Billy Strings

Billy Strings was tapped with the honor of providing the “Whiskey River” opening for Willie’s 90th birthday, but his duet with Nelson, “California Sober,” may have been the clearest endorsement of the hotshot string jammer’s ascension. The Michigan guitarist may no longer be a prodigy at 30, but he’s reinvigorated bluegrass with a mainstream appeal that can lean equally psychedelic and old-time. Latest LP, last year’s Me / And / Dad, lands more traditional as the Grammy-winner teams with his father, Terry Barber, to cap a nostalgic album triptych of Home and Renewal. – Doug Freeman