Sam Brigger

I always think of it as very crisp.

Does playing guitar help, or is playing guitar caught up in all of that stuff because that's what you do for a living?

Well, Billy, if you wouldn't mind doing another song for us that's one of your favorites.

That's Billy Strings playing Doc Watson.

He'll be back after a short break.

This is Fresh Air Weekend.

This is Fresh Air Weekend.

I'm Sam Brigger.

Our guest today is singer, songwriter, and guitarist Billy Strings.

He has two recent albums, Highway Prayers is a collection of his original songs, which he plays with his longstanding Bluegrass band, and Live at the Legion, a Bluegrass guitar duo album of more traditional songs with Brian Sutton.

Well, Billy, some of your songs deal with some pretty heavy subjects that you've dealt with in your life, including losing friends to suicide, family and friends who are dealing with addiction, feeling neglect when you were a kid.

When you write songs about that stuff, is it helping you process those experiences?

Is it easy to sing about that stuff once you've written the songs?

I'm sorry about your mom passing away.

She died this last June.

Would you mind singing a verse of that?

Yeah, that's a beautiful song.

Thank you for playing that.

Billy, when your mom died, I think you heard in the morning and you had a gig that night.

You decided to play it.