Billy Strings teamed with his father, Terry Barber, for a new studio album entitled ME/AND/DAD. The 14-song collection featuring singles “Long Journey Home” and “Life To Go” is set for release through Rounder Records on November 18.
Barber, who isn’t Strings’ biological father, raised Billy as his own after marrying his mother, Debra. The accomplished guitarist and vocalist taught Strings to play and sing from an early age. For their first album together, the pair and an all-star backing band focused on songs Billy and Terry perform together often and that helped set Billy on the path to becoming a star.
ME/AND/DAD was recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios. Billy Strings co-produced the album with Gary Paczosa. Strings and Barber are backed by an ensemble consisting of bassist Mike Bub, mandolinist Ronnie McCoury, banjoist Rob McCoury and fiddler Michael Cleveland. Featured guests include Jerry Douglas and Jason Carter as well as Billy’s mother and Terry’s wife, Debra Barber. Debra sings on “I Heard My Mother Weeping,” the set’s last track.
“As long as I can remember, I wanted to make a record with my dad,” Billy Strings said of the project. “I’ve been burning up and down the highways the last 12 years, and as time slips away, you start thinking, ‘I need to make time.’ It’s been a bucket list thing for me, something I’ve been afraid I wouldn’t find the time to do. And that scared me; not doing this record scared me.”
The traditional bluegrass song “Long Journey Home” opens ME/AND/DAD. The LP’s lead single is accompanied with a video co-directed by Roger Pistole and Scott Mele collecting footage of the pair and their collaborators in the studio. Strings and Barber also shared audio of the George Jones cover “Life To Go.” Check out the first two ME/AND/DAD tracks below:
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Long Journey Home (Official Video)
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Life To Go (Official Audio)
ME/AND/DAD Tracklist
- Long Journey Home (bluegrass traditional)
- Life To Go (written by George Jones)
- Way Downtown (written by Doc Watson)
- Little Blossom (written by Hank Thompson)
- Peartree (written by Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson, Gaither Carlton)
- Stone Walls and Steel Bars (written by Ray Pennington, Roy Eugene Marcum)
- Little White Church (written by Eugene Wellman)
- Dig A Little Deeper (In The Well) (written by Jody Emerson, Roger Bowling)
- Wandering Boy (written by A.P. Carter)
- John Deere Tractor (written by Lawrence Hammond)
- Frosty Morn (bluegrass traditional)
- I Haven’t Seen Mary In Years (written by Damon Black)
- Little Cabin Home On The Hill (written by Lester Flatt, Bill Monroe)
- Heard My Mother Weeping (written by Carl Story, Lowell Blanchard)
