Billy Strings Announces Album So Much for Goodbyes, a Tribute to His Late Mother

Billy Strings has confirmed the details of his fifth studio album. So Much for Goodbyes will be released August 28 on Reprise, framing the bluegrass guitarist’s most directly personal project to date. The album is dedicated to his mother, Debra Apostol, who died in 2025 of methamphetamine intoxication. Her artwork appears on the cover.

The record was produced by T Bone Burnett, the first time the two have collaborated. Strings described the work as a necessary passage through grief. “I made this record to honor my mother,” he said in a statement. “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.”

Lead single “Burn the Other End” is out now. Strings is currently on a break from an extensive U.S. tour. The 16-song tracklist ends with “Debra’s Waltz,” a quiet instrumental acknowledgment of the album’s emotional center.