Billy Strings – Highway Prayers (Black 180 Gram LP Vinyl) Vinyl Record

Review

If Live Vol. 1, released in the summer of 2024, put a wrap on the first era of bluegrass guitar master Billy Strings' thus-far phenomenal career, then Highway Prayers, the studio album released just a couple of months later, is where the next phase begins. Although the music is anchored by personnel familiar to those who've been following Strings for a while—Billy Failing (banjo, vocals), Royal Masat (bass, vocals), Jarrod Walker (mandolin, vocals) and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle), alongside several guests—the songwriting and arrangements show a marked maturation, and the album on the whole bears a cohesiveness that's been hinted at but never so fully realized before. The solos are still prominent and consistently out of this world, but there is much more going on here, a greater commitment to the bigger picture. All of the 20 songs on Highway Prayers are Strings originals, recorded at various locations in Nashville and Los Angeles between 2021 and early this year, with co-production by Strings and Jon Brion. The tales they tell—much like those on 2022's Me/and/Dad, Strings' previous studio release—are often intimate, drawn from personal experience, albeit universal in nature. "Leadfoot"—a standout account of one crazy-ass driver, featuring Strings on just about every instrument except drums (including banjo, steel guitar and a 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle)— borders on the chaotic, and as long as we're hitting the road, let "My Alice" be a cautionary tale. It's far from the first-ever song with a big ol' set of wheels at its center, but it's one of the nastiest. Of course, there are a couple of wild instrumentals to serve as a reminder that the virtuosity is built-in ("Malfunction Junction"), but Highway Prayers goes beyond mere pickin'. This is Billy Strings 2.0 laying out the welcome mat.

— dean, Relix

Product Details

Modern bluegrass superstar Billy Strings has announced Highway Prayers, his first studio release since his 2022 father-son team-up LP Me/And/Dad and his first solo studio collection since 2021's Renewal. The 20-track LP, co-produced by Billy Strings and Jon Brion, was released in September 2024.