This Past Weekend - E483 Billy Strings
Episode Date: February 16, 2024Billy 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 on this episode of This Past Weekend 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 blue grass 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 to getting it know him today's guest is mr. Billy string I love this.
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,
it was like a bucket list thing for me for a long time.
You know.
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 gonna 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 gotta do this.
So we did it and it was awesome.
And you know, we got nominated for a Grammy Grammy brought my folks out there and you know had them posted
up at the Sunset Marquis 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 the to the family members
somebody who's gotten them emotionally there sometimes, you know?
It's everything to me. My dad is just, I wouldn't know anything about bluegrass music and Doc Watson
and all the stuff that I cut my teeth on. And it's the reason why I have a good life today
and my 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 kinda 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, well, 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 small town, old country folk.
Like, you know, 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.
Yeah, what are you wearing?
How I hand me up?
So he's like, who are you wearing?
It's like, Levi's and you know.
This was my cousins, you know.
Yeah, the guy asked us too, asked my dad like,
who if you could meet anybody here at the 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's just, yeah, it's crazy.
And who does Tommy play for?
Wow.
He's just the man himself, man.
He plays solo and...
Oh, I'm not even familiar with him.
Oh, man, he's a killer.
Yeah, he's a monster.
And he's an Australian.
Yeah, I'm going Australian just a week or so.
Wow.
Yeah, Tommy Emanuel.
He's like, you know, grew up kind of, he's sort of from
like that Chet Atkins school, real, 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 don't know 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 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 like admire somebody so much on the guitar?
Well, I feel like when Jack Pearson touches the guitar,
it's kind of like effortless.
For me, it's hard.
It takes a lot of work.
And I think people that are, when you see a true master
sit down at their instrument, like at the piano
or on their guitar, whatever it is,
it's just like breathing for them.
I mean, watching Jack Pearson's fingers go over the fretboard
is just like water.
It's just like water, you know, it's just
so smooth.
It's, and I'm just like, how is that even possible?
Wow, for you to say how is that even possible?
It's just, it's interesting to hear like somebody who a lot of people will 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? 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 crazy.
Like for real.
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 Thiele and Corey Henry who are
Chris Thiele is a
Like Literally MacArthur Grant award-winning genius like
The best in the world at his instrument and
Yeah, what does he play? Mandolin.
Oh, the mandolin.
Yeah, man.
There's a famous song, mandolin rain, right?
Mandolin rain.
Uh, my friend, Josh Kelly plays a mandolin.
He, yeah, it was originally by horns being range, Bruce
horns be, and then I think he re
What does he call when you read?
Like a remix or re redo it remastered us or read did a song. Yeah
Covered yeah, he covered Mandolin rain. Yeah, so were you see so you're sitting there at the Grammys with your parents?
Yeah, and you're nominated. Uh-huh Wow, bro
So that energy when you're sitting there,
cause 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 hours
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 would come back and are we up yet?
You know, kind of thing.
It was great that the performances were great and we were having a good time.
I have a hard time sometimes being in loud environments because I like my ears ring constantly and
I'm super sensitive to like 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 I will literally call the fucking police on somebody
Who bangs or several against their plate too loudly?
Like I know what it is. I know what it is. It's
Unbelievable somebody would do that is their plate too loudly. Like, I 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, one. So of, 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.
Um, wait, well, how does it say that'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, um, yeah, I don't get like a shingillicus or whatever,
or like in a wheelchair.
Tinnitus, no way.
Tinnitus.
Tinnitus.
Tinnitus.
That's what it says.
Tinnitus.
Oh, tinnitus I think is something you get in Memphis
probably, it's a little bit more.
Tinnitus.
Tinnitus.
Yeah, but that lady's the same lady in my car.
That lady is not, I don't trust that lady.
Yeah, she can't even tell. Like when that lady. Yeah, she can't even tell
When I play a song she came and recognize it. I'm 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
And she can't even get me to Murphy's borough
So yeah, I'm out
Um, do you know in advance at the games 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.
Of course.
You know, we went the last time.
It's just an honor to be nominated and to be even spoken in the same sentences
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.
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 get gotten my dad won.
Yeah.
But Molly Tuttle's record and her band
and what she's been doing,
she's been working her ass off.
I gotta tune into her.
Yeah, she's-
I'm so glad you're here to say some of these names
because I start thinking I gotta 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 something happening right now
where people are getting back into bluegrass again
or banjo music and 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 like 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, you know, 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 Shinein'.
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's first, you know, release. 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 like 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, 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.
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.
Cause he's on, you know, he's overdosed somewhere.
He's on those gas station uppers, which don't do anything.
Yeah. Or he's stopping every five minutes to do a bump cause this shit ain't anything. And
he can't even make his hall, you know? It's like that, 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.
I felt like 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 didgeridoo's, 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 cut.
Yeah.
I mean, or I'm sober now, but I would do a couple of grams or whatever.
And it's the shit's got so much Sherwin Williams back end on it.
It's like, it's just not. Dry wall all next thing I'm applying to do dry. Well, 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 gonna 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 like harmless little party, 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.
It's like, oh man.
That's 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.
Um, 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 oxys and shit, you know.
And I remember doing that shit a little bit.
I'd do it like, cause it was just around.
I mean, like I said, I grew up in a small town.
I just never really had any rules.
Just where were you at?
Well, I grew up in this little town called Muir.
Muir?
Population.
Six hundred and sixty six 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.
