mean, that's the thing is, like, when it was going down, right?
	And it was like, wait a minute, man.
	Like, it was the celebration thing.
	It's like, man, you get a couple inions, like, all of a sudden, it's tasting good.
	Even the more I drink, the better it tastes.
	And that's the other thing too is like, I never drank for, you know, people drink wine and they drink these heady beers, these happy beers and everything and all.
	Man, I ended up drinking fifths of McMaster's and Captain Morgan and shit.
	We didn't, I never gave a fuck about what it tastes like.
	It's like, I just want to get blacked out.
	That's the goal.
	That pirate syrup, baby.
	That shit'll get you, bro.
	Yeah.
	Young adults in the U.S. drinking less than in prior decades.
	I feel that, man.
	Let me see what it says here.
	It says 62% of adults under age 35 say they drink down from 72% two decades ago.
	How does that correlate to teen pregnancy?
	That's a great question.
	I don't know, but I think they should put birth control in some of this.
	White claws?
	Yeah, I'll do that.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, dude.
	I was going to say, probably, I wish meth had like a birth control aspect to it.
	Oh, man.
	But I would go white cloth.
	I think it does.
	I think when you smoke meth, just everything dries up.
	Yeah.
	You know?
	Yeah, maybe that's true.
	I never smoked it.
	I always wanted to smoke crack.
	I never got to smoke crack.
	Damn.
	It's.
	Did you ever smoke it?
	Oh, yeah.
	Really?
	Oh, fuck yeah.
	No way, dude.
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	Did you ever smoke it?
	Oh, yeah.
	Really?
	Oh, fuck yeah.
	No way, dude.
	Damn, bro.
	Dude, I'm telling, I mean.
	Oh, I didn't know that you smoked crack.
	I wasn't like on those.
	Yeah, I wish you didn't.
	Yeah, I grew up in a town where there was nothing to fucking do, man.
	I skateboarded a little bit.
	I played guitar, but it was like a dead end.
	It felt like there was nothing to do.
	So everybody did drugs.
	I mean, and it was like, it was just, I mean, I was 16 the first time I ripped a crack rock, and it was fucking right.
	God, I want that.
	And you want to know what else is, I like, it was, I've always considered myself to have a pretty strong will.
	Like I said, I've been around meth and heroin and shit growing up, all my, you know, crack and lots of Coke and whatever growing up.
	And I never got addicted to any of it.
	I've been around a lot of tweakers and shit.
	I've seen some crazy shit, bro.
	I'm saying I used to live in a house where they were sleeping on my couch and shit.
	Fucking toothless sores on their face, fucking cigarette butts on the floor, fucking Tweakerville, man.
	Tweakerville.
	And just taking apart stuff?
	Oh, yeah.
	Motorcycles in the house.
	No.
	I'm saying, Spieve.
	Yeah, there used to be this guy named Speve, bro.
	He lived in this old farmhouse out on Charles Road.
	And you walk in.
	It's an old farmhouse.
	It was like a barn that was falling down in the backyard.
	You walk in, and there's like TVs like stacked on top of each other.
	And there's like, you can see one's like a camera on the front porch.
	One's just like static.
	And homie's got a motorcycle ripped apart in his living room with like Folger coffee cans with nuts and bolts everywhere.
	And he's like ripping out of a light bulb.
	We used to get him a box.
	It's called getting a box.
	What we used to do is you get a box of SudaFed and you bring it to him or something.
	He's the cook.
	He'd give you a quarter gram or something.
	Wow.
	So because they were running out of people that could get SudaFed because all them tweakers were on the list at Rite Aid and shit and in Walgreens and shit and saying, don't, you know, this guy's been in here.
	He bought 13 boxes of SudaFed last week.
	You know, so don't sell any more SudaFed to this guy.
	So the cooks got to the point where they would give you a quarter gram or so for a box, you know?
	Yeah.
	And is a quarter gram a lot of...
	It is?
	Oh, yeah.
	I mean, to me, it's like whenever I hit that shit, I was up for two days straight.
	There was a time where I played guitar for 48 hours straight and I didn't put it down.
	I swear to God.
	And I played pretty much the same riff the entire time.
	It was like I was just holding my guitar and my fingers were just going and I was just like, wow.
	And it was like an orchestra was coming out.
	It was like I was writing shit that I never could have imagined.
	It was like a beautiful mind type situation.
	Oh my gosh, bro.
	And so is that just so that that like, and you feel like that was drug fueled?
	Oh, yeah, absolutely.
	I mean, so much so that I can't even sit here and say that I'll never smoke meth again because I might want to do it in a controlled environment as a creative experiment.
	Yeah.
	You know what I mean?
	Oh, yeah.
	Because, dude, I swear to God, I think I could write an album in three days that's like the craziest shit ever.
	I don't, you know, obviously I'm not like condoning it.
	You know, like, look, it's fucking terrible.
	Don't do it.
	But I am saying that those 48 hours when I was playing guitar straight, it was like, I worked some cobwebs out in my brain that was kind of crazy.
	And dude, this was crazy.
	So I'm sitting upstairs, and this was the first time I ever smoked meth.
	And I was 16. And I was upstairs.
	I lived on Main Street.
	I was in the band.
	My drummer, Carl.
	Shout out, Carl.
	But in Jordan oh man these are my homies from these are my homies from back home you know but like and they passed away no no they're still around okay yeah my bad then I mean Jordan almost passed away he needs to fucking keep his nose clean god damn it yeah amen and so does everybody yeah but no i lived in this house bro on main street on main street in ionia which is a tiny little town and
	and there was this um we were renting this place right but there was renovations happening and i'm like man why is this guy coming over at fucking seven o'clock in the morning start banging on shit it's fucking seven sun's not even barely up yet so you know one of my buddies comes over who's tweaker and figures out that this guy the handyman who's working on this house that we're renting is holding and is like you know and i'm like well if you guys are gonna smoke here at my house like i want in so
	because i was just curious about what was you know yeah what is it well it was like my parents were into it at the time and i was like i want to know like what the hell's going on oh yeah do some yeah that makes sense if some i mean that's why i had to my my biological father died from a heroin overdose when i was two years old that's why i had to do heroin it was like i had to i was like what it was so good that took my dad from me oh man so i had to figure it out and i met the green reaper and he tapped me on the shoulder
	and was like dude it was like man we're jumping stories i got so many of them but i didn't know this man hey i'm sorry to hear that dude well it makes me it kind of breaks my heart but it's all good but it's interesting that you uh i i'm curious about wanting to try just finished the tweaking for 48 hours yeah let's start there dude finish that i was upstairs yeah a lot of people here are or do home renovations yeah so this dude was he was working at all hours of the night and i'm like what the so
	you know my body figured i was tweaking and like you know and and and they showed me how to they're like you got a light bulb and i'm like yeah and so they showed me how to take the little silver thing off the bulb and you can take it out and then you put some warm salt water in there and swish it around you get all that white shit off the bulb then you got a nice clear bulb so then you kind of just tap some shit down in there and you can burn it and smoke it so whatever i i hit the shit whoo all of a sudden where's my guitar i want to play guitar so bad so for two days i sat there and
	playing two fucking days i don't i didn't eat i don't even think i pissed yeah it was insane and then so two days later somebody finally snaps me out of it by knocking on my door it was my friend brendan brendan lauer and um i hear the knock on the slider door and i'm like oh fucking i put my guitar down i'll be right back like don't like i i hate to leave you like oh you know i wanted that guitar so bad still after two days straight of playing it and i go open the door and
	my friend brendan's there he's like what the fuck's all over your face and i'm like what and i go in the bathroom and i look in the mirror and my face is all green and i'm like oh fuck like i thought it was like from the meth or something it was like oh no my skin's turning green and it was from like the i was playing my guitar for so long that the bronze on my strings had like gone to my fingers and i had touched my face wow and so i had green shit on my face from my guitar strings and i was like i was so twacked out you know i didn't know what the fuck was going on but
	and i wonder if that gets like and do you have you heard any other stories if people are like that do they do are they doing sex are they doing like uh man i think when you're tweaking you just like what do you like to do like with your hands or anything do you like to string bees do you like to paint do you like to i mean besides just like crank one out you know yeah and that's over quickly and then you're just sitting there well maybe on speed i don't know it might take a while oh yeah huh and you have to work for it and then it's like even better yeah well
	that's probably like cocaine yeah i think like if i was all sped up i would just look out the windows make a lot of promises to myself look out the windows make sure those silhouettes aren't real organize things whatever that's the vaguest term ever i'm gonna organize things that was always a term that i would use dude that's a yeah that's one thing people do too i was at this crack house one time that was spotless it was insane and and and me and my friend uh went over there just
	to you know we were gonna smoke or whatever and i had this homie that knew all the man he was just like connected somehow with like he would just go into a new city and all of a sudden he would be like oh there's our guy like just how do you know that that random man on the bicycle is the guy he's holding yeah he's got yeah some people are just they get that they get that fucking uh that drug dog in they're street smart yeah they're german shepherds yeah man and so i had a buddy that was like that and so i ended up you know it
	was like there was one night i smoked crack with a fully pregnant lady and it was like that's how shitty that stuff is is like really i mean dude crack is the worst fucking thing in the world to me it's like it's instantly addictive like that first night i did it like i was telling you when i was 16 yeah i i've always considered myself to have a pretty strong will and like i was saying i've been around shit forever and and but when i hit i was like when i hit crack i was like all right i know this shit's pretty crazy i'm gonna
	take one hit and that's it and then so i took a hit and then it was like boom i was like oh holy shit it was like incred crazy what does it feel like does it feel like uh felt like i hit in the head with a frying pan body life orgasm wow it was like bam and it was like just euphoric like all of a sudden i just i don't know it was man i i shouldn't be on
	here describing it because no and look it's gonna seem like i'm like uh you know but well tell us the downside of it the downside of it was so that people know that so if anybody right now is trying to u-turn to go get some crack or whatever no no no no don't do it because it's oh man it's like i i was like i'm just gonna take one hit and that's it.
	And I'm, like I said, I got a strong will.
	I can do this.
	I take one hit.
	That pipe didn't make it around the circle before.
	I was like, man, I hope there's enough, you know, till I can get another one.
	And I was really nervous.
	I was like, it was like, man, I hope there's enough.
	And so then it was like, do I have any more money?
	It was like, how much money do I got?
	Could we get some more?
	Right.
	Immediately, without you even thinking.
	50 seconds.
	Right.
	So it hijacks your thoughts even.
