2022 ‘Americana Artist Of The Year’ Billy Strings Announces New Album ‘Me/And/Dad’

GRAMMY Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician, Billy Strings has announced Me/And/Dad, the first album he’s recorded with his father, Terry Barber. 

Released November 18, the record, the product of a long-time dream, features new versions of fourteen bluegrass and country classics that the two have been playing together since Strings was a young child.

In advance of the release, the pair’s new versions of bluegrass traditional Long Journey Home and George Jones’ Life To Go have already dropped.

Reflecting on the project, Strings shares, “As long as I can remember, I wanted to make a record with my dad. I’ve been burning up and down the highways the last 12 years, and as time slips away, you start thinking, ‘I need to make time.’ It’s been a bucket list thing for me, something I’ve been afraid I wouldn’t find the time to do. And that scared me; not doing this record scared me.”  

Produced by Strings and Gary Paczosa and recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studio, the record finds Strings and Barber playing with familiar ease, naturally trading off leads both vocally and on guitar. In addition to Strings and Barber, the album features an all-star band including bassist Mike Bub, mandolinist Ron McCoury, banjo player Rob McCoury and fiddler Michael Cleveland as well as special guest appearances by Jerry Douglas, Jason Carter and Strings’ mother, Debra Barber, who sings on the final track, I Heard My Mother Weeping.

The new record follows Strings’ widely acclaimed album, Renewal, which was one of the Top 50 Most Played Albums at Americana Radio last year.

Since his 2017 debut, Strings has been awarded ‘Best Bluegrass Album’ at the 63rd GRAMMY Awards, ‘Artist of the Year’ at the 2022 Americana Music Awards, ‘Entertainer of the Year’ and ‘Song of the Year’ at the 2022 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards, ‘Best New Headliner’ at the 2022 Pollstar Awards, ‘Breakthrough Artist of the Pandemic’ at the 2021 Pollstar Awards, named ‘Entertainer of the Year’ and ‘Guitar Player of the Year’ at the IBMA Awards.

A respected figure across all genres, Strings has also collaborated with a wide variety of artists including Bill Kreutzmann, Luke Combs, Del McCoury, Fences, RMR and many more.  

Me/And/Dad Track List:

1. Long Journey Home (bluegrass traditional)
2. Life To Go (written by George Jones)
3. Way Downtown (written by Doc Watson)
4. Little Blossom (written by Hank Thompson)
5. Peartree (written by Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson, Gaither Carlton)
6. Stone Walls and Steel Bars (written by Ray Pennington, Roy Eugene Marcum)
7. Little White Church (written by Eugene Wellman)
8. Dig A Little Deeper (In The Well) (written by Jody Emerson, Roger Bowling)
9. Wandering Boy (written by A.P. Carter)
10. John Deere Tractor (written by Lawrence Hammond)
11. Frosty Morn (bluegrass traditional)
12. I Haven’t Seen Mary In Years (written by Damon Black)
13. Little Cabin Home On The Hill (written by Lester Flatt, Bill Monroe)
14. Heard My Mother Weeping (written by Carl Story, Lowell Blanchard

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