I own you. Maybe I've heard of it. Yeah.
We look up the population of Muir, Michigan and I own you was probably a slave town.
I'm guessing just by the name of it. It's a prison town. It is.
It there's like, I mean, when I was living there, there was like, uh,
there's like seven prisons there. Like most people either work at the prisons or like.
Or in them probably.
Yeah, or 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 like where I went to school
and all that.
Why are we talking about Ionia again?
We were just saying, what was it like like like the oxes to school and all that. Why are we talking about Ionia again? We're just saying what was it like, like,
like, fend, like, oxys, people getting oxys.
Man, when I was in school and shit,
I was a terrible student.
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 kinda old hippies and,
but they're like hippies and red,
they're half hippies and half redneck in a way
and it's like, they're just kick ass,
they taught me about so much good music, you know,
my mom and shit taught me about everything from Hendricks
to The Beatles and Zeppelin.
My dad taught me about Bill Monroe and Doc Watson
and Flat and Scruggs and about Fishing.
It's just like they were different parents.
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.
Aren't we all?
Yeah, I am, yeah.
I was at a meeting two hours ago, so.
Yeah, well good.
That's awesome, man.
So, yeah, 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 all that is to say that I'm super proud of my parents
these days and I'm proud of myself.
We all made it out of that shit.
It was crazy.
Over did you struggle too sometimes?
I don't wanna say 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 crowd was apeshit and 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 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 soundcheck 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.
Um, 10 minutes later I'm going off fuck pull over, you know, 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 loading and soundcheck.
We had to set up our gear in front of the audience.
All 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.
Yes.
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 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 was like,
I shouldn't blow this, you know?
Dude, that's great, because that kind of moment doesn't happen to a't blow this, you know. Dude, that's great.
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.
And it started as like, okay, I'm not drinking,
at least for the rest of the weekend.
Yeah.
And then, and then.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, and shout out to everybody that's ever said that.
You know what I mean? It's like, I'm not okay. And then, and then, you know, 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.
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,
reach in there to grab a Coke or something
and I realized that I was reaching right past the 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.
You 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, you know?
Yeah, 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.
Did you go to college?
Yeah, I went to LSU and we were drinking over there.
I think I was kind of like,
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 of Indians,
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 hoppy beers,
and everything and all that.
And it's like, I'm drinking fifths of McMasters and Captain beers and everything. And it's like, Like whispering hooker. Man, I grew up drinking fifths of McMasters
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 US 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
I was gonna say probably I wish met that like a birth control aspect to it
But I would go white claw. 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.
I always wanted to smoke crack.
I never got to smoke crack.
Damn.
It's um...
Did you ever smoke it?
Oh yeah.
Really?
Oh fuck yeah.
No way.
You damn bro.
Ever tried to break a bad habit and felt like you were climbing Mount Everest and flip
flops?
Well, I've been there.
Yeah, I've been there recently. But here's a breath
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Did you ever smoke it?
Oh yeah.
Really?
Oh, fuck yeah.
No way.
You're damn bro.
Dude, I'm telling, I mean.
Oh, I didn't know that you smoked crap.
I mean, I wasn't like on it all the time.
Yeah, I wish.
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, it was just, I mean, I was 16 the first time I ripped a crack rock.
And it was fucking right.
And you want to know what else is?
I like, it was, I've always considered myself
to have 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 tweak tweak orville man tweak orville and just taking apart stuff. Oh
Yeah motorcycles in the house. No, I'm saying
Oh, yeah, motorcycles in the house. No.
I'm saying.
In your bikes.
Yeah, there used to be this guy named Spive.
Bro, he lived in this old farmhouse out on Charles Road.
You walk in, there's an old farmhouse.
There's like a barn that was falling down in the backyard.
You walk in and there's like TVs stacked on top of each other.
You can see one's like a camera
on the front porch, one's just like static.
You know, and Homie's got a motorcycle ripped apart
in his living room with like,
fold your 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 Sudafafed and you bring it to him or something. He's the cook
He'd give you a quarter gram or something
So because they were running out of people that could get Sudafed because all them tweakers were on the list at right
Aid and shit and then Walgreens and shit and saying don't you know this 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.
Yeah.
And is a quarter gram a lot of...
That's enough for a good weekend right there.
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.
I 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 like, and you feel like that was drug fueled or did it?
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, cuz 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
Fucking terrible don't do it
But I am saying that 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 up stairs 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, 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 fucking passed away. He needs to fucking keep his nose clean, got damn then. I mean Jordan almost fucking passed away.
He needs to fucking keep his nose clean.
Got damn it.
Yeah.
Amen.
And so does everybody.
Yeah.
But no, I lived in this house, bro, on Main Street in Ionia, which is a tiny little town.
And there was this, 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 and 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 a tweaker, and figures out that this guy,
the handyman who's working on this house that we're
renting, is holding.
And he's like, you know, and I'm like, well,
if you guys are going to 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 somebody's going to smoke.
I mean, that's why I had to,
my biological father died from a heroin overdose
when I was two years old. 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's like I had it
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 shit
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 kind of breaks my heart.
But it's interesting that you,
I'm curious about one to try.
Yeah, sorry.
Let me just finish the tweaking for 48 hours.
Yeah, let's start there dude.
Finish that fuck.
I was upstairs.
Yeah, a lot of people here do home renovations.
Yeah.
So this dude was,
he was working at all hours of the night and shit.