	Immediately.
	I was ready to sell shit.
	You know, just whatever I, you know, it takes everything.
	And then the next day, I go to school, right?
	And I got this little rock left over sitting on my desk.
	And I go to school the next morning.
	And I didn't make it 40 minutes into fucking first hour before I, I'm sick, Miss Julie.
	I got to go home.
	I signed myself out, went home, smoked that rock because I couldn't fucking stand the thought of it sitting there on my nightstand at home.
	And I'm sitting in school and I'm going, fuck, I know right at home, there's that rock, and I could go smoke it.
	It's just sitting there, yeah.
	It's just.
	It's looking for you, wearing a fucking probably see-through bra.
	Dude, yeah, it was, it was terrible.
	Yeah.
	You know, God.
	So I just, I, you know.
	I couldn't handle it.
	I mean, I couldn't handle it, man.
	And I'll tell you why, Billy, because I remember I would get, even if I got some cocaine, right?
	I would get some cocaine and then I would go home.
	It's just me and my cocaine.
	That is, this is the relationship I'm in.
	That's not good.
	It was bad.
	And I would do a little bit of cocaine and then I would be like, all right, some of my friends would hit me up like, let's go do something.
	Like, all right.
	And then I would do some more and then I would start walking out the door and I'd be like, let me go back in and just make sure I did some.
	It was like, what is that even?
	Like, that was your real thought of my head.
	Like, that's not even a legit.
	Let me make sure I did something.
	I'm still pulling it out of my nose from the, and I'm like, hey, bro, you should go make sure you did something.
	What the fuck, dude?
	That's not.
	So just in, just to even think about how it hijacks our thoughts, man.
	And if you can't even, if you, because your thoughts come out of nowhere.
	So it's like, if it gets above those, it's a fucking, that's just, it just shows the power of it.
	So oh, man.
	I just want to, yeah, I think, I think to say that kind of stuff is important, but it's, how'd you get out of it then?
	Well, like I said, it was like, it was never a, I would do it for a night and I'd be like, okay, never again for at least six months or something.
	Whether it was math or crack or heroin or whatever, I would do it and then I would be like, okay, it's like, I know that I can't do it more than one day in a row.
	Whereas speed, if you do it, you know, I would smoke one little bit and I'm good for the weekend.
	It's like, I'd be up for two days off a couple hits or whatever.
	Wow.
	Dude, that shit's really crazy, too.
	Like, what you were talking about, looking out the window and seeing silhouettes and shit, there was one time where I went over to Mewir to hang and me and my buddy Jake were like, we tweaked from Thursday to Monday.
	And by like the third or fourth day of like being awake and getting no sleep, it was like my friend Jake, who I know well.
	And I'm sitting right there next to him, but I'm looking at him and it's like, it's not his face on his face.
	It's like somebody, like some guy named Brandon or something.
	He looks like a different guy.
	And I'm like, Jake?
	And he's like, yeah.
	And I'm like, you're not Jake, though.
	Like, what the fuck?
	I'm looking right at you.
	And you start to really get after being awake for a couple of days.
	Like, I remember looking out my window and seeing silhouettes of like people standing by the tree and like behind the car and like stuff.
	And you think people are watching you and shit.
	Like paranoia has got to be one of the worst fucking things that can happen.
	Yeah.
	There's a comedian, Shane Moss, and he was wanted to do a documentary, I think, and I'm paraphrasing.
	An amazing comedian, great guy.
	Go see him if you get a chance.
	And he was on here once and he was talking about, he was trying to make a documentary about doing, I want to say it was mushrooms, right?
	But he got so like deep into it, he started getting paranoid.
	And he started thinking the documentary crew that he had hired to shoot the documentary of him were that they were like ops.
	Like they were like government, like he started to go down a real rabbit hole.
	And then he started to give clues to the camera so that when he watched, whoever watched it would know that he knew.
	Like he was getting deep, bro.
	I think there's a level to it because psychedelics is another thing that I've dabbled in.
	And I think I think psychedelics is a very positive thing.
	I am an advocate for psychedelics.
	I'm not an advocate for meth crack, oxycontin, cocaine, any of those things.
	Little mushrooms, I think it's, you know, take a hit of acid and if you're brave, like a hit of DMT or something.
	But it's not for everybody.
	I don't think psychedelics are for everyone, but I think it can help a lot of people.
	I think a lot of people would benefit from eating a mushroom stem and going and sitting down by the riverbank, pitching a tent, you know, making a fire and hanging out with some friends and looking up at the trees and, you know, staring at a bug and realizing,
	you know, it's like I've hung out with like like whenever you're around like the Grateful Dead camp, you know, Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzman and some of those cats, like for instance, when I was out in Hawaii hanging out with Bill Kreutzmann and those guys,
	a lot of like the people that are just around, the friend group, they're all like, and I noticed this while I was there, because these people are doctors and, you know, intellects and, you know, there's, they're, they're all adults who are still children, but they're not immature.
	And it's like you see this 45-year-old woman who has many degrees sitting there staring at an ant and being like, wow, you know, almost like a child.
	And I think it's just a great thing to not lose that.
	Maybe some people get it without drugs.
	I know my banjo player, Billy Fain, he might take a hit of weed like every once in a while, but he's pretty, doesn't do anything.
	And I'm like talking to him about that, like, man, when I take some mushrooms or whatever, I just feel like, you know, I feel like psychedelics can make me feel like one with nature and stuff like that.
	And he's like, man, well, I get the same thing when I go on a three-day long hike and sleep on the ground.
	Because him and his wife go on these outdoor, you know, long hikes and stuff for like weeks at a time.
	And they sleep on the ground and, you know, Grand Canyon or we're, you know, out national parks and shit.
	Yeah.
	And being lost, but it's like organized.
	You know, go and shit in a hole for a week.
	You get one with nature pretty quick.
	Oh, yeah.
	Without drugs.
	Yeah.
	But taking some shrooms or acid or something can really get you there a lot quicker.
	It's like, well, shrooms are a connector, I think.
	And even fungus itself is like a expansatory type of thing.
	You know, it's like a, it's that thing that fills in the space, you know, like, so it's like a caulk almost in a way.
	So, yeah, I definitely, I think that mushrooms are great.
	I've always thought that, yeah, you can get a little crazy and then your buddy's fucking, somebody's doing the Heimlich maneuver on him at a damn Waffle house or something and the guy's hitting on your friend or something and he's a kid or whatever.
	But the problem, the biggest problem I think is you just run the risk of people not being able to do it in moderate, in some sort of control or moderation.
	I was just going to say the moderation that's the key.
	With everything.
	But we're getting more to the point now.
	You're seeing, like, I have people that hit me up that I say, hey, man, you should work with this therapist.
	They do like mushroom-guided therapy, right?
	Like, and you see a lot more like ketamine-guided therapy, right?
	And ayahuasca adventures.
	Like, you're seeing things where I think people are getting away from the idea of like, just, I just want to poison myself with alcohol, which is a fun poison.
	I'm not saying it's bad.
	I'm not condemning anybody that drinks.
	Like, I would be drinking if I didn't go buy cocaine and end up trying to, you know.
	Yeah, no, if I was a responsible adult, I would drink too, but I'm not.
	Right.
	I'm just, you know.
	Yeah, I'm not responsible.
	So anyway, but yeah, I just think we're seeing like a kind of a stray from that a little bit.
	This is yours, man.
	Yeah, this is great, man.
	Yes, sir.
	This is mine?
	I brought you a couple cases of it.
	No, really?
	Yeah.
	Bro, this can is great, man.
	It's made by Shorts Brewing Company, which is a place where I celebrated my 21st birthday party, actually.
	And I used to play gigs there all the time, and they're just my homies from back home.
	And since I don't drink, you know, we wanted to do a collab anyways, but we made this sparkling, it's like a hot water.
	Bro, it's good.
	It is good.
	I love it.
	And it's just that this is the name of Thirst Mutilator?
	Wow.
	You want to hear a DMT story or two?
	Yeah, and then I'll trade you one, and then we'll get back into your music story.
	Yeah.
	We don't have to get back in anything, but I don't want people to forget that you're a musician.
	Psychonaut, Billy Strings.
	Psychonaut.
	That's what Shane Moss was.
	A psychoanaut.
	Nice.
	But yeah, let's get on a DMT story.
	Well, because I feel like, you know, since I'm talking about all the other bad bullshit that I've done, I need to kind of clear my name here and tell you about some of the better stuff that has happened to me because of my experiments.
	Yeah, it's important.
	Like, when I was living in Traverse City, there's this, man, my buddy Seth, he's gone now too.
	That sucks because he, you know, them fucking opiates, man.
	God is ass.
	But he was my buddy who always had whatever.
	He was like into the EDM scene and shit.
	Yeah.
	And he would like just have a backpack, which I got whatever, bro.
	So he would come over and whatever.
	One time he had this DMT.
	It's like, let me get a little bit, you know?
	So, you know, let me get a little bit.
	I'll buy some off you, right?
	So he hooks me up with a little bag.
	And that bag sat on top of my dresser for fucking, I don't even know, six months.
	Yeah.
	Because that's the other thing about psychedelics that I'll say is like, it's not something to play around with.
	If you're not in the headspace for it, don't do it.
	You know, it's like, it's kind of, and I've learned that lesson from psychedelics.
	It's almost like dipping your toe in the pool or something.
	And it's like, don't do that.
	Just, you know, if you want to go swimming or not.
	Do you or don't you?
	Right.
	Do you want to stay dry or do you want to get wet?
	Right.
	Okay.
	Yeah.
	And if you're wearing something that can't get wet, then fucking don't.
	Yeah.
	Then just chill.
	Yeah.
	Like if your attitude is an attitude that can't get wet right now, then just stay on the bank.
	Yeah.
	Exactly.
	But so I was, you know, it took me six months to gain up the courage to hit this DMT.
	And one day I came home from work and there was nobody home.
	My roommates were gone.
	I knew they weren't going to be back because they were downstate.
	And I had the house to myself.
	The sun was shining.
	Oh, yeah.
	I was like, you know what?
	I'm feeling pretty good today.
	It's like, I'm happy.
	The sun's out.
	Fuck it.
	Nobody's home.
	Like, I'm just going to rip this DMT.
	Let's try it.
	And I was also ignorant at the time about what it even really was.
	And I didn't know what to expect.
	So I wasn't really scared of it.
	Now I haven't done it in years, even though it's been so enlightening and helpful.
	I haven't done it in years because of how intense it is.
