CHARLOTTE — Bluegrass musician and three-time Grammy winner Billy Strings and his dad Terry Barber surprised people attending the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival on Friday, June 26, sitting in with bluegrass icon Del McCoury, 87, and his Del McCoury Band during the 54th annual festival. McCoury, one of bluegrass music’s last living legends, is known for his one-of-a-kind tenor voice that epitomizes bluegrass music’s ‘high and lonesome sound,’ and his distinctive flat picking g-run on guitar. McCoury is one of the most-decorated musicians in the genre. McCoury played with Bill Monroe, the “grandfather of bluegrass” music, from 1963-64. After leaving the band, he went out on his own, recording his first album in 1967. In the 1980s his sons Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo) joined the band. McCoury has since made nearly 30 albums and has won more than 30 International Bluegrass Association (IMBA) awards, as well as two Grammy Awards with 15 nominations.On Friday, there were quiet rumors that Strings might make a guest appearance with McCoury’s band. They’re pals, and Strings has joined them onstage before. There’s a mutual respect and admiration between the two musicians marked by their commitment to the tradition and the craft of bluegrass.
Strings is recovering from a skateboard accident, and has not been touring for the past few months. He’s made a few guest appearances, including with Les Claypool (Primus), Trey Anastio (Phish) and Tool since the accident.
“I’ll never forget playing when I got to share the stage with Del (and Billy) at the Ryman (2018),” Barber said during an interview with the State Journal in 2024. Barber was inducted into the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame in 2024.
At last year’s Charlotte festival, Strings and his band were last-minute headliners at the festival. It was a sort of homecoming for him. That same evening, his mother Debra Apostol died unexpectedly, never making it to the “homecoming” event that was meant to be a return to Strings’ roots.
Strings and his family attended the Charlotte Blue Grass Festival when he was a child and he has said the festival was where the first seeds of becoming a bluegrass musician were planted.
When McCoury called Strings and dad on stage Friday evening, the crowd erupted in applause.
The father and son duo joined the Del McCoury band playing two numbers, Bill Monroe’s “Can’t you Hear me Callin” and Carter Stanley’s “The Lonesome River.”
Friends and family seemed to understand the unspoken sanctity of this year’s Charlotte Bluegrass Festival for Terry, Billy, family, and friends. “It’s been tough, but I’m doing good now,” Terry said, as his hands clasped the pendant hanging from his neck ensconced with a picture of Apostol.
The grief and loss remained unspoken before their set – but the strength of conviction in the voices and harmonies of father, son, and McCoury delivered with the purity of that “high and lonesome sound” was revealed with a sort of quiet intensity that remained truthful to the roots of bluegrass music.
Barber’s favorite bluegrass musician Larry Sparks and others are slated to perform Saturday, the final day of the festival. He has Sparks’ autograph on the guitar.
Strings, born William Lee Apostol, grew up in Ionia County, graduating from Douglas R. Welch High School. He’s now based in Nashville, Tennessee.
He is scheduled to perform Aug. 28-29 at the Ionia Fairgrounds.
Tickets are available at https://charlottebluegrassfestival.com/
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Billy Strings makes unannounced visit to Charlotte Bluegrass Festival
Reporting by Matthew Dae Smith, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Matthew Dae Smith, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