I'm like, what the fuck?
So, you know, my body figured I was tweaking and like,
you know, 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 youish it around. You get all that white shit off the ball. Then you got a nice clear ball.
So then you kind of just tap some shit down in there
and you can burn it and smoke it.
So whatever, I hit the shit.
Woo, all of a sudden, where's my guitar?
I wanna play guitar so bad.
So for two days, I sat there and playing.
Two fucking days.
I didn't eat, I don't even think I get pissed.
It was insane.
And then two days later, somebody finally snaps me out of it
by knocking on my door.
It was my friend Brendan, Brendan Lauer.
I hear the knock on a slider door and I'm like,
oh, fucking, I put my guitar down on that.
I'll be right back.
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 all go open the door and my friend Ben'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 and so
I had green shit on my face from my guitar strings and 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 sex? Or 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 beads?
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, yeah, 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 coca, 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 the biggest term ever.
I'm going to organize things.
That was always a term that I would use.
That's one thing people do too.
I was at this crack house one time
that was fucking spotless.
It was insane.
And me and my friend 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?
This whole, yeah, yeah.
Some people are just, they get that fucking, that drug dog in there.
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
Like there was one night. I smoked crack with a fully pregnant lady
Oh, 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've always considered myself to have a pretty strong will.
And like I was saying, I've been around shit forever.
But when I hit crack, I was like, alright, 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, incredible, crazy.
What does it feel like?
Does it feel like a-
I 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 shouldn't be on here describing it.
No, wait, look.
It's gonna seem like I'm like, you know, but...
Well, tell us the downside of it, then.
The downside of it was...
So that people know that.
So if anybody right now is trying to U-turn to go against them crack or whatever?
No, no, no, no, don't do it because it's, oh, man.
It's like, 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
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, man, I hope there's enough. And so then it was like, how do I have any more money?
It was like, how much money do I got?
We could we get some more?
Right.
I mean, you even thinking 50 seconds, right?
So it hijacks your thoughts even immediately.
I was ready to sell shit.
Oh, you know, just whatever I, you know, it takes everything.
And, and then the next day I go to school, right?
And I got this little rock left over sitting on my, on my 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.
I'm sick, Miss Julie, I gotta 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.
Oh, it's just sitting there, yeah.
It's just looking for you wearing
a fucking probably see-through brawl.
Dude, yeah, it was terrible.
Yeah.
You know, God, yeah.
So I just, I, you know.
I couldn't handle it.
I mean, I couldn't handle it, man.
I 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 at the moment.
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 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'm like, let me go back in
and just make sure I did something.
It was like, what is that even?
Like that was a real thought in my head.
Like that's not even a little shit in there.
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 some.
What the fuck dude, that's not,
so interesting just to even think about how it hijacks
our thoughts man.
And if you can't even, if you,
cause 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, I just want to, yeah, 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'll be like, okay
Never again for at least six months or something whether it was math or crack or heroin or whatever
Mm-hmm. 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.
Where 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 Muir 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,
the fuck, 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,
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, 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 ops, like they were like government,
like he started to go down a real rabbit hole. No, that's-
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,
oxy-cotton,aine, 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, making a fire and hanging out with some friends
and looking up at the trees and staring at a bug and realizing,
it's like, I've hung out with like,
whenever you're around the Grateful Dead camp,
Bob Weir and Bill Kreuzman
and some of those cats, like for instance when I was out in Hawaii hanging out with Bill
Kreuzman 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, 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 aunt 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 Failing,
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, 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 they, you know, Grand Canyon or we're, you know, out.
Oh, yeah.
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 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,
is you just run the risk of people not being able
to do it in some sort of control or moderation.
I was just gonna 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 like 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,
like some things.
If I was a responsible adult, I would drink too, but didn't go buy cocaine and end up trying to, you know, fight some
things.
If I was a responsible adult, I would drink too, but I'm not.
Right.
You know.
Yeah, I'm not responsible.
So anyway, but yeah, I think, I just think we're seeing like a kind of a stray from that
a little bit.
This is yours, man.
Yeah.
You brought this for me?
You brought this for me? Yes, sir. This is mine? I brought you a couple cases of man. Yeah, there's me later, 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 a short, 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 hop water
Bro, it's good. It's good. I love it
And it's just that this is the name of thirst meter later. Mm-hmm. Wow
You want to hear a DMT story or two, yeah, and I'll trade you one and then um, and then we'll get back into your music
Wait, you yeah, we're gonna have to get back into your music set. Wait, you, yeah.
We don't have to get back into anything,
but I don't want people to forget that you're a musician.
Yeah, Psycho-Knot, Billy Strings.
Psycho-Knot, that's what Shane Moss was, a Psycho-Knot.
But yeah, let's go down 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 this man, my buddy Seth, he's gone now,
it's here 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, 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 so 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.
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.
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 or don't you,
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, 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 gonna rip this DMT. Let's try it
Hey, man
So I 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 gonna rip this DMT. And so I sat on the couch
and like 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 Gillian Welch and Emmylou
and Allison Kraus 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, well, 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, well, 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 outer space, like through this placenta
where we kind of broke through
and then it was like we were on this beautiful pink
mountain top 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's zapped us down super zillow or something.
It was like all the universes spinning. 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 the planets doing it, then to our planet and showed me the wind and water and currents and
and then to a grain of sand. It was like a fractal out from everything and everything is spinning
and working together. Doing the dance. Yeah doing the dance. Yeah what you do affects your neighbor
you know and 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 a link, 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 humanity, but all of everything.
