Billy Strings Keynote address at World of Bluegrass 2025 – photo © Austin Scelzo
To hear Billy Strings tell the remarkable story of his musical story, he never left bluegrass, but bluegrass almost left him.
Strings kicked off World of Bluegrass 40, in IBMA’s first year in Chattanooga, with a keynote address that was part tale of persistence and part sermon about inclusiveness.
The young picker played the audience as well as he does his guitar, bringing them first to laughter, then to the verge of tears, and back again. It was, quite simply, the best keynote address I have heard since I started coming to World of Bluegrass in 2010 in Nashville. (And there have been some very good ones).
He learned his first bluegrass songs at his father’s knee. “He taught me G, C, and D, and he gave me a capo.” Later, like many teens, he turned to heavy metal, mostly because he “just wanted to play music with kids my age.” Even later, the Prodigal Son came home.
“I realized bluegrass is where my heart and soul are, and I decided to go back to it, and here I have stayed,” he said. “Bluegrass changed my whole world. I found my calling.”
Parts of his story weren’t easy to hear, especially when he talked unflinchingly about growing up in a household struggling with poverty and addiction.
But the hardest part for me was hearing him tell of getting excited to join a bluegrass jam after his return to the fold, only to go home near tears because he wasn’t one of “them,” and couldn’t break into the circle. And even though he’s now firmly established – some even say he’s the savior of bluegrass – there are still suggestions that he doesn’t belong, that he’s not a true bluegrasser.
Some folks don’t like his long hair or the way he dresses, while others are repulsed by the jamgrass aspects of his music, he said. He simply noted, “Even though we were into the same music, there was a great divide. To me, bluegrass is beautiful because of its diversity. We have to welcome new voices.”
Strings gave a shoutout to Junior Sisk, whom he joined for a song before the address. “He’s not afraid to have a longhair up here with him,” Strings said. “I want to try to mix up the tie dye and the camo a little bit.”
And he said he’s inspired by the thought of some kid leaving one of his shows and googling Tony Rice and Earl Scruggs. It’s all part of what he calls “preaching the gospel of bluegrass.”
To conclude, he said the state of bluegrass in 2025 is “pretty danged cool. I’m just glad to be a part of it. It is my honor and duty to wave that [bluegrass] flag just as high and as wide as I can.”
Not everyone will accept him. But they need to get over themselves. Billy Strings is the best thing to happen to bluegrass in a long time. He deserves thanks, not scorn.
