Billy Strings Releases Pensive New Single

A veritable overnight sensation, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician Billy Strings has just released his new song, “10,000 Miles From a Friend,” a ballad about being lonesome and isolated from acquaintances.

The song is the latest unveiled from Strings’s new album, So Much for Goodbyes. Produced by Strings and T Bone Burnett, the 16-track project finds Strings channeling a deeply personal period into his most musically mature and reflective body of work to date. The record is accompanied by original artwork created by Strings’s late mother, Debra Apostol.

Additionally, Strings shared album tracks “Mill Town Flood” and “Burn the Other End” earlier this summer, the latter of which VICE hailed as “a folk-gothic tour de force,” while Rolling Stone called it “an ominous, brooding stomper of a track.”

“I made this record to honor my mother,” Strings says in a press release. “To notice and embrace this very significant period of grief in my life and make art from it. To turn my heartbreak into songs while using my guitar as a coping mechanism as I always have. It’s always been there for me to lean on through the hard times, and I figure it always will…until it’s my time to say goodbye.”

So Much For Goodbyes will be available on vinyl in black, wood grain, and sun core variants, with all production completed in the U.S. The records were plated and pressed at Denver’s Paramount Pressing & Plating, which veteran engineer Gary Salstrom and multi-Grammy Award winner David Rawlings founded. It was cut for vinyl by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl in Memphis, TN.

Strings will continue his extensive headline tour through the fall with stops at Denver’s Ball Arena (two nights), Inglewood’s Kia Forum, San Diego’s Pechanga Arena and Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena (two nights) among others. He recently earned six nominations at the 37th Annual IBMA Awards and returned to PBS’s Austin City Limits, where his performance will air later this fall as part of Season 52. Additionally, his first annual “Ionia Freak Fair” will take place on August 28 and 29, featuring performances from Strings, Sierra Hull, Greensky Bluegrass and many others.

In addition to his solo work, Strings has collaborated across genres with artists including Kacey Musgraves, Primus, Luke Combs, Cryptopsy, Willie Nelson and Tony Trischka, among others, and recently contributed a cover of “If You’re Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough” for the film Jackass: Best and Last.

Since his 2017 debut, Strings has earned widespread recognition, including three Grammy Awards, two back-to-back Artist of the Year at the Americana Music Awards, four-time Entertainer of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Awards, Best New Headliner at the 2022 Pollstar Awards and Breakthrough Artist of the Pandemic at the 2021 Pollstar Awards. He has also appeared and performed at NPR’s Tiny Desk, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, NPR’s Fresh Air, The Howard Stern Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Bluegrass Underground as well as numerous sold-out shows worldwide.

Photo credit: Dana Trippe

2026 Tour Dates

August 28—Ionia, MI—Ionia Freak Fair (SOLD OUT)

August 29—Ionia, MI—Ionia Freak Fair (SOLD OUT)

September 18—Denver, CO—Ball Arena (SOLD OUT)

September 19—Denver, CO—Ball Arena (SOLD OUT)

September 20—Denver, CO—Paramount Theatre (SOLD OUT)

September 25—Los Angeles, CA—The Orpheum Theatre (SOLD OUT)

September 26—Inglewood, CA—Kia Forum

September 28—San Diego, CA—Pechanga Arena

October 2—Oakland, CA—Oakland Arena

October 3—Oakland, CA—Oakland Arena

October 6—Eugene, OR—Matthew Knight Arena

October 9—Everett, WA—Angel of the Winds Arena

October 10—Everett, WA—Angel of the Winds Arena

October 20—Chattanooga, TN—Tivoli Theatre (SOLD OUT)

October 21—Chattanooga, TN—Tivoli Theatre (SOLD OUT)

October 23—Huntsville, AL—The Orion Amphitheater (SOLD OUT)

October 24—Huntsville, AL—The Orion Amphitheater (SOLD OUT)

October 30—Baltimore, MD—CFG Bank Arena (SOLD OUT)

October 31—Baltimore, MD—CFG Bank Arena (SOLD OUT)

December 4—New Orleans, LA—Saenger Theatre† (SOLD OUT)

December 5—New Orleans, LA—Smoothie King Center

December 9—Sugar Land, TX—Smart Financial Centre

December 11—Fort Worth, TX—Dickies Arena

December 12—Austin, TX—Moody Center