And what that is, to be a strong link, you gotta work on yourself and basically just
not be a dick.
Dive down inside of yourself and figure out what it is.
Why are you an asshole?
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. Are you struggling with keeping
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Yeah, man, it's, I mean, it's fascinating.
Yeah, thanks for sharing 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 to, for me to be okay, right?
Which I'm not saying that we don't need other people.
We do. We need 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 gonna 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 gonna 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 that's called with themselves,
where they had more of a relationship with themselves,
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 it's called, my heart's beating,
everything's good.
Yeah, my buddy has a Fatbit, my buddy, Burt Chrysler, it just, he looks at it and it just tells him he's beating. Everything's good. Yeah. My buddy has a fat bit. My buddy
Burt Kreischer, he looks at it and it just tells him he's fat. Oh man. God, bro, you
gotta. We need to get him like a mechanical watch. Yeah, we need something. But we need
to get him a meth addict to take that thing apart first of all. Put it back together. Yeah.
So when people were on methamphetamines, if they take that stuff apart,
what are they then looking to do with it?
Is it, why do people take that kind of stuff apart?
Is it?
I don't know.
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 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, right, 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 and, um,
Barkas, it's for dogs.
But well, B, A, R, K, U, S, Barkas Park, Barkas Park it's for dogs. Well, B-A-R-K-U-S, Barkas Park.
Barkas Park in Lyons, Michigan.
And um, so it was a campground.
My buddy Brad Lascoe owned it.
Uh, 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 Pickin, man.
That's where I grew up, man.
That's the vibe.
That's my dad right there above him.
No way, bro.
That's the damn Google image that's on this park.
Yeah, so.
I think he's just 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. Dude, that's so cool. up right there, bro. Sitting on that campground, picking, just like that. That's my childhood.
And so-
Dude, that's so cool.
It was epic, man.
There's Stony Creek's 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 Laska, on it, there we go.
That's what I was just gonna 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 Barkas 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't at all. Dude, I mean it's like-
I can't at all. 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
Every meth recovery center isn't currently located along a river
Stream in this country. I will never understand we have got to organize meth users and
Get this gold. Yeah, seriously cuz we could get some big bucks dude. Um, I that's unbelievable, bro I do you have you written a song about that? I'm not about paying for gold. I wrote one called Dustin a baggy for yes That's about Brad Laska man. That's unbelievable, bro. I do. Have you written a song about that? I'm not about pan for gold. I wrote one called Dustin a baggy for that's about Brad Laska.
Man, that's.
Is it?
Yeah.
He just passed away a couple of years ago, too, man.
That me and dad record, you know, we dedicated it to Brad.
Oh, that's him.
No, that's a.
This is the video for it.
Well, yeah, Dustin a baggy.
That's a video for it.
Okay.
I wouldn't play it.
But no, that's a famous video 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,
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 just picking tunes.
And then, yeah, Barefoot Ben there, man.
He was the only hippie in I own you that,
you know what I mean?
It was like, I mean, I guess there was a couple
skater kids or whatever, but he was like Barefoot
at every party.
He was wearing tie dye.
People call him Barefoot band 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.
They're talking about Ben, like this dude looks like he's standing there giving out
side quests and shit.
Yeah.
No.
Shout out Ben.
Hope you're doing good, buddy.
Very good, Ben.
Amen, brother.
Yeah. Man. They just, Ben. Amen, brother. Yeah.
Man.
They just found a huge golden nugget. Can you look that up for me?
Where?
There we go. Biggest golden nugget ever found that weight as much as a person.
Holy shit.
Would be worth an insane amount today. The biggest nugget in the world weighed as much
as an adult man.
Millions.
John Deeson and Richard O. Titsch the jack as much as an adult man. Millions.
John Deeson and Richard O. Tits the jackpot.
Oh, this is an 1869.
When they saw a little bit.
Australia.
When they found they discovered the monster nugget while digging in Australia.
Yeah.
Weighing in at 11 stones.
Uh, 72 kilograms.
Still no idea how much that is.
I think it's 220 pounds.
11 stone.
It was weighted 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 math 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, we find a, we find a chunk of gold the size of a man and people
are on math. Do you tell other people you have it or do you? Like are math
people key? Can they keep a secret or is it not a secret area?
That's a good question. I don't know. I feel like some people can, some people can't.
I feel, yeah, we would just pawn that fucker.
It would just go with the 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, I don't know.
We just got to drive all over Michigan to get it.
Oh, it's Sudafed Central.
I remember when they started locking up the Sudafed, man.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, you gotta show your ID and shit for it.
I was like, I have a fucking runny nose.
That used to be your ID to get Sudafed,
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.
But it's, I don't want to go back.
Right.
That's the thing.
I don't want to go back to-
Why?
Because it sucks.
It's a miserable life.
It, you know, 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 it real quick, it gets real bad. And
man, it ruins people's lives. It ruins families. It's, you know, it's, um,
yeah, look, that's it. Look, that's just what I want.
You said it better than I could have thought a way to say it.
That's, that's the truth.
Um, 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 cause man, I was working at this, uh,
you were in acne, Michigan.
I'm just going to read it.
Is that okay Billy?
Yeah.
I says, uh, 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 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 wanna thank all of you for the support.
Without you, I would not be able to make this decision.
