Billy Strings (born William Lee Apostol, October 3, 1992) is an American guitarist and bluegrass musician. He won a Grammy Award in 2021. Early life Billy Strings was born William Lee Apostol on October 3, 1992, in Lansing, Michigan. His father died of a heroin overdose when he was two and his mother remarried Terry Barber, an accomplished amateur bluegrass musician. Billy regards Barber as his father. The family moved to Morehead, Kentucky, then to Muir, Michigan. While he was still a pre-teen his parents became addicted to methamphetamine. He left the family home at the age of thirteen and himself went through a period of hard-drug usage. His family eventually achieved sobriety; Billy stopped using hard drugs and drinking alcohol. Barber was a heavy influence on his stepson, introducing him to traditional bluegrass artists at a young age, including Doc Watson, Del McCoury, David Grisman, Bill Monroe, John Hartford, Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, and Larry Sparks. Strings is also a rock and metal fan, influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Widespread Panic, Phish, Grateful Dead, Def Leppard, Between the Buried and Me, and Black Sabbath, and played in hard rock and indie rock bands in his teens. Apostol got his stage name Billy Strings from his aunt, who saw his ability on multiple traditional bluegrass instruments. Career Beginnings and Turmoil & Tinfoil (2012-2019) In 2012, Don Julin, a mandolin player from Traverse City, Michigan, and author of Mandolin For Dummies, asked Strings to join him on a paying gig. The partnership lasted for the next four years. Rolling Stone magazine named Strings one of the Top Ten New Country Artists to Know in 2017. On February 12, 2018, Rolling Stone published an article entitled "Bluegrass Prodigy Billy Strings Plots 2018 Spring Tour," saying, "Billy Strings doesn't have any trouble living up to his name. [He is] one of the latest breakneck guitar pickers to emerge in the bluegrass world." The International Bluegrass Music Association awarded him with the 2016 Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the year. Bluegrass Situation named him a scene tastemaker in 2016. Lisa Snedeker of HuffPost proclaimed Turmoil and Tinfoil as one of the best albums of 2017, writing, "in September it charted at No. 3 on the Billboard Bluegrass charts. ‘Nuff said.". In March 2018, Rolling Stone released Strings' debut music video Dealing Despair from his album Turmoil & Tinfoil. He planned to play over