Billy Strings - So Much For Goodbyes - CD

Billy Strings has built one of the most devoted fanbases in roots music without ever needing a hit radio single, and now the two-time Grammy winner is giving that audience something new. He has announced his fifth studio album, So Much for Goodbyes, arriving August 28 on Reprise Records. For an artist whose reputation was forged on marathon live improvisation rather than studio polish, a new record is always a window into how he is evolving. We spent time with the announcement and pulled together what is known so far, and why this one matters more than a routine release.

The first song from So Much for Goodbyes is “Burn the Other End,” co-written by Strings and Greensky Bluegrass guitarist Paul Hoffman. What makes it extraordinary right out of the gate is the guest vocal lineup: T Bone Burnett and Jack White both appear on backing vocals. That is not a combination you hear on many records, and it signals immediately that this project operates at a different level of ambition than anything Strings has released before. The track carries the raw, lit-from-within energy that his fans know from the best live sets, but with something heavier underneath, something that only grief can put into a recording. We listened to it twice before writing a single word. It is that kind of song.

1. “I’m One of Those”
2. “Burn the Other End”
3. “Carry Us Home”
4. “Lay Me Down”
5. “Lucid Daydream”
6. “Mill Town Flood”
7. “Live to Tell”
8. “Bluewater Breakdown”
9. “Light the Wall”
10. “I Like Train Songs”
11. “10,000 Miles From a Friend”
12. “Still I Crash”
13. “I Wish I Wanted To”
14. “Remember to Cry”
15. “Wrestling an Angel”
16. “Debra’s Waltz”