Cheers. Yeah man.
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're you decided what you wanted to do?
That was at a point where I was 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.
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 is 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 stay alive.
Yeah.
But then I started playing gigs too.
And, um, 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 five 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 at,
and then six o'clock would come around
and I'd be back on stage somewhere.
Yeah.
And I was burning the candle at both ends
and I could just feel it closing in on me.
It's like, well, you gotta 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 1200 bucks from music.
I don't need, I mean, it was nice to have both the check
and the music, but I used to
just live off this and was fine. So okay, fuck the job, I'm just gonna live off the music.
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 say 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 gonna be what I'm gonna 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 talked 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, like we played breweries,
coffee houses, stuff like that for tips and for whatever.
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, whatever.
But it just, once I kinda 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 gonna practice, I'm gonna write songs,
I'm gonna 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 Yeah, basically give back to those folks that supported me and say look if you continue to support me
I'm not gonna 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.
And well, let's see, I'm 31, that was 2010.
Anybody good at math?
It's 11 years, yeah.
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
Was I 21 20 20 or 21? Yeah, so at that point I had already been on tour and shit. I had like I
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 some viral moments online,
what do you think are the things that really cemented
you in with people?
Like, do you think it's a way that you play?
Do you think it's,
cause I think artists start to see there's some
artists are great performers. Some artists are there's captivating, um, they can make
a unique sound or do something new or novel. Um, some you go for the songs and you don't
even know anything about the artist or care about the artist at all. Right. Do you, 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, you know.
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.
They're all, this is all prerecorded 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. Oh, they're dancers. They're not a musician like me.
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, I 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, cause I guess they're dancers.
But you know, I've always been sort of like a,
like a grass hole, you know, that's what you call it.
It's like, I don't, you know, auto-tune or anything like that.
It's like, yeah.
It's like, you know, I worked my ass off my whole life
to learn how to sing and play.
And then there's folks out there that are just
pressing a button on a computer and,
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.
But it's a different style.
It's a different, okay, this person's not a bluegrass musician.
They're a dancer or they're a rapper or whatever.
That auto tune sound is a stylistic, it's a part of the sound.
It's like a banjo is to bluegrass.
Right, they're almost like new orchestras.
Yeah, it used to be this guy was the guy who was like the DJ.
Nobody ever gives that guy the credit
for being the first fucking Zed or whatever.
Conductor, yeah.
Yeah, the conductor.
Nobody's like, oh, look at that, there's Cascade.
They're just like, oh, look at this penguin fucking guy
with the two sticks
You know this guy's obviously a fucking dork. Yeah
But truly that guy was the fuck that guy was the cascade that guy was he was the G man
He was um the chain smokers, you know, it was just a different time
And then now people use more autotune. They just had an article the other day. It was about like T pain. Did you see?
I remember like We use more autotune. They just had an article the other day. It was about like T-Pain. 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 like ruined music by introducing
all that autotune shit.
And he said he got like really depressed about it.
Oh wow, like 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, like 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, like I feel like that was his
sound was the real auto tune.
Yeah. And, um, 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 me 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,
he was the last person that should have been present.
Right.
But I mean, that's what I'm saying is 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 whatever music.
I can't, how do you even classify his music?
It's just like posty music.
Well, he's a concierge of joy, I think.
Oh, yeah.
Honestly, how I would, I've only hung out with him once, but he is a concierge.
He's the fucking best dude ever.
He's a concierge of sheer joy.
The first time I really met him.
He's a fucking care bear.
I love him.
Yeah. But you're joy the first time I really matter 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 saying
Johnny Cash Hank Williams
Fucking he knows more old country songs than I do I think and he can play him on guitar and sing him like a fucking angel
And it's like I'm sitting in a room with him watching this.
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.
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, I'm the Jack Pearsons,
and more of the guys who are in my scene,
the Bayla Flex, the Brian Sutton's,
the Stuart Duncan's, the Jerry Douglas's,
the when I let go to the Grammys or something like that,
those are the cats that I'm really,
I love seeing the big celebrity and stuff,
but I'm looking past them and seeing who's in the band.
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. Yeah.
Dude, what a phenomenon. That would be so neat if they had Billy strings in the cats.
And it was just a tour that you did. Sorry. I hate when people give me ideas or shit,
but I'm going to be that guy. All yours, brother. And you just featured like,
yeah, because it's so, 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.
Man, I had a, I still have a hard time with success.
I grew up.
The opposite.
I grew up, kind of, I grew up poor.
I grew up, you know, going to stay the night
at friends' houses just so I could have some dinner.
You know?
Like I grew up fucking sleeping in my winter coat,
you know, 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 Marquis and
it's like, well, why me?
I have a survivor's guilt.
Oh, interesting.
You know what I mean?
And- 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,
trying to get better and really wanting to be a musician
since I was in kindergarten, since I was a baby.
But still, when I'm at my house
and we are doing some renovations or something,
and I see some Mexican dude out
and working on laying renovations or something. And I see some like Mexican dude out and working on,
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 like, I really feel like shit guitar and like, he's the one making my driveway. This is fucked. Yeah.
And I'm 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's like, I understand, you know, but she also said,
she told me about this pyramid of competence.
It's like, as the 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, 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 just the crazy motherfucker that will die for this shit. I'll never go back to where I was.
I play for my life.
It's not a job.
This is my fucking survival.
And this is literally everything to me.
Or 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 just 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 and roses
and I would fucking,
hell right.
