Billy (mother fucking) Strings! - BILLY STRINGS STARTS AROUND 27 MINUTES IN...
Dopey Meditation!
Spotify Reviews!
Premature ejaculation!
Fentanyl!
Dave introduces Billy Strings and jokes about being “professional” with matcha, lights, and cameras
Billy talks about early Christmas, gifts, his 15-year-old daughter reviewing matcha
Why he came on Dopey: addiction shaped his life; wants to help people by telling his story
Talks about losing his mom recently and wanting to live in truth
Growing up with addiction: dad died of heroin overdose when Billy was two
Parents smoked crack; house shot up; meth enters the park scene in Michigan
Living in trailer parks, food insecurity, powdered milk, church food boxes
House becoming chaotic: glued art to walls, “collage house,” people coming in and out
Started smoking weed at 8; acid and mushrooms with mom; first time doing acid—mom tested it first
First time meth: smoked it with mom and a handyman using a modified lightbulb
Four-day awake binges, playing guitar nonstop
Being a teenager, couch surfing, leaving home at 13, dropping out of school
First time smoking crack; immediate compulsive craving; dreams about crack
Stories about pregnant woman smoking crack, meth labs, people going to prison
Parents' addiction cycles, “skirting the truth,” shielding family from shame
When his parents got clean then slipped back
Billy buying his parents a house; heartbreak when he learned they were using again
Mom died from methamphetamine intoxication; Billy didn’t know she was using
Dad admits he was using too while heart is functioning at ~13%
Processing grief, anger, acceptance, reading mom’s poems, spirituality
Al-Anon via Trey Anastasio; hearing others talk about losing loved ones
Talks about his son, wanting to break generational cycle
Talks about doing heroin once, puking all night, feeling "the Grim Reaper saw me"
Quit drinking ~9 years ago after throwing up and missing gigs
Smoking weed constantly; thinking about quitting
Touring, panic attacks, therapy, being molested as a child
Playing arenas, trying to enjoy success, still driven by fear of losing it
Wanting to help others: maybe opening a rehab someday
Talks about music influences, parents' music, Beatles backwards records, bluegrass saving him
Origin Story behind the name “Billy Strings”!
Reads and discusses his mom’s poetry; wants to turn them into songs
Talks Sopranos, The Wire, Doc Watson, Dead shows, Trey, bluegrass festivals
Closes with reflection on joy, grief, and living “freakishly” like his mom