Billy Strings has been a busy man. Ever since the bluegrass firebrand’s burgeoning career hit veritable whirlwind status a few years ago, Strings’ itinerary has been laden with international tours, late-night TV appearances, Grammy-winning recording sessions and a seemingly endless series of high-profile gigs, including stops at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Red Rocks Amphitheatre and the Grand Ole Opry, among countless others.
Considering his hectic schedule, no one could have blamed Strings for retreating to some tropical getaway or a cozy winter cabin for some well-deserved R&R when his touring calendar finally allowed him some free time earlier this year. So, imagine his fans’ surprise when the young guitarist announced that he had instead spent his time off holed up in Nashville’s Sound Emporium studios with his father, Terry Barber, to record a full-length LP of traditional tracks that the pair have been performing together since Strings first picked up a guitar at the age of three.
Me/And/Dad, out November 18 on Rounder Records, offers up an intimate look at Billy’s traditional roots with some raw and emotive renditions of bluegrass and country music’s most time-honored material. “It’s the foundation,” Billy says about his latest studio effort. “Everything else is sprinkled on top. You can’t get more back-to-your-roots than this.”
Although the father-son duo have had limited opportunities to play together in any sort of formal setting outside of a brief run of intimate theater shows in 2020, dubbed “Family Strings,” it’s obvious that the time spent apart had had no deleterious effect on their musical bond. “We’ve done these songs forever. We get to the part where someone has to sing and we’ll look at each other: ‘You or me?’ We’ve been doing it since I was 3 years old,” explains Strings when asked about playing with Barber.
That familial connection is palpable over the course of the album’s fourteen entries and is further bolstered by an all-star band consisting of bassist Mike Bub, mandolinist Ron McCoury, banjo player Rob McCoury, and fiddler Michael Cleveland, along with cameos from dobro-master Jerry Douglas and Del McCoury Band fiddler Jason Carter.
Tracks like the traditional “Long Journey Home”, “Stone Walls and Steel Bars” and “Little Cabin Home On The Hill” bask in the warmth of three-part harmonies that evoke echoes of Appalachia’s revered high lonesome sound, with Strings and Barber’s vocal registers, in particular, blending together seamlessly.
Barber’s weathered lead vocals on a handful of songs, including “Life to Go”, “Little White Church” and “Wandering Boy” lend an element of authenticity to the material that can only be achieved after a lifetime of performing and hard livin’.
The LP’s pair of instrumental tracks, Doc Watson’s infectious “Peartree” and the Celtic-influenced traditional “Frosty Morn”, allow the talented ensemble to show off their musical bona fides, particularly Michael Cleveland, who’s sublime fiddle work serves as a catalyst for some of the album’s most memorable moments.
While Me/And/Dad has its share of some genuine knee-slappers, such as “Way Downtown” and “Dig A Little Deeper (In The Well)”, the album ultimately draws its strength from the emotionally charged performances heard on some of the more somber material, including “John Deere Tractor” and the closing track, “Heard My Mother Weeping”, the latter of which features Billy’s mother, Debra, on vocals and counts among the most heartwarming moments of Strings’ career to-date. “I remember him and my mom singing it when I was a kid so beautifully. I knew it was always going to be the last song on the record,” Billy says. “That’s me and my mom and dad. Just us three.”
Armed with a slew of canonical chestnuts from legendary artists such as Lester Flatt, Bill Monroe, George Jones and Hank Thompson, Me/And/Dad shines thanks to its stripped-down arrangements of traditional material that serve as a welcome counterpoint to the progressive-fueled musical fireworks that often accompany Strings’ live shows.