Oh dude, I would fucking cry in there
and listen to November rain and fucking threaten
other people that worked at the place.
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 out 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 and, oh my God.
But I would listen to things.
Bill and Hayer, 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 an aspirin and men's.
But yeah, but it was, I just still need a hard work man. I got a resent or get an aspirin 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 would 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 that just the top 10 country.
It didn't get that they even had an old radio and they didn't even, 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 or not that made me feel good,
but that just fucking let it all out. Right. And somebody who had probably played those songs
had probably maybe those songs had probably
had maybe done a job that I'd done.
I remember I worked as a pipe at a pipe fetters place over there and
New Orleans over in Destrohan or something.
And we would play that song.
Uh, I just want to fly.
Remember that song?
Putcha 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've been working there for a long time.
These welders, dude, and they fucking hated it,
but we 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, the first day,
none of them even look up from their welding and ship
but by the third day
They were like these motherfuckers. Yeah, and it was 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 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, and I wanna 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 a 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 you 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 gonna be a beacon of hope in some way.
But I think we're all beac beacon of hope in some way.
But I think we're all beacons of hoping 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 wanna call today.
It's three years later and my new wife and I
are expecting our first born child.
And it just like.
You turned around for him.
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 worked 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 tough time or something and I've got that a bunch and
It's just the best thing ever better better than any accolade better than any You know anything like that. 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.
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 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 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
Douglas 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 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, 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.
I know 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?
And not, 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 of 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.
You know, 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, you know, yeah. Oh deaf. Yeah, I think there's things you can comment like
Yeah, I think there's things you can comment like
That is your own but is it different to hear
You know it let's say I wouldn't stare you in the eyes and say you're a fucking piece of shit You know, yeah, 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
Will 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 has 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
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
It really is, man.
Well, look, the power of music, man.
I'm the power of music.
Dude, if I had to work all day and listen to no music, I mean, when, when in
slave times they sang, they made beautiful fucking music to get them through.
Um, yeah.
And the prison lines to them guys out there hammering away and shit them songs, man.
Um, oh yeah, I saw this.
Here's, 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.
We had 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 Cat coped with diagnosis
is through music.
In a video she violently shared to social media
after finding about 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 tumor's basically tripled overnight.
Oh, she's in hospice now.
Oh, she says she's gonna make,
she told the publication that she signed
her entire disography over to her son
and added she wanted to release one final track.
And this is the track, I I guess that's been blowing up.
Wow.
It's cool, man.
I have to check it out.
Actually, you can probably play a little bit of it.
Might be able to put these on,
throw these on for a second.
Just wanna hear this cat Janice. the Let's go Kat Janis baby.
I like it bro.
I do.
That's exciting man.
What a neat thing to be able to have.
It's interesting.
I think that shows you people want to support things that make them feel something.
People know she's making that song.
She has a son. They think
about her. You know? I can't imagine her 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.
You know, like yeah. And then, 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 see, I wanna 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 the last, you know.
I'm just, I think part of me is tired of feeling tricked.
Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like.
And addicted to the tricks.
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.
It's ain't fair.
Like, right.
So it's like, we kind of want one thing, but then we also want to, we 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.
Were you in a post you were doing that?
Yeah.
And why he's not our, our ambassador, United Nations or whatever.
I know he's literally the kindest guy ever.
He's unbelievable.
The Vietnamese love him, everybody loves this guy.
He had a sig and he was like, can I put it out?
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? Yeah, I want to hear a little bit of this man.
Dude, that's cool man. This just looks fun. Yeah, he just hit me up and was like,
man come out and then when 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 can be fun.
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 in comedy and somebody
puts their feet up on the stage in the front front Dude, where the fuck did that shirt go?
God, yeah.
I lost that shirt.
I don't know where the fuck it went. Underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, underneath it, I have that gun. There you go Billy boy.
That's so cool man.
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.
When I came back too, 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, 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, no look that's true. Yes. Sometimes our perspective. I just got 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 to
a chef fuck yeah 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 well no a brewer a
brewer a chef an artist yeah a fucking you know if you or you're gonna
Man you made this beer and the stakes 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
Keep mine a little bloody.
But no, it's like. No, you're right, man.
Respect in the artistry that people put into things.
And even as a thing like a chef, I think they're, you know,
cause 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, I think.
You find that thing you love, man.
Respect in 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 cheese maker,
this fucking guy who was all about cheese.
And so they were trying all these different cheeses
and shit and at the end of it, they were like,
okay, well, we wanna take something to go and they were like trying to figure out how to of it, they were like, okay, well, we want to take something
to go. And they were like trying to figure out where to how to package it. And Corey
is like, well, we can just all put it in one bag. And the cheese maker was like, nah, like
respect for the craft, dog. We ain't putting up 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. Yeah, we're nice. nice. I mean, he's not allowed to be around
the other inmates already.
Yeah, so, yeah, now it's a good point,
respecting the craft of things.
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, own the wood shop and was the woodworker
or you know, or you knew who was the cheese maker
who made the best pastries.
When life was like Mayberry.
When it was just a little bit more like un-industry,
like un-mass,
just where everything wasn't a Krispy Kreme.
Yeah, and it's not a exactly.
Because then it was like, I got to go,
I know 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 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
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 pickin'
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
Did our bus driver gave everybody same cut dude?
RIP Ray, uh, 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 barber shop 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 earlier.
