The List of Billy Strings Albums in Order of Release Date

Few pickers have detonated the walls of bluegrass quite like Billy Strings. In under a decade, the flatpicking prodigy from Michigan went from playing gas-station parking lots to headlining arenas, dragging a 100-year-old genre into festival main stages and jam-band lore along the way. If you want to understand how a kid who grew up around addiction and hardship became the genre’s biggest modern star, the fastest way in is chronological: Billy Strings Albums in Order, start to finish, is basically a map of American roots music mutating in real time.

Strings has picked up three Grammy Awards for Best Bluegrass Album, notched multiple Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart-toppers, and built a fanbase that treats songs like “Dust in a Baggie” and “Meet Me at the Creek” the way Deadheads treat “Ripple.” Working through Billy Strings Albums in Order also puts his evolution next to peers like Molly Tuttle and Sturgill Simpson, artists who’ve walked a similar line between tradition and reinvention.

All Billy Strings Albums Available on: Apple Music

Also See: Sturgill Simpson Albums in Order

How Many Albums Does Billy Strings Have?

Billy Strings has released six studio albums (five as a solo artist, plus one collaborative record made with his father, Terry Barber), one official live album, and around a handful of EPs, compilations, and one-off singles released across his career so far.

The List of Billy Strings Albums in Order of Release Date

Here’s the complete list of Billy Strings albums in order of release date.

1. Turmoil & Tinfoil — September 22, 2017
2. Home — September 27, 2019
3. Renewal — September 24, 2021
4. Me/And/Dad — November 18, 2022
5. Highway Prayers — September 27, 2024
6. So Much for Goodbyes — August 28, 2026

All Billy Strings Albums List in Order

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1. Turmoil & Tinfoil (2017)

Tracks:

1. On the Line
2. Meet Me at the Creek
3. All of Tomorrow
4. While I’m Waiting Here
5. Living Like an Animal
6. Turmoil & Tinfoil
7. Salty Sheep
8. Spinning
9. Dealing Despair
10. Pyramid Country
11. Doin’ Things Right
12. These Memories Of You
13. 107

Recorded back in his home state of Michigan and produced by Glenn Brown (Greensky Bluegrass), Turmoil & Tinfoil is where Billy Strings stopped being a well-kept regional secret. It’s a raw, unapologetically fast record built around his road band of the time, with Drew Matulich on mandolin, Billy Failing on banjo, and Brad Tucker on upright bass. The songwriting doesn’t shy away from heavy subject matter — addiction, racism, and suicide all surface across the tracklist. It reached number three on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart and stuck there for seven straight weeks, announcing a new voice in the genre without softening any of his edges.

2. Home (2019)

Tracks:

1. Taking Water
2. Must Be Seven
3. Running
4. Away from the Mire
5. Home
6. Watch It Fall
7. Long Forgotten Dream
8. Highway Hypnosis
9. Enough to Leave
10. Hollow Heart
11. Love Like Me
12. Everything’s the Same
13. Guitar Peace
14. Freedom
15. Untitled instrumental (Hidden track)

Home marked Billy Strings’ jump to Rounder Records, and it plays like an artist stretching every wall of his sound at once — psychedelic textures, punk urgency, and country songcraft folded into a bluegrass frame. Molly Tuttle guests on backing vocals, and dobro legend Jerry Douglas sits in as well, giving the record serious genre-elder credibility alongside its forward-looking production from Glenn Brown. Home spent 77 weeks on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart and hit number one, becoming Strings’ first chart-topper there. It also won Best Bluegrass Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards in 2021, his first Grammy win and the moment the wider music industry caught on.

3. Renewal (2021)

Tracks:

1. Know It All
2. Secrets
3. Love and Regret
4. Heartbeat of America
5. In the Morning Light
6. This Old World
7. Show Me the Door
8. Hellbender
9. Red Daisy
10. The Fire on My Tongue
11. Nothing’s Working
12. Hide and Seek
13. Ice Bridges
14. Fire Line
15. Running the Route
16. Leaders

Written largely during the pandemic shutdown, Renewal is Strings’ most personal record to that point, produced by Jonathan Wilson (Roger Waters, Father John Misty) and pulling in flavors of classic rock, metal, and psychedelia while staying rooted in acoustic instrumentation. “Hide and Seek,” the album’s emotional centerpiece, references the last text messages Strings received from a close friend before that friend’s death by suicide, while closer “Leaders” tackles human rights head-on. Renewal repeated the feat of Home by hitting number one on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart, made Strings the first artist to do that with back-to-back studio releases, and earned another Grammy nomination.

