#676 - Billy Strings

Episode of This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von · August 20, 2026 · 2 h 54 min

Billy Strings talks with Theo Von about his mother's overdose, breaking his leg skateboarding on tour, fatherhood, sobriety, and meeting Bob Dylan.

Summary

Bluegrass musician Billy Strings joined Theo Von at Mackinaw Harvest Studios in Grand Rapids, Michigan, ahead of the release of his album "So Much For Goodbyes." The two began with memories of rural Michigan adolescence around Ionia and Muir, including house parties, local legends, and friends lost to overdose, suicide, and prison. Strings recounted the death of his friend Kevin Clayton and described how the methamphetamine and OxyContin epidemics reshaped his hometown.

Strings gave a detailed account of breaking his leg backstage at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville after attempting a back 180 on his skateboard following a show. He described the distal tib-fib spiral fracture, being given fentanyl and morphine by paramedics, and a large dose of ketamine used while medics set and splinted the leg, which he characterized as one of the most intense psychedelic experiences of his life. He said he handed all his post-surgery pain medication to his wife to ration because he considers himself an addict.

A long portion of the conversation concerned Strings's mother, Debbie, who died of methamphetamine intoxication while he was touring Australia. He described finding her stash and his immediate impulse to keep some of it, which he offered as a definition of addiction, and instead had a police-officer friend dispose of it. He also discussed learning about his biological father, William Apostle, through recorded phone tapes found by a cousin, and the possibility that his father was deliberately given a fatal dose. Strings said the new album is dedicated to his mother and uses her final unfinished artwork as its cover.

Strings also described quitting cannabis in December after his son River became seriously ill while he was getting high upstairs, and said fatherhood loosened his grip on music and improved his playing. He recounted writing Bob Dylan a letter on hotel stationery, later being invited by Dylan to play "All Along the Watchtower" on tour, and receiving a message from Dylan afterward. The episode closed with Strings performing "Groundhog," "I'm One of Those," and "Nashville Blues."

Chapters

0:54
Growing up around Ionia and Grand Rapids
Strings and Von compare small-town adolescence, skipped proms, field parties, and the fights that ended them.
5:02
Local legends and friends lost
Strings remembers Darren Page and Kevin Clayton, a fearless skateboarder who later died of an overdose, and the two trade stories of hometown characters.
12:07
Combat sports and small-town lore
They discuss slap fighting, UFC, Paddy Pimblett's walkout, and oddball local figures including the Mole Man documentary.
31:18
Death, funerals and the Wolfman cane
Strings explains the Lon Chaney Jr. Wolfman-inspired cane his wife gave him and recalls his father scaring him with a wolf mask.
42:58
Breaking his leg on tour
Strings recounts the skateboard accident in Charlottesville, the spiral fracture, the fentanyl and the ketamine hole during splinting.
1:03:55
Addiction and his mother's death
Strings describes finding his mother's methamphetamine stash after her overdose and his impulse to keep some of it.
1:11:18
Debbie and William Apostle
Strings describes his mother's spirit and artistry, her wild stories, and the recorded phone tapes that revealed his biological father's life and probable murder.
1:26:01
Quitting weed and becoming a father
Strings explains the two moments that made him quit cannabis and how his son River reordered his relationship to music.
1:45:03
Childhood hardship and perspective
Both men describe growing up fast, homelessness and couch-surfing, and Strings discusses what he calls experiential density.
1:57:49
Meeting Bob Dylan
Strings tells how a letter written on hotel stationery led to Dylan inviting him to play 'All Along the Watchtower' on tour.
2:10:27
The Winter brothers and musical upbringing
Strings praises Johnny and Edgar Winter and recalls his mother playing him records while he was tripping on acid.
2:17:47
So Much For Goodbyes and Freak Fair
Strings explains the album title, his mother's cover art, the Muir-inspired song 'Milltown Flood,' and his hometown festival lineup.
2:35:47
Closing performances
Strings performs 'Groundhog,' 'I'm One of Those' and 'Nashville Blues' and the two say goodbye.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Theo Von
Von argued that small towns need local legends because they create aspiration and stories.
“You need heroes like that. You need, like, local legends”
Listen from 21:11 · Ionia, Michigan
Billy Strings
Strings said the friends he grew up with mostly left his life through overdose, suicide, or prison.
“I mean, it was always like overdose. You know, a couple friends that I was close to committed suicide, and then a lot of people were kind of hauled off to prison”
Listen from 31:27 · Addiction and recovery
Billy Strings
Strings said he refused fentanyl at first because of his recovery, then accepted it on the paramedics' advice.
“we're going to give you some fentanyl. I was like, nah like I'm I was like nah like don't you know how far I've come”
Listen from 48:02 · Addiction and recovery
Billy Strings
Strings described the large hospital dose of ketamine used while his leg was set as one of the most intense psychedelic experiences he has had, leaving him feeling like an inanimate object.
“I felt like I turned into computer code, or I felt like I was the microchip inside of an iPod sending signals. Bro. And it was wild. I felt very much like an inanimate object”
Listen from 52:20 · Ketamine
Billy Strings
Strings said the smartest thing he did after the hospital was giving all his pain medication to his wife to dispense, because he knows he would escalate.
“probably the smartest thing that I did coming out of the hospital was I gave all my pain meds to my wife. And I said, you divvy these up”
Listen from 59:24 · Addiction and recovery
Billy Strings
Strings characterized addiction as an illness and said he cannot drink moderately the way other people can.
“it's an illness. I mean, I think some people are lucky enough not to have it”
Listen from 1:05:15 · Addiction and recovery
Theo Von
Von said he identifies with addiction and would be unable to stop at a single drink.
“if I come over to your house and you give me a glass of wine, I'm going to fucking get an eight ball”
Listen from 1:05:44 · Addiction and recovery
Billy Strings
Strings said he learned from his mother's autopsy while on tour in Australia that she died of methamphetamine intoxication.
“I got her autopsy and her papers back and her death certificate, and it said methamphetamine intoxication was the cause of death”
Listen from 1:06:17 · Methamphetamine epidemic
Billy Strings
Strings offered his impulse to save some of the drug that killed his mother as an illustration of how addiction works.
“this is literally the stuff that I'm holding in my hand killed my mom. And my first thought is I should take some and just hide it”
Listen from 1:08:15 · Addiction and recovery
Billy Strings
Strings said he believes he is processing his grief in his sleep, waking up crying and unable to breathe.
“I'm like grieving a lot in my dreams. I wake up like suffocating in my sleep”
Listen from 1:13:19 · Grief
Linked moment · 1:20:38Skip to 1:20:38 using a listen link in the info box.
Billy Strings
Strings said hearing old recorded phone tapes changed his belief that his biological father cared more about heroin than about him.
“I always thought, Oh, well, he loved heroin more than me. Right. And I'm kind of, you know, I was kind of like, well, screw him”
Listen from 1:20:38 · Grief
Billy Strings
Strings said family recordings suggest his father may have been murdered with a deliberately fatal injection rather than dying of an accidental overdose.
“it turns out there's a pretty good chance that he was kind of murdered, you know?”
Listen from 1:21:19 · Grief
Billy Strings
Strings said he quit smoking cannabis in December after realizing he could not run a twenty-minute errand without his vape pen and after his son worsened while he was getting high upstairs.
“my son is sick, and I'm upstairs getting high”
Listen from 1:29:00 · Fatherhood
Billy Strings
Strings said he had smoked daily since age eleven and only stopped once before, during a year of probation after a DUI.
“Dude, I smoked every day since I was like 11”
Listen from 1:29:25 · Addiction and recovery
Billy Strings
Strings concluded that drugs create more problems than they solve.
“I feel like drugs and shit cause a lot more problems than they medicate”
Listen from 1:31:07 · Addiction and recovery
Billy Strings
Strings said performing used to be driven by fear of returning to poverty, which caused him to strangle the music.
“I have strangled the life out of the music before because I'd been so concerned about playing well that I'm playing hard and I'm thinking and I'm trying to lead the band”
Listen from 1:38:12 · Fatherhood
Billy Strings
Strings said having his son displaced music as the most important thing in his life, which paradoxically made him play better.
“I am a musician. That's what I do. That's my job. But it's not the biggest thing in life. My family is. And that actually makes me play better because I'm not squeezing it so hard”
Listen from 1:41:32 · Fatherhood
Theo Von
Von described spending part of each school day as a teenager figuring out whose family would let him stay over.
“How am I going to convince somebody at school today to let me stay over there?”
Listen from 1:46:24 · Grief
Billy Strings
Strings said his hardships gave him what he calls experiential density along with a sense of terminal uniqueness and isolation.
“I have this... kind of like terminal uniqueness in a way that's like, I never feel like anybody would know what it's like to be in my shoes”
Listen from 1:48:42 · Grief
Billy Strings
Strings said part of his motivation for quitting cannabis was wanting to be clear-eyed and present for his son.
“He looks at me with these big clear eyes. I want to be clear, you know?”
Listen from 1:48:55 · Fatherhood
Billy Strings
Strings disclosed that he was molested as a young child.
“I was molested when I was a child”
Listen from 1:49:51 · Grief
Billy Strings
Strings said he chose the Dylan and Nelson opening slot over a more lucrative headlining tour.
“we could go do our own tour and probably make a lot more money, or we could go on this tour as an opener, but we're going to be able to go tour with Bob Dylan and Willie”
Listen from 1:58:29 · All Along the Watchtower
Billy Strings
Strings recounted that he wrote Dylan a letter on hotel stationery after procrastinating for a year, and that Dylan later thanked him for it backstage at the Hollywood Bowl.
“he walked right up to me and he was like, man, thank you for the letter”
Listen from 1:59:39 · All Along the Watchtower
Billy Strings
Strings said that when he tries to recall Dylan's face he can only picture deep blue eyes and white light rather than features.
“All I can see is these the deepest bluest eyes with the most concerning emotion in them. And then this like aura of like white light”
Listen from 2:09:28 · All Along the Watchtower
Billy Strings
Strings said the album title came from not getting a chance to say goodbye to his mother, while his manager read it as a more hopeful farewell-for-now.
“I kept wanting to call it So Much for Goodbyes, and I was thinking about that for a while because I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my mother”
Listen from 2:18:15 · So Much For Goodbyes
Billy Strings
Strings described the song 'Still I Crash' as written days after his mother's death about learning to stand on his own.
“How I just feel like I got to learn how to walk all over again. I feel like a baby deer and my legs are all wobbly”
Listen from 2:19:58 · So Much For Goodbyes
Billy Strings
Strings said the album cover is the unfinished collage his mother was working on the night she died.
“this was actually the piece that she was working on the night that she died because she was always going to make the next record cover that was kind of our deal”
Listen from 2:20:15 · So Much For Goodbyes

People

In the conversation

Theo VonAmerican stand-up comedian and host of the podcast This Past Weekend
Billy StringsGrammy-winning American bluegrass guitarist and singer-songwriter from Muir, Michigan

Discussed

Bob DylanAmerican singer-songwriter who invited Strings to play with him on tour
Willie NelsonAmerican country musician whose tour and Fourth of July picnic Strings played
DebbieBilly Strings's mother, an artist who died of methamphetamine intoxication
William ApostleBilly Strings's biological father, who died in 1995 of an apparent overdose
Terry BarberBilly Strings's stepfather, referred to as Terry, who raised him and taught him to play guitar
Kevin ClaytonChildhood friend of Strings and skateboarder who died of an overdose
Edgar WinterAmerican rock musician who has since become a friend and collaborator of Strings
Johnny WinterAmerican blues guitarist, Edgar Winter's brother, who died in 2014
T Bone BurnettAmerican producer who told Strings that Bob Dylan was a fan
Lon Chaney Jr.Actor who played Larry Talbot in the 1941 film The Wolf Man
David SpadeAmerican comedian and actor who worked with Theo Von on the film Busboys
Paddy PimblettEnglish UFC fighter whose walkout Von described
Tony HawkProfessional skateboarder who commented on Strings's injury
Stephen Wilson Jr.American singer-songwriter Strings met at Willie Nelson's Fourth of July picnic
RiverBilly Strings's young son

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From the publisher

Billy Strings is a Grammy award-winning musician and songwriter from Muir, Michigan. His latest album “So Much For Goodbyes” is out August 28th. Billy returns to talk to Theo about how being a dad has transformed him, breaking his leg in a freak skateboarding accident during a show, and how he’s honoring his mom’s unique spirit through music. Billy Strings: https://www.instagram.com/billystrings/ Recorded at Mackinaw Harvest Studios: https://www.mackinawharvest.com/ ------------------------------------------------- Tour Dates! https://theovon.com/tour New Merch: https://www.theovonstore.com ------------------------------------------------- Sponsored By: Celsius: Go to the Celsius Amazon store to check out all of their flavors. #CELSIUSBrandPartner #CELSIUSLiveFit https://amzn.to/3HbAtPJ Prize Picks: Go to https://link.prizepicks.com/LME0/THEO and use code THEO Moonpay: https://moonpay.onelink.me/O2ia/t34p5kxg Acorns: Go to http://acorns.com/theo to get your $20 bonus investment today! Better Help: This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. See if BetterHelp is right for you at http://BetterHelp.com/Theo Morgan and Morgan: Visit https://forthepeople.com/THEO to see if you might have a case. Morgan and Morgan. America's Largest Injury Law Firm. Perplexity AI: Ask anything at https://pplx.ai/theo ------------------------------------------------- Music: “Shine” by Bishop Gunn Bishop Gunn - Shine ------------------------------------------------ Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to: tpwproducer@gmail.com Hit the Hotline: 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: https://www.theovon.com/fan-upload Mail stuff to: ATTN: TPW PO BOX 40137 Nashville TN 37204 ------------------------------------------------ Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend X: https://twitter.com/theovon Yo…

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 26, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Music Interviews·Comedy Interviews·Mental Health