	But at this time, I was like 21 or something.
	Just like, man, I'm just going to rip this DMT.
	And so I sat on the couch and took a big hit of this.
	And I was listening to this.
	It was actually the, oh, Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack.
	I'll Fly Away with Killian Welch and Emmy Lou and Allison Krauss and Mike Compton and you know all these instruments and stuff.
	And I hit this and all of a sudden I'm kind of floating and the instruments are surrounding me and it's all this beautiful kind of shit happening.
	And I start to see this blue light and I'm like, whoa, what's that?
	It's like this blue light way up ahead in the distance and it's getting closer and closer to me.
	And all of a sudden it's like, whoa, it's a chick.
	And I'm like, I can see this lady and she's swirling and dancing.
	And she starts murmuring this ancient language that is brand new.
	Something that this language has only been used right now for this particular occasion, but it's ancient and I understood every word somehow.
	She's telling me this information as she's spinning and twirling and dancing for me.
	And she's wearing this skirt and every time she twirls, her skirt kind of twirls like that.
	And it's made of like eyeballs.
	And then she does a 360 and it's made of ears and then teeth and then hair, noses and pupils and just all these different facial features.
	Her skirt was like made up of like thousands of them.
	Every time she turned, it would change.
	And she's getting closer and closer to me.
	And then she got close enough to me and she kind of like caressed me in a way, like put her arms around me and was like, are you good?
	I'm like, I'm good.
	And then we went like shot me out of the atmosphere, out of, you know, outer space, like through this placenta where we kind of broke through.
	And then it was like we were on this beautiful pink mountaintop overlooking this vast everything.
	Damn.
	And she was kind of standing me on top of the mountain, pointing and looking and showing me everything.
	These are all the universes.
	Notice how they're spinning and working together, like a gear, like a watch, like a clock, like a movement.
	And then she zapped us down.
	Super Zillow or something.
	And then she took me down to our universe and showed me all the galaxies doing that same thing.
	And then she took me to our galaxy, showed me all of the planets doing it, then to our planet and showed me the wind and water and currents and then to a grain of sand.
	It was like a fractal out from everything and everything is spinning and working together.
	Yeah, doing the dance.
	Yeah.
	What you do affects your neighbor, you know, and basically she told me it was like, you need to be strong in yourself.
	You need to work on yourself, work on your mental health.
	You know, she didn't say all this shit, but you caught it from me.
	That's what I got is like, you need to work on yourself.
	We're all links in a chain.
	We're all together.
	Me and you are the same, bud.
	And we need to be the strongest links that we can be for everything, for not just, not just humanity, but all of everything, you know, and what that is, to be a strong link, you got to work on yourself and basically just not be a dick, you know, and dive down inside of yourself and figure out what it is.
	Why are you an asshole?
	Yeah.
	You know, or how can you change to be better?
	How could you be a kinder, better person to your neighbor, to Mother Nature?
	To yourself?
	To yourself, especially.
	That's how you do it.
	Right.
	That's how you find the strength.
	Yeah.
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	Yeah, man, it's, I mean, it's fascinating.
	Yeah, thanks for sharing that, that experience, man.
	Yeah, well, it's just interesting the relationship that we have with ourselves.
	It's like we've outsourced our own responsibility a lot of times, it feels like.
	Like, it's like, I need, it's almost like I look entirely at medicine or at other people for my responsibility for me to be okay, right?
	Which I'm not saying that we don't need other people.
	We do help.
	And we do need help.
	We do need like therapy.
	We need communication.
	And sometimes we need medicine.
	But I think that we can fall into a trap, or I know that I have.
	That's what I should just say.
	I've fallen into a trap at times where I've completely outsourced if I'm going to be okay onto other people and things.
	Like I haven't, that the relationship that I have with myself is so, it's not even there a lot of times, or it hasn't been, that I'm reliant completely on if other things are going to make me okay.
	As opposed to like, I think there was a time probably a long time ago, maybe, and I may romanticize the past sometimes, but where I felt like people had a bit more like agency or something it's called with themselves, where they had more of a relationship with themselves, you know,
	and they reflected on themselves more and reflected on experiences and behaviors and just like just had a little bit more probably say in how they were doing, you know, or how they were feeling or what was going on with them.
	And I don't even think we've done it on purpose.
	I just think a lot of it's the way our society has kind of shaped things.
	Well, nowadays, you just look down at your Fitbit or whatever.
	Yeah, my heart's beating.
	Everything's good.
	Yeah.
	My buddy has a fat bit.
	My buddy Burt Chrysler, he looks at it and it just tells him he's fat.
	Oh, man.
	God, bro.
	You got to.
	You need to get him like a mechanical watch.
	Yeah, we need something.
	Well, we need to get him a meth addict to take that thing apart, first of all.
	Put it back together.
	So when people were on methamphetamines, if they take that stuff apart, what are they then looking to do with it?
	Why do people take that kind of stuff apart?
	Is it – I think maybe to put it back together better.
	But what I was saying is, like, whatever you do, if you did speed, I feel like that's what you do.
	It's like people I knew they would string beads.
	Oh, yeah.
	Oh, I'm making necklaces, making jewelry.
	Or they would, you know, draw pictures or write lyrics or poetry.
	Or, you know, it's just, you know, it's kind of like whatever you do.
	If you have like a little thing that you like to do, I feel like that's a great activity.
	Oh, dude.
	Okay.
	Check this out.
	So there was this place, Barkas Park, where I grew up.
	Barkas, it's for dogs?
	Well, B-A-R-K-U-S, Barkas Park.
	Barkus Park in Lyons, Michigan.
	And so it was a campground.
	My buddy Brad Lasco owned it.
	He was like my uncle Brad.
	He was my dad's best friend.
	He played the banjo.
	Oh, wow.
	And he was like our, yeah, Barkas Campground.
	So this place, when I was growing up, dude, yeah, there we are right there.
	There's little Bradley picking, man.
	That's where I grew up, man.
	That's my dad right there above him.
	No way, bro.
	That's the damn Google image that's on this park.
	Yeah.
	I think this is just y'all's a yard, bro.
	Dude, that's how I grew up right there, bro.
	Sitting around that campground picking, just like that.
	That's my childhood.
	And so cool.
	It was epic, man.
	There's Stony Creeks right there.
	The salmon run every year in the fall.
	We were like spearing salmon back then.
	Yeah, I won't tell anybody.
	It was crazy.
	But this dude, Brad Lasco, owned it.
	There we go.
	That's what I was just going to say.
	They found out.
	So my childhood there was great.
	But as I got a little older, 10, 12 years old, all that meth moved in and fucked everything up and everybody up, including Barkus Park.
	And they, while everybody was tweaking on meth, found out that there was gold in the creek.
	No way.
	Oh my God.
	Can you imagine a better activity for meth head than panning for gold?
	Nah, I can at all.
	Dude, I mean, it's like literally sifting through every grain of sand in the fucking creek to find specks of gold.
	Like that's.
	How could you do that and not be a meth head?
	Dude, why every meth recovery center isn't currently located along a river or stream in this country, I will never understand.
	We have got to organize meth users and get this gold.
	Yeah, seriously, because we could get some big bucks.
	Dude, that's unbelievable, bro.
	Have you written a song about that?
	Not about paying for gold.
	I wrote one called Dust in the Baggy first.
	Yes.
	That's about Brad Lasko, man.
	Yeah, he just passed away a couple years ago, too, man.
	That me and dad record, you know, we dedicated it to Brad.
	That's him?
	No, that's...
	Well, that's Dust in the Baggy.
	That's a video for it.
	Okay.
	I wouldn't play it.
	But no, that's a famous video now because of that guy in the background, Barefoot Ben.
	We were all on mushrooms that night.
	We were sitting in my buddy, well, my friend Gina's basement, and we're all picking songs.
	And there was a big party upstairs, and everybody was drunk, but we were all tripping, so we wanted to go downstairs and be quiet and get away from all the drunks.
	So we were sitting down there in that basement and picking tunes.
	And then, yeah, Barefoot Ben there, man.
	He was like the only hippie in Ionia that, you know what I mean?
	It was like, I mean, I guess there was a couple like skater kids or whatever, but he was like barefoot at every party.
	He was like wearing tie-dye.
	People call him Barefoot Ben or hippie.
	And yeah, like I said, he was like the only hippie around.
	But he was at every party.
	He lived it.
	He was at every party.
	And he was like, how'd you get here?
	Like, who do you know here?
	Like, he was just every party, he was there.
	And in this video, he's literally like, we're tripping.
	And I'm just playing these songs.
	And he's smoking an unlit cigarette.
	And he keeps hitting it like it's lit.
	And like, I don't think he does it.
	But if you look at the comments on that shit, it's hilarious.
	Like, they're talking about Ben.
	Like, this dude looks like he's standing there giving out side quests and shit.
	Oh, yeah.
	No.
	Shout out, Ben.
	Hope you're doing good, buddy.
	Barefoot, Ben.
	Amen, brother.
	Yeah.
	They just found a huge gold nugget.
	Can you look that up for me?
	Where?
	There we go.
	Biggest gold nugget ever found that weighed as much as would be worth an insane amount today.
	The biggest nugget of gold in the world weighed as much as an adult man.
	Millions.
	John Deason and Richard O'Titch the jackpot.
	Oh, this is in 1869.
	Whoa.
	When they, so a little bit out of Australia.
	When they found, they discovered the monster nugget while digging in Australia.
	Yeah.
	Weighing in at 11 stones or 72 kilograms.
	Still no idea how much that is.
	I think it's 220 pounds.
	11 stone?
	It was weighed at a London charter bank, and they were paid just under $10,000 for the massive chunk.
	In 1869?
	Yeah.
	What do you think you'd do if you got that thing, brother?
	If you're on meth, and let's say this, let's go on down a road, all right?
	That doesn't exist, but we have zoning rights in this space.
	Oh, yeah.
	If we find a chunk of gold the size of a man, and people are on meth, do you tell other people you have it, or do you...
	That's a good question.
	I don't know.
	I feel like some people can, some people can't.
	You know, I feel yeah, we would just pawn that fucker.
	It would just go with pawn shop.
	Yeah, I mean, it would go to the closest pawn shop.
	I would probably give it away for two racks, bro.
	Yeah, dude.
	I mean, fucking two racks.
	How many boxes can I get with that?
	Right.
	We just got to drive all over Michigan to get Suda Fed Central.
	I remember when they started locking up the Suda Fed, man.
