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Song Premiere: Billy Strings’ “Pyramid Country”

There aren’t many bluegrass albums we’ve been as eager to hear as Billy Strings’ Turmoil & Tinfoil. The album (out September 22, 2017) is technically Strings’ first as a solo artist and we were dying to hear if it matched the ferocious intensity of his live shows (it turns out it does). Best of all, Turmoil and Tinfoil is filled with great guests, wild experimentation and the occasional touch of psychedelia, plus whatever other surprises Strings decided to throw our way. No, this isn’t your typical bluegrass jam.

We’re proud to premiere “Pyramid Country” from Turmoil & Tinfoil on fretboardjournal.com for a limited time.

“That’s one of the tunes that we have been playing live a little bit. I got to play my Casio [DG] guitar on this track,” Strings tells us, referring to the song’s unique intro. “I got that on eBay Japan. You have all the keyboard and the drumbeats and stuff, but it’s a six string. It has six nylon strings and you can really play it like a guitar. I can play ‘Big Mon’ on this thing… with a trumpet sound!

“When we were in the studio, we were playing this tune and I don’t know what I was thinking. I just wanted to give it some sort of spooky intro and we were messing around on the Casio guitar,” Strings remembers. “That’s another thing about this album: We tried a bunch of stuff where it was who knows if we’re going to keep this or if this is absolutely insane? Either way, we went for it and we had fun.”

The band on Turmoil & Tinfoil includes Billy Failing on banjo, Drew Matulich on mandolin and Brad Tucker on bass. Once he puts down the Casio, Strings uses one of his Preston Thompson dreadnoughts. Special guests on the album include FJ favorites Bryan Sutton, Molly Tuttle, Shad Cobb and others.

You can pre-order Strings’ album via his PledgeMusic page.