4. Me/And/Dad (2022)

Tracks:

1. Long Journey Home
2. Life to Go
3. Way Downtown
4. Little Blossom
5. Peartree
6. Stone Walls and Steel Bars
7. Little White Church
8. Dig a Little Deeper (In the Well)
9. Wandering Boy
10. John Deere Tractor
11. Frosty Morn
12. I Haven’t Seen Mary in Years
13. Little Cabin Home on the Hill
14. I Heard My Mother Weeping

Released on Strings’ 30th birthday announcement and out that November, Me/And/Dad is the first record he ever made with his stepfather, Terry Barber, the man who taught him guitar as a small child. Co-produced by Strings and Gary Paczosa at Nashville’s Sound Emporium, it’s built entirely from bluegrass and country standards the pair grew up trading licks on, backed by an all-star lineup including Ronnie and Rob McCoury and fiddler Michael Cleveland. The closing track, “I Heard My Mother Weeping,” features vocals from Strings’ mother, Debra Barber, making the whole project a genuine family document rather than a typical covers record. It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album.

5. Highway Prayers (2024)

Tracks:

1. Leaning on a Travelin’ Song
2. In the Clear
3. Escanaba
4. Gild the Lily
5. Seven Weeks in County
6. Stratosphere Blues / I Believe in You
7. Cabin Song
8. Don’t Be Calling Me (At 4AM)
9. Malfunction Junction
10. Catch and Release
11. Be Your Man
12. Gone a Long Time
13. It Ain’t Before
14. My Alice
15. Seney Stretch
16. MORBUD4ME
17. Leadfoot
18. Happy Hollow
19. The Beginning of the End
20. Richard Petty

Strings’ first album on Reprise Records, Highway Prayers is a sprawling 20-track statement produced with Jon Brion and recorded across sessions in Los Angeles and Nashville with his longtime band of Billy Failing, Royal Masat, Jarrod Walker, and Alex Hargreaves. It swings between hard-charging traditional bluegrass, a capella closers, and stoner-friendly detours like “MORBUD4ME,” with guest turns from Jerry Douglas and Lindsay Lou. The record debuted at number 22 on the Billboard 200 while topping both the Top Album Sales and Bluegrass Albums charts, and fan favorites “Seven Weeks in County” and “Leadfoot” (which got its own music video) became instant setlist staples. Highway Prayers went on to win the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2026.

6. So Much for Goodbyes (2026)

Tracks:

So Much for Goodbyes is Strings’ most emotionally direct record to date, produced by T Bone Burnett and written in the wake of his mother Debra Apostol’s death in 2025. Her original artwork appears on the cover, and the whole 16-song sequence works as an extended meditation on grief, addiction’s long shadow over his family, and the strange comfort of picking through hard feelings on a guitar. The unaccompanied ballad “Still I Crash” is sung directly to his mother, while instrumental closer “Debra’s Waltz” sends the album out on a bittersweet, wordless note. Guest turns from Alison Krauss, Del McCoury, and Lindsay Lou round out a record critics have already called one of the most mature entries in his catalog.

All Billy Strings Tours in Order by Year

Billy Strings built his following the old-fashioned way — relentless touring, from house parties and 200-capacity clubs to headlining amphitheaters and arenas across North America. Each album cycle has come with a corresponding run of shows, and his live sets are famous for stretching studio songs into extended improvisational jams that rarely repeat the same arrangement twice. That reputation for spontaneity is exactly what led to his first official concert recording, and it’s a big part of why fans treat his tours as essential listening alongside the studio catalog.

1. Turmoil & Tinfoil Tour, 2017–2018
2. Home Tour, 2019–2020
3. Renewal Tour, 2021–2022
4. Me/And/Dad Tour, 2022–2023
5. Highway Prayers Tour, 2024–2025
6. So Much for Goodbyes Tour, 2026

Conclusion

Laid end to end, Billy Strings Albums in Order traces a straight line from a hard-charging bluegrass upstart to one of the most inventive, emotionally honest songwriters working in American roots music today. Turmoil & Tinfoil and Home built the traditional foundation; Renewal and Highway Prayers blew the genre’s walls out; Me/And/Dad and So Much for Goodbyes turned the catalog into something closer to a family memoir. With a fresh Grammy win, a sold-out tour schedule, and no signs of slowing down, Billy Strings’ next chapter is already being written on stages across the country.

Billy Strings FAQs

How many Grammy Awards has Billy Strings won? Three, all for Best Bluegrass Album — for Home (2021), Live Vol. 1 (2025), and Highway Prayers (2026).

What is Billy Strings’ real name? William Lee Apostol. “Billy Strings” is a nickname he was given as a kid because of how fast he could play.

What is Billy Strings’ best album? It depends who you ask — Home is the fan-favorite breakout, Renewal is the critical darling, and Highway Prayers is the biggest commercial hit, so most longtime listeners will point you to a different one.

Is Billy Strings still releasing new music? Yes — his most recent studio album, So Much for Goodbyes, arrived in August 2026, and he continues to tour extensively in support of it.

What genre is Billy Strings? He’s rooted in bluegrass but regularly folds in rock, psychedelia, punk, and jam-band influences, which is why he’s often described as “progressive bluegrass.”

Did Billy Strings really make an album with his dad? Yes — Me/And/Dad (2022) was recorded with his stepfather, Terry Barber, and features covers of the bluegrass and country songs the two grew up playing together.