	Oh, yeah.
	Yeah, you got to show your ID and shit for it.
	I was like, I have a fucking runny nose.
	That used to be your ID to get Suda Fed, and now everything had changed.
	Yeah.
	And yeah, not condoning drugs, but just sharing experiences.
	People get that.
	It's kind of like the shit that I've been through and the stuff that I've seen and all that is the reason that I can do what I do today.
	I kind of got it out of my system in a way.
	Wow.
	But it's, I don't want to go back.
	Right.
	That's the thing.
	I don't want to go back to Because it sucks.
	It's a miserable life.
	I mean, Who wants to be sitting in a tweaker pad with no food and start?
	I mean, it might feel good for a couple hours, but real quick, it gets real bad.
	And man, it ruins people's lives.
	It ruins families.
	Yeah.
	Look, look, that's just what I wanted.
	You said it better than I could have thought a way to say it.
	That's the truth.
	There's a message you did.
	This is almost a decade ago.
	I think we were looking online.
	Obviously, we were looking up things about you online.
	And we found this post that you put up.
	This is like almost 11 years ago now.
	Yep.
	I remember that day.
	It was because, man, I was working at this.
	You were in Acme, Michigan.
	I'm just going to read it.
	Is that okay, Billy?
	Yeah.
	It says, I put in my two weeks' notice today at work.
	I decided to pursue music as a career.
	Maybe I'm going out on a limb by doing this, but I don't care.
	I am ambitious and passionate enough to try it.
	Working eight hours and then gigging all the time is physically and mentally stressful and leaves me no time at all for creative output.
	I'm going to work very hard, practice, and write music every day.
	Besides, there has been nights that I've made more money in one hour playing music than I'm making two weeks at work.
	I want to thank all of you for the support.
	Without you, I would not be able to make this decision.
	That's cool, man.
	It's just a cool thing to put into the universe.
	What was that feeling like?
	So at that point, I guess you decided what you wanted to do.
	That was at a point where I was working at this hotel, the Grand Travers Resort, and I just, you know, I would, I was partying and I was working and I was playing lots of gigs.
	And the gigs were starting to, you know, I was like saving up money for guitars and stuff.
	And I had this little pile of money in my top dresser drawer so I could finally get this guitar that was worth like $2,500 that I always wanted.
	Yes.
	You know, and I was realizing as I'm saving up money, I was going, well, I used to just live off the hotel check.
	I used to not have the gigs, which what I made from the hotel was like, I don't know, like 800 bucks every fucking two weeks or something.
	You know, but it was enough to like pay my rent and get gas back and forth to work and shit.
	Stay alive.
	Yeah, but then I started playing gigs too.
	And I would be out playing a gig until, you know, I'd play a gig until 11 or so, but then there'd be a party afterwards.
	So afterwards, I'd go to the party and I'd be up till 5 in the morning.
	And then I'd get an hour and a half of sleep.
	And then I'd go into work, hungover, and then work all day and hate it.
	And then go back.
	And then 6 o'clock would come around and I'd be back on stage somewhere.
	And I was burning the candle at both ends and I could just feel it closing in on me.
	It's like, well, you got to choose one or the other.
	And it was like, like I said, I used to make only like 800 bucks at work.
	Now I'm making $1,200 from music.
	I don't need both.
	I mean, it was nice to have both the check and the music, but I used to just live off this and was fine.
	Yeah.
	So, okay, fuck the job.
	I'm just going to live off the music.
	Yeah.
	You know, and basically have the same amount of bread or whatever.
	So I just started putting all my energy into it.
	And what did that look like when you said putting all your energy into it?
	Because I think that's kind of interesting to think about, you know?
	Like, is it just, well, for one, you made it your focus point.
	You kind of told the universe, hey, this is going to be what I'm going to do.
	You know, you put that out there.
	So that's interesting because I think the universe does listen to us.
	You know, I don't think we talk to it enough, but I think it listens to us.
	Yeah.
	But then, so then what started happening there musically?
	Well, I was already playing gigs.
	Like we had like a weekly gig at this place called Little Bohemia in Traverse City, and we were playing like shorts and, you know, like all these different places, like we'd play breweries, coffee houses, stuff like that for tips and for whatever, you know, and I was like a weekend warrior and just a working musician.
	I'd play at the steakhouse.
	I'd play at the fucking brewery, you know, whatever.
	But it just, you know, once I kind of got the job out of there, then it was like, okay.
	And what I meant in that post is like, I'm not fucking around.
	Like, I'm going to practice.
	I'm going to write songs.
	I'm going to take this very seriously.
	Because of the folks that were out there coming to my little weekly gigs and stuff and making it to where I could pay my rent just with music, I felt like I had a duty to basically give back to those folks that supported me and say, look, if you continue to support me, I'm not going to fucking, I'm not fucking around.
	Like, I'm really, I will really work hard if you guys will still support me.
	You know?
	Yeah.
	And so I just, that's what I decided to do, man.
	And that was like around the time I was like 18. Well, let's see.
	I'm 31. That was 2010.
	Anybody good at math?
	It's 11 years ago.
	So.
	I think I'm guessing.
	I might go to math.
	No, yeah, it's 11 years.
	Oh, it is good.
	So what's that?
	I was 21, 20?
	20 or 21?
	Yeah, so at that point, I had already been on tour and shit.
	I had like, you know, when I was 19, I had been on tour.
	By the time I was 19, I was playing 200 gigs a year.
	Oh, my God.
	And I did that up until just a couple years ago.
	Do you think, what do you think are the things, I know that you had like some viral moments online.
	What do you think are the things that really like cemented you in with people?
	Like, do you think it's a way that you play?
	Do you think it's, because I think artists start to see this, some artists are great performers.
	Some artists are, they're captivating.
	They can make a unique sound or do something new or novel.
	Some you go for the songs and you don't even know anything about the artist or care about the artist at all.
	Right.
	Does that make any sense to you?
	No, that's a really interesting thing that I've, I kind of learned that the first time that I went to the Grammys because I'm a guitar player.
	I'm a bluegrass musician.
	I grew up singing around the campfire.
	There's no computers.
	There's no auto-tune.
	There's no backup dancers.
	And I went to the Grammys and I saw all this shit and I was like, whoa, you know, like the K-pop group, like BTS and shit.
	And I was just, they're like, I was like, okay, well, none of them are singing.
	this is all pre-recorded tracks, but they're dancing their fucking asses off.
	I was like, oh, they're dancers.
	They're not musicians.
	They're not a musician like me.
	Like, I stand there in blue jeans on stage and strum the guitar and sing songs.
	That's what I do.
	Lady Gaga can direct an entire fucking orchestra to, you know, she can sing, act, dance.
	She's a comedian.
	You know, like, there's just, some people have the whole umbrella over them.
	You know, I'm just like a musician.
	And so going to the Grammys and seeing like, you know, somebody with like all the backup dancers doing all the moves and stuff.
	And I was like, like I said, I grew up going to bluegrass festivals.
	I never seen that shit.
	Yeah.
	I was like, whoa, this is, they're not actually singing, but still cool because I guess they're dancers.
	But, you know, I've always been sort of like a grasshole.
	You know, that's what you call it.
	It's like, you know, auto-tune or anything like that.
	Oh, I see what you're saying.
	More of the.
	It's like, you know, I work my ass off my whole life to learn how to sing and play.
	And then there's folks out there that are just on a computer and singing through auto-tune and shit.
	And they're selling millions of records.
	It's like, that's not fucking fair.
	Yeah.
	You know?
	Yeah.
	You know, but it's a different style.
	It's a different, you know, okay, this person's not a bluegrass musician.
	They're a dancer or they're a, you know, a rapper or whatever.
	That auto-tune sound is a stylistic, it's a part of the sound.
	You know, it's like a banjo is to bluegrass, you know?
	Right.
	They're almost like new, new orchestra.
	Yeah, it's like it used to have be this guy was the guy who was like the DJ.
	You know, nobody ever gives that guy any credit for being the first fucking Z or whatever.
	Conductor, yeah.
	Yeah, the conductor.
	Nobody's like, oh, look at that.
	There's Cascade.
	You know, they're just like, oh, look at this penguin fucking guy with the two sticks.
	You know, this guy's obviously.
	Fucking dork.
	Yeah, yeah.
	But truly, that guy was the fuck.
	That guy was the Cascade.
	That guy was the G, man.
	He was the chain smokers.
	You know, it was just a different time.
	And then now people use more auto-tune.
	They just had an article the other day.
	It was about like T-Payne.
	Did you see?
	I remember like hearing him talk about, I don't remember what show it was on or something, but he was talking about how Usher or somebody told him that he ruined music by introducing all that auto-tune shit.
	And he said he got like really depressed about it.
	Oh, wow.
	Like the I'm on a boat?
	Well, I don't know.
	I'm on a boat.
	Wasn't he?
	Didn't he make that song?
	I think so.
	But either way, I feel like that was his sound was the real auto-tune.
	Yeah.
	And I think somebody who he really looked up to told him that he was like, yeah, Usher told him that he ruined music.
	That Usher telling him he ruined music led to a four-year depression.
	But I guess, and then you see T-Pain coming out singing these Chris Stapleton songs and shit, and it's like, this motherfucker can sing.
	Yeah.
	It's like if anybody was using it, he was the last person that should have been pressing the button.
	Right.
	But I mean, that's what I'm saying.
	It's like, it's a stylistic choice.
	It's like, it's not like the guy can't fucking sing.
	Oh, I see what you're saying.
	So you're saying that, yeah, sometimes in the instance, it's an instance of somebody just trying something new, trying a different style, seeing what else is going on, as opposed to somebody just not having a certain skill set.
	Like, check this out, man.
	Like, Post Malone, for instance, like, that's my dog.
	And he, you know, he uses a lot of auto-tune on his, like, rap music and what, I mean, whatever music.
	How do you even classify his music?
	It's just like posty music.
	Well, he's a concierge of joy, I think.
	Oh, he is.
	Honestly, how it, how I would, I've only hung out with him once, but he is a concierge.
	He's the fucking best dude ever.
	Concierge of the first time I really met him.
	He's a fucking care bear.
	I love him.
	Yeah.
	But the first time I met him, he invited me over to his place or whatever, and we fucking sat there and sang Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, fucking, he knows more old country songs than I do, I think.
	And he can play them on guitar and sing them like a fucking angel.
	And it's like, I'm sitting in a room with him watching.
	It's like, okay, like, dude's talented.
	Like, I'm fucking impressed.
