Home is the first album
Billy Strings released on a prominent label -- it came out on
Rounder, which seems like a major in comparison to his self-released records and the tiny indie
Apostol -- and it plays a little bit like a coming-out party. Here,
Strings demonstrates his facility with traditional bluegrass but spends a lot of time pushing at the boundaries of the style, inching into atmospheric psychedelic territory when he stretches out on the seven-minute epics "Away from the Mire" and "Home." What's interesting about
Strings' achievement is that these flourishes are placed in the context of traditional bluegrass, giving his music a depth and richness that also helps enliven the straighter, simpler moments on the album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine