Billy Strings on his latest album, ‘Highway Prayers’

Billy Strings is one of the best guitarists on the planet. Just ask anyone who’s shared a stage with him. So why did he sign up for guitar lessons?

That’s one of the questions we were eager to ask Strings, who has become one of the biggest names in the bluegrass scene. Though he’s explored different genres in his last few records, his new album is his purest bluegrass album to date.

In this session, Strings talks about wanting to work with producer Jon Brion on Highway Prayers, plus he expounds on the joys of fatherhood and an unusual roadside stop.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.