	He knows the words to more Hank Williams songs than me.
	I'm like, holy shit.
	I mean, it's like the same thing with like Luke Combs.
	When I was in a room with him for the first time and he opened his mouth and started singing, I'm just like, wow.
	Okay.
	Great voice, man.
	Yeah.
	You know, like, motherfucker can sing, write.
	And I'm just like honored to be around any of these guys.
	I mean, and especially more than even those cats who are big celebrities.
	The Jack Pearsons and more of the guys who are in my scene, the Bela Flecks, the Brian Suttons, the Stuart Duncans, the Jerry Douglases.
	When I go to the Grammys or something like that, those are the cats that I'm really – Like, oh, that bass player who's backing up Justin Bieber right now.
	Justin Bieber's drummer.
	Holy fuck, who's that guy?
	Yeah.
	You know, that's what I'm looking at is like the cats.
	Yeah.
	The cats.
	Yeah.
	Dude, what a phenomenal.
	That would be so neat if they had Billy Strings and the Cats and it was just a tour that you did.
	Sorry, I hate when people give me ideas for shit, but I'm going to be like all ears, brother.
	And you just featured like, yeah, because it's so the spinning wheel of luck and fortune sometimes that some voices get heard louder than others, you know?
	And then some people don't want to be the center of attention also as well.
	I still have a hard time with success.
	I grew up.
	I grew up poor.
	I grew up, you know, going to stay the night at friends' houses just so I could have some dinner.
	I grew up fucking sleeping in my winter coat with a pit bull that had fleas because she was warm, you know, and waking up in the middle of the night and fucking you can see your breath in your bedroom and shit.
	So I have a hard time with success because all my people are still living that, you know, back home.
	I have people that are still going to prison, still addicted, still dying from ODs, you know.
	And I'm sitting over here shitting on a heated toilet at the Sunset Marquee and it's like, well, why me?
	I have survivor's guilt.
	Oh, interesting.
	You know what I mean?
	wow, yeah, that's interesting, man.
	It's like, so I've talked to my therapist about this a bunch, you know, and I'm going, okay, well, I go stand on stage and play guitar.
	Now, granted, I've worked, I've played guitar since I was four years old, and I've worked very hard at it.
	You know, I mean, this is 25 years of fucking playing every day, you know, trying to get better and really wanting to be a musician since I was in kindergarten, you know, like since I was a baby.
	But still, when I'm at my house and we like are doing some renovations or something, and I see some like Mexican dude out laying the asphalt or something.
	And I'm going, he's out in the hot sun.
	And I'm going, this is cockeyed as fuck.
	He's out there doing actual hard fucking work in the sun.
	And I play guitar and like, he's the one making my driveway.
	This is fucked.
	Yeah.
	And I'm, I, like, I really feel like shit sometimes about like, this is, what the fuck happened?
	You know, like, why is the guy who is doing harder work being paid shit?
	Yeah.
	You know?
	And it's like, there's, I told this to my therapist, and she, she's like, I understand, you know, but she also said, she told me about this pyramid of competence.
	It's like, as a musician goes, well, how many guitar players do you know?
	How many do you know that can play and sing at the same time?
	How many do you know that play, sing at the same time, and write their own songs?
	How many do you know that play, sing at the same time, write their own songs, and have good business sense?
	How many do you know that play, sing, write their own songs, have good business sense, and are willing to tour 200 days or more a year?
	It starts getting narrowed down.
	And I'm just the crazy motherfucker that will die for this shit.
	I'll never go back to where I was.
	I play for my life.
	Like, I'm not, it's not a job.
	It's not a, this is my fucking survival, you know?
	And this is, it's literally everything to me.
	So.
	Or I think even going back to the fact that when you were high on a drug, you reached for your guitar.
	I've always reached for my guitar.
	I know that, but it's saying it's a survival.
	Like, it just, I'm just thinking of that.
	I'm not trying to like link this shit.
	No, it's just my guitar has always been my best friend and my, my coping mechanism through everything.
	Right.
	And here's what's crazy, though, Billy, is people are going to do, all have to do jobs.
	I remember working at a pizza place and I would listen to, the second the boss would leave, I would turn up fucking Guns N' Roses and I would fucking fucking cry in there and listen to November rain and fucking threaten other people that worked at the place and I would and I would drink beer back there.
	I would open up the deep fryers dude and I would put pudding in there.
	I'd put pepper.
	I'd put anything you could.
	I would fucking fry it and eat it and drink beer.
	But what I'm saying is sometimes that person is listening to your music and it's what's making the shift a little bit shorter.
	It's what's keeping there.
	So it's like we all, I think, are part of some process where it's like, you know, I remember working on a farm for a couple summers and having to do 14 hour days.
	Oh my God.
	But I would listen at the end.
	You were feeling hay or what were you doing?
	No, I was running fertilizer, running, just help cleaning like the frogs on the planters.
	Like they let me plant after a while.
	I broke some shit.
	I probably still need to hard work, man.
	Got to resent or get to ask for an amends.
	But yeah, but it was, I just did whatever needed to be done.
	But I would park, I remember this.
	I would park that tractor sometimes.
	I would just park it because I'd be in like 300 acres.
	There'd be nobody around.
	I'd park that tractor.
	I'd stand out on the fucking hood of that thing.
	And I would play like, I would play just the top 10 country.
	It didn't get that.
	They even had an old radio on there.
	You couldn't even see, but you knew when you hit the channel.
	And I would just sing the fucking songs.
	It was like the one moment I had during the day that made me feel good.
	Not that made me feel good, but that just fucking let it all out.
	Right.
	And somebody who would probably play those songs had maybe done a job that I'd done.
	I remember I worked at a pipe fitter's place over there in New Orleans over in Destrahan or something.
	And we would play that song, I just want to fly.
	Remember that song?
	Put your on.
	And it was just kind of a groove.
	It was one of those songs that hung around for so long in the ether.
	They kind of overplayed it and shit for sure.
	And they started playing it at CVS and people wanted to kill themselves and shit.
	But for the first, the younger guys who were like the guys who would just go sit out in the sun and we would paint the glue onto the pipe so they could fit the rubber in there so that the hold wouldn't like crack the pipe and stuff.
	Whenever that song came on, we had to go in and dance for the guys who'd been working there for a long time.
	These welders, dude, and they fucking hated it.
	But we'd go in and it was this one fun moment we had during the day that was just ours.
	Nobody knew about it in the universe.
	And these fucking, the first day, none of them even look up from their like welding and shit.
	But by the third day, they were like, these motherfuckers.
	Yeah.
	And it kind of like, it was almost like us like hazing ourselves in order to be accepted by the other group.
	Oh, that's great.
	But I think it's just because of music.
	We wouldn't, if that song never comes on, and it's just, we never would have done it.
	You know, it's just like there's certain things that it does help.
	So I see what you're saying, man.
	There's times I like get off stage and I'm walking past like the people, the employees that are help cleaning up the stands.
	Yeah.
	I feel bad for everybody, dude.
	Always.
	Is it that you, and I want to think about this with you right now, man?
	Do you think it's that you feel bad or do you feel?
	Well, I just feel like why should I have it better than anybody else ever for anything?
	Right.
	Why should there be anybody out there who's struggling, who's sad, who doesn't have a roof over their heads and I do?
	Yeah.
	It's just like, we're all the same, you know?
	I'm not better than anybody else.
	Right.
	I think it's that you got chosen to be some semblance of, and we all get chosen at certain moments, I think, to be some semblance of hope.
	That's what I think.
	Because that's the thing.
	I hear your story, man.
	I think about like it reminds me of certain things in my own life.
	It reminds me of people that I know.
	And then when I hear your music, I'm like, man, this makes me believe that something could be different for me, that something could be different for my son, for my daughter, for an in-law.
	It gives me hope.
	And so, but I think it is hard to accept that you're going to be a beacon of hope in some way.
	But I think we're all beacons of hope in different moments for each other.
	You know, like I'll have some people call into the podcast sometime and tell me a guy called in the other day and he said that, he's like, hey, man, a few years ago, I called in and I was going through a divorce and I was heartbroken.
	He goes, and I just want to call today.
	It's three years later.
	And my new wife and I are expecting our firstborn child.
	And in that moment, dude, that guy was my fucking hero.
	That guy was my Tom Brady when I listened to that.
	Totally, man.
	It was like, so I think there's all like, I don't know.
	Am I sounding too preachy, man?
	No.
	Yeah, I just think that, yeah, I think that like, you just never, we're all just taking turns.
	I think we're all just taking turns.
	And you work so hard at the fucking music.
	You know, you worked hard at it.
	Yeah, and it's the best reward that I could ever receive is somebody saying, hey, man, your song helped me through a tough time or something.
	And I've got that a bunch.
	And it's just the best thing ever.
	Better than any accolade, better than any, you know, anything like that.
	It's just the fact that, you know, and my songs have, some of them have helped me.
	I've written songs that like I wrote the song and I thought I was writing it for other people to hear and that I feel like what they need.
	And then I sing it for a couple months on stage and one night on stage, I'm singing the words and I'm going, oh my God, I wrote this for me.
	Like I'm the one that needs to hear this message.
	Wow.
	You know?
	It's just like, holy shit.
	That's crazy.
	Yeah, I think we're all like instruments of a higher power, you know?
	And I do, I just, yeah, we just don't know how we're being used.
	It's funny, man.
	I'll get home and I'll be tired or whatever.
	I mean, everybody's fucking tired and shit.
	But I'll go to the airport now.
	And sometimes at the airport, you still see somebody waiting for their kid to come home from the military or waiting for a boyfriend or girlfriend.
	Or you'll still, you'll see a guy out there with flowers waiting to see his wife.
	And that guy or person or family is my, like, they are my damn Frederick Douglass.
	You know, like they fucking, that's the, like, they're my, whatever they, you know, I don't even know their name.
	And they are like my Mozart for the month.
	Just seeing that there's like pieces of excitement and hope.
	Yeah.
	Anyway, but what do you what do you think?
	Do you think there's something, do you think there's like a illness in America or in our culture that because we go through a lot of cities and towns and it's like they you start to feel like there's an energy missing from the culture.
	Do you feel that at all?
	Or do you think that's just I don't know what it is, man.
	I mean, I don't know shit.
	I just.
	Yeah, me neither.
	None of us do.
	We can just sit here and bullshit about it, but I don't know.
	I feel like people are just cruel to each other, you know?
	But it's also not in real life.
	Like online they are.