It was like 3, 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 syndrome,
whatever you had, everybody got the same exact cut on that bitch.
You roll, dude, we all had the same cut in town.
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.
Right on. Dude, you've gotten to do so much with music music man. Yeah, I think what I was asking about was sitting there with the
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 gonna just, you know, it's not
all gonna happen overnight, but it's like we can start chipping away at it.
We can start doing whatever it is to be better, work harder or whatever it is that you feel like you need to do.
I like to set goals for myself, write them down.
Really?
Yeah, just like, what do I want to do?
I have this little journal where it's just like,
what do I want?
What do I want in life?
I want happiness, I guess.
Or also goals for myself, like what,
I want to, 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 it just for the
You know, I was just you 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, but that's a big old joint. That's a real joint? Yeah, that's- Oh my God, bro, that is a damn-
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 fucking 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 lot of sex, get exercise, go fishing.
That's all good stuff for you to, you know.
I don't know.
It almost seems like it would be self-explanatory
or something just like, okay, do things that make me happy
and don't eat and ingest things that are bad for me.
But how hard is that to do to go out?
I eat a lot of sugar, like candy and-
It's good.
I love fucking Coca-Cola, dude, on ice.
Oh my God, so fucking good.
And then you're drinking it and you're just thinking,
man, I'm just drinking 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 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 kid.
Martha White's self rising flour.
God, my mother.
God bless her.
Get that fucking flour out and then she would beat us.
Yes.
And then the way it just clouds everywhere when...
Oh yeah, during a beating?
Oh.
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, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
My grandma used to try to beat me with these,
she used to try to, it was funny because it didn't hurt,
but it was like those little thin little balsa wood things you stir paint with.
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, alright, I'm gonna give you a beating.
She'd hit us and we'd be like, ow, ow, ow.
And then we'd walk around the corner and he'd be like, did that hurt? I'd be like, no right, I'm going to give you a beating. And she'd hit us and we'd be all, wow, wow, wow. And then we'd walk around the corner and he'd be like,
did that hurt?
I'd be like, no.
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, but.
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 up?
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 is in a social media, you can.
I feel like.
Yeah.
Yeah, well... I mean, there's a difference between reprimanding your
child. But it's just great. It's like, I don't know. We just, I got spankings when I was younger.
I mean, but it wasn't long after that that I just kind of had no rules, you know. And yeah,
but when I was young, young, yeah, I got a couple lichens. It wasn't anything terrible. It was, I think it made me a better person, you know?
I mean, it was like, I guess there's a line that's drawn.
I was never abused physically, like, you know,
but I had to go a couple good lichens.
Yeah.
And then old timers I heard stories from,
I was like, oh man, they used to do that in school.
I had it happen to me in school.
Did you?
They whip you?
Bill Brady, I think was his name,
or, and he might've changed his name
because he whooped a lot of kids in our town,
but he, but I'll say this, man,
I saw him not too long ago, a friend of my past.
What now, motherfucker?
Yeah, a friend of my past, no, no, no,
and honestly, he was the coolest fucking dude. How'd it work me now, bro passed away. No, no, no.
And honestly, he was the coolest fucking dude.
How'd it work me now, bro?
He was the coolest dude, bro.
And I totally was like, this dude,
bro, I give the dude $11 to freaking beat me now
for no reason, bro.
Yeah, just for fun.
Yeah, just to have a, yeah.
Bro, he was the coolest guy, bro.
A friend of mine, yeah.
My friend Will passed from addiction, man.
And that's where I saw him at, was at his funeral. Oh, damn.
And, but.
He whipped 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.
I know.
So you gotta go back to that childhood shit that really,
it's like.
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 just. Start thinking about yourself. Yeah, thinking about yourself.
And it's sometimes just trapped
thinking about yourself too much.
Just let it happen, right?
Ha ha ha.
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 are they all seltzer or not?
Yeah, yeah, 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 drink.
It's good.
And then, oh, everyone, Mattress Matt 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 they won, then like every like mixed couple got a mattress or whatever in Houston
That's him. That's him right there. Yeah, he looks hard as fuck. He's G'd out
Dude he's sipping no way. Yeah
With the jelly ranchers that Every day.
Dude.
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, cop this Ottoman.
You know, you want to pull up, you know pull up, cop this Ottoman?
You wanna pull up, and we'll serve you,
we'll break you off with this lazy boy. 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 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 Mutant Ninja 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'm trying to lay off the old hand the old body
Spout you know doing the
Retention thing no, I'm not doing that and just saving it up for somebody unless they're gonna pay for it or something
You 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 Grammys.
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 really awesome.
I don't know, my family's just doing so good these days,
and that's all I've ever wanted.
We've had some rough patches, as every family does.
I don't know, everybody's just doing pretty good these days
and it just makes me so happy.
Cause 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.
Yes, 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 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 was in the last year.
Wow, first time in LA.
Yeah.
Oh, that's crazy experience.
What a, that's such a ride.
And to get to be at the Graeams
and see all those other musicians and stuff.
And for my mom too, like, I remember growing up, she would watch the E channel and stuff and
she's into the fashion.
She's into all that shit.
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.
She's all into that shit.
So it was kind of neat.
But I just love my dad.
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
This is like, let's say, you know, it's not no Gucci or nothing. It's just perfect. Got it at a Western store. Yeah
What music you listening to right now Billy I'm people ask you all the time
See if I pull up my Spotify what?
What pops up?
