Billy Strings, or William Lee Apostol, born October 3, 1992, is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and bluegrass musician. He was born in Lansing, Michigan. His father died of a heroin overdose when he was two and his mother remarried Terry Barber, an accomplished amateur bluegrass musician. While living in Muir, Michigan and still just a preteen, his parents became addicted to methamphetamine. Billy left the family home at the age of 13, becoming addicted to hard drugs and alcohol. His parents eventually achieved sobriety. Billy had an experience with too much cocaine and booze on a night in 2016 that almost caused his band to miss a gig. After that he decided he had to change. He quit alcohol altogether by 2017. Billy started therapy in 2024 to deal with childhood trauma, anxiety and depression.

He has toured with countless musicians, and has released five albums, three collaborative albums, one with his father, and is considered one of the finest bluegrass guitarists alive.

Well, it’s not so easy now though it never was back then
We still can’t seem to work this out, but we can still pretend
And these tattered walls and burnin’ bridges quickly start to fall
How long until there’s nothin’ left at all?

I’ve been to California, man, I’ve seen them city lights
Been stranded in the desert, scorching days and freezing nights
And I’ll never understand why people try to walk so tall
How long until there’s nothin’ left at all?

Don’t you love what you got used to
Where we used to feel so free
Won’t you wait a while in silence, love
Watch it fall with me

Well, the old man said the great Big Apple’s rotten to the core
With Wall Street skimming from the till while no one minds the store
And how could someone get so low in a building so damn tall?
How long until there’s nothin left at all?

While chunks the size of Delaware are falling off the poles
Our heads are buried in the sand, our leaders dug the holes
Like junkies hooked on fossil fuels heading for withdrawal
How long until there’s nothin left at all?

Don’t you love what you got used to
Where we used to feel so free
Come and wait a while in silence, love
And watch it fall with me

Now the answer’s in our heads to the question that were asked
It boils up from underground and leads us to the past
To a place that’s long forgotten when we had enough for all
How long until there’s nothin’ left at all?

Don’t you love what you got used to
Where we tried to make our stand
The hourglass is growing empty now
Just to leave a pile of sand

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Aaron Allen / William Apostol

Impacting Life on Earth