	Oh, yeah, online is crazy.
	But I'm just saying, like, at the height of the, you know, political tensions and stuff like that, like a couple years ago with Trump and everything, it's like you just go online and you see everybody just, you know, talking shit to each other.
	But then you look up from your phone and you're in the airport and nobody's doing that.
	And it's like, well, wait a minute.
	Like, are you guys actually enemies or are you guys just doing this online?
	Because you're all here in the same airport and nobody's saying shit.
	So what the fuck?
	You know, it's like, I feel like the internet just spews and breeds like hatred like that.
	Okay, not the internet, maybe like social media or whatever.
	But I just feel like it's just some, it's great for some things and it's not so good for other things.
	You know, I wouldn't say something maybe to your face that I would say online or whatever.
	Yeah.
	Oh, death.
	Yeah.
	I think there's things you can comment like that ease your upload.
	But is it different to hear?
	You know, let's say I wouldn't stare you in the eyes and say, you're a fucking piece of shit, you know?
	But if I said that online and you receive it, is it any different than me actually saying it to you?
	Well, it's interesting.
	Because when you read it, you're still, okay, this person thinks I'm a piece of shit.
	What the fuck?
	Yeah.
	Yeah, that's interesting.
	I think it's definitely not good.
	I'm amazed that we allow it to happen to our culture, like, or that we allow, like, you would think there would be a governing entity, and maybe I don't understand government sometimes or something, that would say, hey, this isn't good for us.
	We'll allow it during, you know, maybe you allow it during certain hours of the day.
	You know what I'm saying?
	Or I would, it's the same like with the opiates.
	It's like, hey, a company that is fucking killing people, that is people selling their grandmothers in like third generation egg beater to cop a pill.
	Hey, you're not good for us.
	You know, like it would just think like.
	They're good for the economy, man.
	Right.
	But it's like, at what point does that even have any because people are sick.
	I don't even think we're sick on the outside.
	I feel like our souls are sick and we're out here having to like take care of them.
	That's why people need to listen to more bluegrass.
	There we go.
	You know, that's probably the truth.
	It really is, man.
	Well, look, the power of music, man.
	The power of music.
	Dude, if I had to work all day and listen to no music, I mean, when in slave times, they sang.
	They made beautiful fucking music to get them through.
	Yeah, and the prison lines, too, them guys out there hammering away and shit, them songs, man.
	Oh, yeah, I saw this.
	This is pretty captivating.
	A dying mom blown away after she creates final song for her son, and it makes the billboard charts.
	This is really cool.
	This is Kat Janice, I think.
	Yeah, 31-year-old Kat Janice noticed a lump on her neck in 2021 that doctors diagnosed as sarcoma, a rare type of tumor that collects within the bone and tissue.
	And is also, no joke, I went to school with a girl named Sarcoma Jackson growing up at fucking William Pitcher Jr.
	High School.
	Move on, though.
	What else did it say about her on that article?
	Kat was declared cancer-free after undergoing treatment, but the cancer sadly returned in June 2023, this time in her lungs.
	One of the ways in which Kat coped with diagnosis is through music.
	In a video she violently shared to social media after finding out her most recent diagnosis, she said, I'm going to go back into treatment.
	I'm going to be really strong about it.
	The mother posted an update to her health back in January to her followers, January 10th, 2024.
	The tumors basically tripled overnight.
	Oh, she's in hospice now.
	Oh, she says she's going to make...
	And this is the track, I guess, that's been blowing up.
	Wow.
	It's cool, man.
	I'll have to check it out.
	Actually, you can probably play a little bit of it.
	You might be able to put these on for a second.
	I just want to hear this cat, Janice.
	I just want to hear this.
	Oh.
	Let's go, Cat Janice, baby.
	I like it, bro.
	I do.
	That's exciting, man.
	And what a neat thing just to be able to have it.
	I can't believe it's interesting, you know.
	I think that shows you people want to support things that make them feel something.
	You know, people know she's making that song.
	She has a son.
	They think about it, you know.
	I can't imagine you're in hospice and that happens.
	It's got to keep you.
	Well, it's like what I was talking about earlier.
	You know, how the music was like rock and roll and then the hippies wanted acoustic music.
	And then it got back into like some heavy stuff in the 70s.
	And then disco happened.
	Yeah.
	And then eventually people were like, okay, enough of disco.
	Like, let's, and then grunge.
	And then, you know, like 90s.
	Yesterday.
	And then now it's been kind of like electronic music and hip-hop has been sort of like reigning supreme.
	And I think people are just they like to hear a guy strumming a guitar again or playing drums, you know, or sitting there playing an instrument and singing.
	I don't know.
	We want something real.
	Yeah.
	I want something real.
	I think that's, I just, I want to see, I want to fucking see something that means something to somebody.
	I don't want something that feels like it's, you know, I don't know.
	Contrived for mass.
	Yes.
	You know?
	I'm just, I think part of me is tired of feeling tricked.
	Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like, Well, you know, when you take away all the stuff that, I mean, I want to use all of the technology I can to make music, at least that my peers are.
	It seems like every time we get into a studio with a producer or something, because we're a bluegrass band, they go, oh man, we're going to record you straight to tape and it's going to, you know, super old school like it's the 50s or something.
	I'm going, well, fuck, man.
	All my peers are using auto-tune and shit.
	This ain't fair.
	Right.
	So it's like we kind of want one thing, but then we also want to use the things that can help us.
	Yeah, for sure.
	So I'm just like, you know, what do you do?
	But when you kind of take all that stuff away and just hear a song that's just like a guy strumming a guitar and singing something that means something, I think it's just, I don't know, it's more pure or something.
	Yeah, pull up that one where you and Postie were doing that.
	Yeah, and why he's not our ambassador to United Nations or whatever.
	I know.
	He's literally the kindest guy.
	He's unbelievable.
	The Vietnamese love him.
	Everybody loves this guy.
	He like even he was he had a sig and he was like, can I put it out?
	Like, I don't know.
	He's just the nicest guy ever.
	Let's get, yeah, can we listen a little bit?
	Can you just play it for us if we put these back on?
	Y'all want to hear a little bit of this, man.
	Dude, that's cool, man.
	It just looks fun.
	Yeah, he just hit me up and was like, man, come out.
	And then we were just hanging, I was like, you want to come sing one?
	He's like, fuck yeah.
	Wow, that's cool.
	I was like, let's do that Johnny Cash song we did at your house.
	How fun is it when a special guest gets on a concert?
	Is it really just...
	It just depends, you know.
	This was really fun.
	See, he asked me if he could drop his cigarette on my stage.
	What a gentleman.
	I respect that.
	It's like when you're a comedy and somebody puts their feet up on the stage in the front.
	Dude, where the fuck did that shirt go?
	God, yeah.
	I lost that shirt.
	I don't know where the fuck it went.
	I don't know where the fuck it went.
	Grab that gun.
	There you go, Billy.
	Boy, that's so cool, man.
	Amen.
	Mexico.
	That's awesome, man.
	That's good.
	Dude, I think it's just, I think, well, that's the thing.
	It's like, I think one reason people love musicians, it's just you can make something that makes people feel good pretty quick.
	You're like a drug.
	You know, you're a drug.
	It's a damn drug, dude.
	You know, when I was getting my wisdom tooth pulled out, I was all I don't know if no, I wasn't nitrous either.
	I think they knocked me out, and when I came back to, I was all kind of loopy or something.
	But either way, I was like getting super sentimental and like emotional about there was this woman, this endodontist or whatever she, you know.
	And I was like, oh my God, you've literally, for one thing, I fucking hated school.
	You went to more school so that you could help people.
	That is so noble.
	You literally went to more school, which is like the worst fucking shit in the world.
	Just so that you could help people in their life and help people with their face and their teeth.
	Like, oh my God, thank you.
	You know?
	Yeah.
	Look, that's true, dude.
	Yeah, someone's our perspective.
	I just got to have a good perspective.
	It's like, thank you for, I mean, you put in the work.
	A doctor or something like that?
	I mean, a musician too.
	A chef?
	Fuck.
	This motherfucker spent all this time learning how to brew this beer that tastes so good now or whatever.
	It's like, thank you.
	Yeah, I wouldn't think of a chef as somebody making beer immediately, but I respect that.
	Well, no, a brewer, a chef, an artist.
	A brewer.
	Yeah.
	A fucking five-star restaurant.
	Man, you made this beer?
	And the steak's good, too, man.
	Goddamn.
	Yeah, I like a medium pale ale.
	Medium rare for me.
	Keep mine a little bloody.
	But no, it's like.
	No, you're right, man.
	Respecting the artistry that people put into things.
	And even as a thing like a chef, I think there is, you know, because some chefs, they love being chefs, man.
	I talked to my buddy Brad last night.
	He's a chef in Nashville.
	He loves being a chef.
	He's talking about it.
	He's just excited about it.
	And yeah.
	You find that thing you love, man.
	Respecting the artistry of things.
	Respect for the craft, yeah.
	My buddy Corey Wong was telling me that he was on tour somewhere over in, I don't know, but they met this cheesemaker, this fucking guy who was all about cheese.
	Oh, yeah.
	And so they were trying all these different cheeses and shit.
	And at the end of it, they were like, okay, well, we want to take some to go.
	And they were like trying to figure out how to package it.
	And Corey's like, well, we can just all put it in one bag.
	And the cheesemaker was like, nah, like, respect for the craft, dog.
	We ain't mixing up the cheeses.
	Yeah.
	They all go in their own container.
	Yeah.
	Gorgonzola, first of all, has been in solitary confinement for a couple weeks.
	So we're nice.
	Yeah.
	I mean, he's not allowed to be around the other inmates already.
	Yeah, no, it's a good point.
	Respecting the craft of things.
	Well, and I think that goes back to some things in our society, bro.
	And I talk about this kind of stuff a lot because I think it's been, I'm wondering why there's so much addiction and stuff in the world and why people are sick or what is sick inside of us.
	And I think one thing that people need to have is purpose.
	And I think people used to feel more purpose when they had like, you knew who the guy in your town was that was like owned the wood shop and was the woodworker or, you know, or you knew who was the cheesemaker who made the best pastries.
	When life was like Mayberry.
	When it was just a little bit more like un-industrial, like un mass, just where everything wasn't a Krispy Kreme.
	Yeah, and yeah, it's not a, exactly.
	Because then it was like, I got to go, I know, oh, the baker, dude, I can learn from the baker.
	And the baker felt value in the town because he can share information and it came from his grandparents.