Let's see. I'll go on on repeat
Okay, I'm just gonna read them down. Yeah
Unrepeat number one the grudge tool
That's only on there cuz I had to learn that because I put 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. Paris Suicide Boys number two.
Suicide Boys?
Yep.
No way bro, they're gonna come on in uh, in April.
Are they?
Yeah bro, I just texted the Ruby and Scram last night.
That's crazy.
Dude, that's crazy you said them dude.
Oh my god, I fuck with them hard.
Bro, they're whole-
Now check this out.
We got Tool, we got Suicide Boys, boys directly to James King the old swinging bridge. Oh
Yeah, and then we got pike County breakdown
Earl Scruggs.
Low down, Hank 3.
Yeah, 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.
Donnelly, 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.
We can still-
On the audio version we can. The flower in 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, Westmont-Gumrie.
Scapegoat Blues, Jimmy Herring.
Whale, Bud Powell.
Something in the way, Nirvana. More Ronnie Bowman, more suicide
boys, Hank Three.
Gang.
Long Tall Sally, Lil Rich.
Yeah.
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 about me?
I was listening to Steven Wilson, Jr.
Is there anything else that you wanna share, Billy,
or anything else you were thinking about?
Well.
You wanna play anything?
Are you cool?
You don't have, I'm not saying you have to at all.
I just saw you brought.
I could play something.
You brought an instrument.
Yeah, let me rock a piece or something. I could pick a little bit. Yeah? Yeah, I'd saw you. I could play something. You brought an instrument. Yeah, let me rock a piece or something.
I could pick a little bit.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'd love to.
Dude!
Oh, one question I had.
When you're, oh, is there something in 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,'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.
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. We were there
for like a week and then we were there for like five days. So I got like 21 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 had the whole house and then the studio is just like one little section.
So whenever you're not in the studio, 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 of weeks is working at home and Making a record and it's pretty badass, man. I'm loving like having my own studio to work at yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean that's
Yeah, that's one reason why I like having my job here at home, you know, it's nice to be able to just have your job at home
Um, oh, yeah, do you have a do you have a family at home or no? I have a wife
Oh, you do do you have a 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 that's considered I think a large family, right?
Cool man, uh, yeah
Well, let me rock a piss and I'll pick a tune for you.
Yeah, will you?
Yeah.
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?
Uh, I did.
Yeah. man. Wow, who gave it to you? I did.
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, man, brother.
Gotta get her in tune first. Alright, here goes the old cocaine blues. tell it to me. Can't 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'd kill you, but he didn't know when
Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be
Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me
D'erain't corn, liquor, let the cocaine be
Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be
Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me
D'erain't corn, liquor, let the cocaine be to me The rain corn liquor let the cocaine be
Hey, hey, buddy, let the cocaine be
I'm walking up the fields going down man trying to find a nickel for the buck cocaine
Hey, hey, butter, let the cocaine be It'll burn out your nose, your eyes turn red
The goddamn cocaine will kill you dead
Hey, hey, butter, let the cocaine be Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me
Duran corn, liquor, let the cocaine be Hey, hey, corn, let the cocaine be Hey, hey, but let the cocaine be
Yeah, tell it to me, tell it to me
Drink corn, let the cocaine be
Hey, hey, but let the cocaine be
Well I don't know what I'm gonna do It's killed my friends it's gonna kill me too Hey hey, but let the cocaine be Hey some of you people you think you're tough
Sniffing that cocaine just like snuff Hey hey, but let the cocaine be
Well you'll tell it to me Tell it to me Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Wow! Hell yeah man! Bro that's so cool! Wow man! Got one more for you.
Alright.
This one's from the late great Blaze Foley.
I wanna go home with an old man. All right. This one's from the late great Blaze Foley. ["Blaze Foley"]
I want to go home with an armadillo,
spread her little legs, and really try
to thrill her to a very sole with my cowboy pole.
Oh, scaly skin around my face. Lord I'll be her savin' grace. I wanna go
home with an armadilla, my cowboy pole. Wake up in the mornin' with my head on my pillow, my finger in her ass, you know I'll thrill her.
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 in my Vaseline oh she made a fool of me no more songs
about armadillos na na na na na na na na I want to 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, man.
The old armadillo song.
Hey, bro, look.
Everybody wants to catch a stray, man.
That's for damn sure.
God, yeah, because sometimes we're just laying there
after you hit them and you're like, now what do we do?
What the hell?
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 of you just in there.
Is it a video to keep going or you just, 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.
Like, almost feels like stuff goes away.
Everything else goes away sometimes.
Like when I'm on stage and I'm really getting focused
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, I mean with me and my band
It's like we're just in there. We're super focused. We're playing and it's like we're passing the ball around
It's like I imagine it's kind of like playing ball, you know, it's like you got to be in the fucking focus. Yeah
Wow, it's fascinating and dude. Thanks so much, bro. You it's like you got to be in the fucking focus. Yeah. Wow, it's fascinating.
And dude, thanks so much, bro.
You made me do 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, um, yeah, man, thank you so much.
Billy strings, check him out wherever he is
Where will people be able? I mean you'll just be torn again sometime
It's so funny. I was just saying because I've been going to places where you had played and everybody's like
That motherfucker's crazy
It's awesome 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 it man same bro thank you so much Billy Strings
now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves I
must be cornerstone but when I reach that ground I'll share this peace of mind I found I can feel it in my bones
But it's gonna take a little more