	And so then your grandparents had value and there was lineage.
	And like, I think that things like that were important.
	And now you go through a lot of cities and towns in America and there's not a lot of that.
	I think that's, you know, not to just tie everything to bluegrass music, but I think that's part of the reason why people love bluegrass music is it's almost a tap back into that world before all of the industrialization.
	Like when people were sitting on their porch picking and you knew the neighbor and they came down for dinner and, you know, Floyd cut everybody's hair and Andy Griffith was the sheriff.
	And, you know, it was like a simpler times, really.
	Yeah.
	Dude, our bus driver gave everybody same cut, dude.
	R.I.P.
	Ray, I don't know what his name was.
	Deceased Ray, I guess they call him now or whatever.
	But he was our bus driver and also had the barbershop in town.
	And it was like the red and white barber pole.
	And everybody went in there.
	Yeah, and you'd wait.
	You have to go if you knew if you didn't get there early.
	It was like 325 or something.
	But on the bus days, once a month, he would cut on the bus.
	And so he would cut everybody's hair.
	It was like $2, bro.
	Everybody got same haircut, man, woman, down center, whatever you had, everybody got the same exact cut on that bitch.
	Dude, we all had the same cut in town, bro.
	You knew, yeah.
	So it's kind of, those are the echelons.
	If you went and got it cut actually at the shop, or if you got one of those bus cuts, dude, Ray would just rattle people off, bro.
	Yeah.
	Got the old bus cut.
	Yeah, it was a different time.
	Rattling Ray.
	Dude, you've gotten to do so much with music, man.
	Yeah, I think what I was asking about was sitting there with your parents was just that energy when you're sitting there waiting to get called.
	That's almost the most exciting thing, whether you win or not.
	It's just that that's really, that's the coolest is just being in that moment where there's possibility.
	Well, there is possibility.
	I mean, today's the day you can wake up and decide that today is the day that I'm going to just, you know, it's not all going to happen overnight, but it's like we can start chipping away at it.
	We can start doing whatever it is to be better or work harder or whatever it is that you feel like you need to do.
	I like to set goals for myself, write them down, you know, like, yeah, just like, what do I want to do, you know?
	Like, I have this little journal where it's just like, what do I want?
	What do I want in life?
	Like, I want happiness, I guess.
	Or also, like, goals for myself, like, what you know, I want to, like, I smoke like mad amounts of weed, like to the point where it's like, okay, I should probably at least cut back.
	Like, I mean, just for the, you know, obviously she's smoking weed.
	That's a big old joint.
	That's a real joint?
	Yeah, that's.
	Oh, my God, bro.
	That is a that's just like Tuesday morning.
	Bro, that's a prosthetic limb.
	Yeah.
	Oh, my God, bro.
	You're smoking out of somebody's damn.
	That's like a four-year-old's tibia.
	That thing is a body, bro.
	That thing should have an ankle on the end of it.
	Hell yeah, bro.
	Oh, yeah.
	Hold it up like Simba.
	But no, it's like, you know, I'm trying to like just eat little edibles and just vape more and stuff because one of my doctors told me, he just gave me this list of things like to survive.
	And it was just like, you know, just don't eat sugar, like don't smoke anything ever.
	Like, you know, have a lot of sex, like get exercise, go fishing.
	That's all good stuff for you.
	I don't know.
	It almost seems like it would be like self-explanatory or something.
	Just like, okay, like do things that make me happy and don't eat and ingest things that are bad for me.
	It's like, but how hard is that to do?
	To like go out, like, I eat a lot of sugar, like candy.
	And it's good.
	I love fucking Coca-Cola, do it on ice.
	Oh, my God.
	So fucking good.
	And then you're drinking it and you're just thinking, man, I'm just drinking like sugar right now.
	I'm just drinking pure misery for my body.
	My doctor told me any white powders are bad, pretty much.
	Oh, yeah.
	Yeah.
	Even flour, they say, is not that good for you.
	Yeah, that's one of them they said.
	I like flour, I guess.
	I don't even know.
	You don't even see it anymore.
	I feel like you used to always see flour when I was a young man.
	Martha White's self-rising flour.
	God, my mother.
	We get that fucking flower out, and then she would beat us.
	Yes.
	And then the way it just clouds everywhere when.
	Oh, yeah, during a beat?
	That's fucking great.
	Nothing like it.
	Like, baby powder doesn't do the same, doesn't have the same effect.
	Yeah, it can't.
	It just, yeah.
	You can't hide a child's beating behind some.
	Yeah, you need that real Martha White self-rising flower.
	Yeah.
	My grandma used to try to beat me with these...
	She used to try to...
	Oh, yeah.
	And me and my brother, we used to pretend like it really hurt just to not hurt grandma's feelings.
	She'd be like, all right, I'm going to give you a beating.
	She'd hit us and we'd be all, oh, wow.
	And then we'd walk around the corner and he'd be like, did that hurt?
	I'd be like, no.
	Yeah.
	It didn't hurt.
	We literally pretended like it hurt just to not hurt her feelings.
	Yeah.
	That's interesting, man.
	That's just empathy at a young level.
	Yeah, we used to have my dad.
	My dad was so old and he would, my mom would make him go beat us or spank us or whatever.
	And we would just be like screaming, even though it didn't hurt.
	He was like 80 years old, hitting us with his belt.
	What a, they can't do that anymore, can you?
	I don't, I mean, I think if you don't, I don't have kids, but like, I feel like.
	If your kid doesn't have social media, you can.
	I feel like.
	Yeah.
	Well.
	I mean, there's a difference between reprimanding your child, but it's just crazy.
	It's like, I don't know.
	We just.
	I don't know.
	I got Spankins when I was younger.
	I mean, but it wasn't long after that that I just kind of had no rules, you know.
	Yeah.
	But when I was young, young, yeah, I got a couple lickings.
	It wasn't anything terrible.
	It was, I think it made me a better person, you know?
	I mean, it was like, I don't know.
	I guess there's a line that's drawn.
	I was never abused physically, like, you know, but I had a couple good lickings.
	Yeah.
	And them old timers I heard stories from, it was like, oh, man, they used to do that in school.
	How did it happen to me at school?
	Did you?
	They whoop you?
	Bill Brady, I think was his name.
	And he might have changed his name because he whooped a lot of kids in our town.
	But I'll say this, man.
	I saw him not too long ago.
	A friend of mine passed away.
	Whooped now, motherfucker.
	A friend of mine passed away.
	No, no, no.
	And honestly, he was the coolest fucker.
	He's got to whoop me now, bro.
	He was the coolest dude, bro.
	And I told him, I was like, this dude, bro, I give the dude $11 to freaking beat me now for no reason.
	Just for fun.
	Yeah, just to have it.
	Yeah.
	Bro, he was the coolest guy, bro.
	A friend of mine, yeah, passed.
	My friend Will passed from addiction, man.
	And that's where I saw him at, was at his funeral.
	Oh, damn.
	He whooped you and Will, probably, huh?
	He probably, he probably, yeah.
	I mean, we buff.
	I'm sure we, I deserved it.
	I know.
	I should still roll over and just let him beat me for a half hour.
	I still.
	Sounds like you kind of want him to do that.
	Yeah, I mean, look.
	It's kind of like some deep-seated shit.
	Yeah, look, dude.
	After you get older, it's hard to find things that really make you feel something.
	You got to go back to that childhood shit that really gasses you up.
	Yeah, yeah.
	But then you're like, whoa, this is kind of fucked up.
	Like, why would I like this?
	Yeah.
	Huh.
	Start thinking about yourself.
	Yeah, thinking about yourself.
	And it's sometimes a trap thinking about yourself too much.
	Just let it happen, right?
	What else do we want to talk about?
	Anything else?
	We got your water.
	I know I wanted to say that.
	This is good, man.
	Yeah.
	And this is a, are they all seltzer or not?
	Yeah.
	Yeah, they're all.
	None of them have like booze in them or anything.
	This is the only flavor.
	We're actually doing a grape one next.
	Like grape drank.
	It's good.
	And then.
	Oh, that reminds me.
	Mattress Mac just came out.
	He was sipping lean.
	You know who that is?
	He bet on the Houston Astros to win the World Series.
	And if every, if they won, then like every mixed couple got a mattress or whatever in Houston.
	That's him?
	That's him right there.
	Damn.
	He looks hard as fuck.
	He's G'd out.
	Dude, he's sipping no way.
	Yeah.
	With the Jolly Ranchers?
	Did you get chopped and screwed by a competitor who said they were going to hook it up?
	Then with ghosts when it was time for your delivery.
	Here at Gallery Virgin, you know, we say knocking on doors like Philip C and Little Kiki and yellowing the top from Gallery Virgin in four hours or less.
	Our delivery team is on you.
	You don't do it.
	Gang, dude.
	That's what Gallery Virgin we are all about.
	We can't leave you riding dirty on that handmade down sofa.
	We need you to shine so clean with us.
	Gang, bro.
	Dude.
	That's my boy.
	That's where it's at now.
	I think it's like, hey, you want to pull up Coptic Ottoman?
	You know, you want to pull up, you know, and we'll serve you.
	You know, we'll break you off with this lazy boy.
	Yeah.
	That's where we're at.
	Yeah.
	It's just.
	Hey, speaking of gang, gang, what's the rat king thing?
	The rat king.
	Do you know what a rat king is?
	I've heard about this before.
	It's a group of rats.
	It's like a group of rats that are all, their tails are all tangled up.
	It's the most fucked up thing ever.
	This guy, my friend said, I look like this guy from Teenage Uten and Turtles a Rat King.
	And so it's just a dude who's not doing well who has a couple of rats with him.
	Okay, so.
	All right.
	I get it now.
	So you kind of are like the ringleader of the rats and shit.
	I'm just a fucking guy who's just trying to get a little bit of cheese, man, and make it through.
	That Monterey Jack?
	Oh, yeah.
	I'm trying to not Monterey Jack off anymore either, dude.
	I've been trying to lay off the old hand, the old body spout.
	Are you doing the retention thing?
	No, I'm not doing that and just saving it up for somebody, not unless they're going to pay for it or something, you know?
	I know.
	Yeah.
	What the hell?
	Any like artist collabs you've done?
	You've done some amazing ones so far, man.
	You're a Grammy winner.
	You got to sit there with your parents and go to the red carpet and go to the Grammys, take them from Michigan over there.
	That's so fascinating.
	Yeah, they came from Ionia down there to the Grammy.
	Were they just fascinated?
	Yeah, I mean, they're just proud of me and I'm proud of them.
	And we're all just like really happy, you know.
	And my brother's got two young kids, my niece and nephew, Jimmy and Bill, and they're just like really awesome.
	And I don't know.
	My family is just doing so good these days.
	And that's all I've ever wanted.
	It's like we've had some rough patches as every family does and stuff.
	But, man, we've kind of, I don't know, everybody's just doing pretty good these days.
	And it just makes me so happy because that's what I've always really wanted is just for everybody to be okay.
	You know?
	Yeah.
	And I think a lot of people can relate to that, man.
	I think a lot of people can relate to that.
	Yeah, it was cool bringing them out there.
	And my dad's, that's as far west as he's ever gone.
	He's only been on an airplane twice.
	Wow.
	He's a 55. He's, yeah, born in 1955.
	Only been on an airplane two times.
	And this is in the last year.
	Wow.
	First time in LA.
	Yeah.
	Oh, that's crazy experience.
	What a, that's such a, such a ride.
	And to get to be at the Graves and see all those other musicians and stuff.
	And for my mom, too, like, I remember growing up, she would watch like the E channel and stuff.
	And she's like into the fashion.
	She's into all that shit.
	Like, she used to watch the red carpet shit.
	So it was cool to be able to bring her and for her to see all them crazy outfits and shit like that.
	You know, she's all into that shit.
	So it was, it was kind of neat.
	But I just love my dad's.
	Like that one guy was like, who are you wearing?
	And he's like, I got Levi's.
	He's like, my son bought me this shirt and this came from, I got it at a Western store.
	He's just like, it's not no Gucci or nothing.
	It's just.
	No, it's perfect.
	Got it at a Western store.
	Yeah.
	What music are you listening to right now, Billy?
	People ask you all the time.
	Let's see.
	Let's see if I pull up my Spotify.
	See what pops up.
	Let's see.
	I'll go on on repeat.
	Okay, I'm just going to read them down.
	Yeah.
	On repeat, number one, The Grudge, Tool.
	That's only on there because I had to learn that.
	Because I sat in with Tool and I had to listen to that song about 300 fucking times that day.
	Paris Suicide Boys, number two.
	Suicide Boys?
	Yep.
	No way, bro.
	They're going to come on in April.
	Are they?
	Yeah, bro.
	I just texted the groupie in the scrim last night.
	That's crazy.
	Dude, that's crazy.
	You said them.
	Oh, my God.
	I fuck with them hard.
	Now check this out.
	We got Tool.
	We got Suicide Boys.
	Directly to James King, the old swinging bridge.
	Music.
	Music.
	Thank you.
	Oh, yeah.
	And then we got Pike County Breakdown.
	Earl Scruggs.
	Low Down, Hank 3. Yeah, you fuck with Hank 3 at all?
	I don't listen to it that much.
	I should, though.
	I got Riding the Danville Pike, Blue Highway.
	Donna Lee, Charlie Parker.
	Concerning Hobbits, Howard Shore.
	This is on my on repeat.
	So.
	I love that, man.
	Oh, yeah, you guys probably can't play that shit on there.
	My bad.
	That's okay.
	On the audio version, we can.
	The Flower and the Corpse, Flesh and Blood Robot.
	The Game, Blue Highway.
	Harbor of Love, Stanley Brothers.
	Stratosphere Boogie, Jimmy Bryant.
	Cold Virginia Night, Ronnie Bowman.
	SOS, Wes Montgomery.
	Scapegoat Blues, Jimmy Herring.
	Whale, Bud Powell.
	Something in the Way, Nirvana.
	More Ronnie Bowman.
	More Suicide Boys.
	Hank 3. Gang.
	Long Tall Sally.
	Lil Ridge.
	Yep.
	Dude, I used to love Chuck Berry, bro.
	Oh, fuck yeah, man.
	I used to listen to so much Chuck Berry.
	He's the shit.
	What have I been listening?
	I was listening to Stephen Wilson Jr.
	Is there anything else that you want to share, Billy, or anything else you were thinking about?
	Well, you want to play anything?
	Are you cool?
	You don't have to.
	I'm not saying you have to at all.
	I just saw you.
	I could play something.
	You brought an instrument.
	Yeah, let me rock a piss or something.
	I could pick a little bit.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, I'd love to.
	Dude.
	Oh, one question I had.
	Oh, is there something on your mind?
	Well, no, I was just saying, you know, I've just been working on a record like the last couple weeks.
	We started out in LA working at this studio, and it's just like I'm kind of at the point in my career right now where I just don't feel like I need to go into like a big studio and have all that.
	Like, so the last year and a half I've been sort of building a studio at my house.
	And we just started cutting there.
	We've done two sessions so far.
	Like, we were there for like a week and then we were there for like five days.
	So I got like 21 song new songs in the can that I recorded at home.
	And it's so awesome because like you know the vibe is so killer there.
	We have the whole house and then the studio is just like one little section.
	So whenever you're not in the studio you can you have a whole house.
	Plus I sort of live out in the country and like we can like ride bikes and stuff while we're at the studio and like go outside and just you know it's just like such a killer vibe.
	So that's what I've been doing the last couple weeks is working at home and making a record.
	It's pretty badass, man.
	I'm loving like having my own studio to work at.
	Yeah.
	Oh yeah.
	I mean that's yeah.
	I mean it's one of the reasons why I like having my job here at home, you know?
	It's nice to be able to just have your job at home.
	Oh yeah.
	Do you have a family at home or no?
	I have a wife.
	Oh you do?
	And I have a cat.
	Okay that's a family.
	Yeah.
	Oh in some cultures yeah.
	In Japan?
	In Japan that's considered I think a large family.
	Right.
	Cool man.
	Yeah.
	Well let me rock a piss and I'll pick a tune for you.
	Yeah will you?
	That'd be sweet of you man.
	Thank you so much.
	Wow.
	This guitar right here is like it's my pride and joy.
	This is a 1940 Martin D28.
	Praise God, baby dang.
	Yeah man.
	Wow who gave it to you?
	I did.
	Bye.
	Woo!
	Let's see.
	You recording in there?
	Well since we were talking about all that all them powders and such Gotta give you guys this little cautionary tale.
	Okay, okay.
	Amen, brother.
	Gotta get her in tune first.
	All right, here goes the old cocaine blues.
	Or wait, some people call it, tell it to me.
	�� Well, sniffing that cocaine all over town, honey, don't let my deal go down.
	Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be.
	It was meant for horses, not for men.
	Doctor said he kidded, but he didn't know when.
	Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be.
	Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me.
	Drink corn liquor, let the cocaine be.
	Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be.
	Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me.
	Drink corn liquor, let the cocaine be.
	Hey, hey, buddy, let the fuck ain't be Wow!
	Wow!
	I'm walking up the fields, going down man, trying to find a nickel for the buy cocaine.
	Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be.
	It'll run out your nose, you're trying to get the goddamn cocaine or kill your dead.
	Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be.
	Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me.
	Drink corn liquor, let the cocaine be.
	Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be.
	Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me.
	Drink corn liquor, let the cocaine be.
	Hey, hey, but let fucking be Come on!
	Hey!
	I don't know what I'm gonna do.
	If it kills my friends, it's gonna kill me too.
	Hey, hey, but let the cocaine be.
	Some of you people, you think you're tough.
	Sniffing that cocaine just like snuff.
	Hey, hey, but let's cocaine be.
	Well, you'll tell it to me, tell it to me.
	Drink corn, liquor, let the cocaine be.
	Hey, hey, but it let the cocaine be.
	Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me.
	Drink corn, liquor, let the cocaine be.
	Hey, buddy, let's go and be Whoa Wow!
	Hell yeah, man.
	Bro, that's so cool.
	Wow, man.
	Yeah.
	Got one more for you.
	All right.
	This one's from the late, great Blaze Foley.
	I wanna go home with an armadilla.
	Spread her little legs and really try to thrill her to her very soul with my cowboy Po.
	Oh, scaly skin around my face.
	Lord, I'll be her saving grace.
	I wanna go home with an armadilla, my cowboy Po Wake up in the morning with my head on my pillow, my finger in her ass, you know I feel it.
	I wanna go home with an armadilla on my cowboy pole.
	I wanna go home with an armadilla sleeping on my pillow next to me.
	My rough old hands and my Vaseline.
	Oh, she made a fool of me.
	No more songs about armadillos Na na na na na na na I I wanna go home with an armadillo on my cowboy pole.
	I wanna go home with an armadillo on my cowboy pole.
	Let's go, bro.
	That's so cool.
	Hey, bro, look.
	Everybody wants to catch a stray, man.
	That's for damn sure.
	God, yeah, because sometimes you're just laying there after you hit them and you're like, now what do we do?
	Billy strings, dude.
	Thank you so much, man.
	What is that feeling you have whenever you lock in on a, you know, there's videos that you go just in there.
	Is it a video to keep going?
	Are you still knowing where you're placing stuff?
	Or is it just like a second language?
	What is it like?
	I just get inside of there and try to, you know, trying to pay attention.
	I don't know.
	Almost feels like stuff goes, everything else goes away sometimes.
	Like when I'm on stage and I'm really getting focused, it's kind of like playing basketball, I imagine.
	It's like you got to pay attention.
	If somebody passes you the ball and you're not ready to catch it, you know what I mean?
	With me and my band, it's like we're just in there.
	We're super focused.
	We're playing.
	It's like we're passing the ball around.
	I imagine it's kind of like playing ball, you know?
	It's like you got to be in the fucking focus.
	Wow, it's fascinating, man.
	Dude, thanks so much, bro.
	You made me feel.
	You just.
	Thank you, brother.
	I think I was just kind of having a day, too.
	And just like, it just, this was just like about like, it just made me like feel like what's important, just talking about stuff with people.
	It's important.
	Yeah.
	You know?
	Yeah, man.
	Thank you so much.
	Billy Strings.
	Check him out wherever he is.
	Where will people be able to?
	I mean, you'll just be touring again sometime.
	It's so funny.
	I was just in, because I've been going to places where you have played and everybody's like, that motherfucker's crazy.
	That's what they say everywhere, bro.
	That's awesome.
	It's awesome.
	So, man, if you ever want to come out to a show, just let me know.
	I'll put you on the list and stuff.
	You're always welcome.
	I appreciate it, man.
	Same, bro.
	Thank you so much.
	Billy Strings.
	Thank you.
	Now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.
	I must be cornerstone.
	Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found I can feel it in my bones.

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