Highway Prayers (Reprise, 2024)

Never a judicious editor, Billy Strings' latest is 74 minutes of mind-expanding 'grassicana. The thing is, while it runs a bit long one is at a loss as to what could or should have been held in reserve; even the most frivolous numbers — "MORBUD4ME," "Richard Petty" and "Catch and Release," perhaps — add humor and context to the recording. "Highway Prayers" is a powerful set of music, covering the bluegrass and rootsicana bases.

Leaning closer to bluegrass, the album offers a number of lyrically and musically engaging songs sticking to genre constraints including "In the Clear," "Leaning on a Travelin' Song," "Cabin Song," "Happy Hollow" and "Gone a Long Time."

Co-written with Shawn Camp, "Don't Be Calling Me (At 4 AM)" is as strong of a country song as encountered in 2024. Impressively, "My Alice" (co-written by Strings and Jon Weisberger and perhaps borrowing from Tom T. Hall's songwriting legacy) is an excellent country murder ballad, revealing just enough to serve as a warning to entitled men with lecherous ways.

For the adventurous, we have the conscious-altering dreamscape of "Stratosphere Blues"/"I Believe in You," "Seney Stretch" and "Be Your Man." "Gild the Lily" reminds us of breezy, Allman-like improvisation, with "Seven Weeks in County" revisiting Doc Watson's talking, country blues manner; Strings' picking on "Gone a Long Time" also reminds us of Watson.

A selection of fiery instrumentals including "Malfunction Junction," "Seney Stretch" and the jam-ready "Escanaba" impress.

Except for four tracks on which Strings appears essentially solo ("Leadfoot" features Matt Chamberlain on drums while Strings plays everything from banjo to 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle, with three songs including "Stratosphere Blues"/"I Believe in You" on which Strings works sans support, the album is built around Strings' touring group.

Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Masat (bass), Jarrod Walker (mandolin) and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle) appear throughout the majority of the album with folks including Jason Carter (second fiddle on "Leaning on a Travelin' Song"), Lindsay Lou (backing vocals on the same), Jerry Douglas (Dobro on the instrumental "Malfunction Junction") and Victor Furtado (clawhammer on "My Alice") among the featured guests.

As notable as anything about "Highway Prayers," and distinguishing it from other 'grassicana albums, is the strength of Strings' and his partners' vocals.

This is concise and catchy bluegrass (and bluegrass-adjacent) songs ready made for repeated play, dreamy, lyrically-rich explorations of songwriting, and expansive jams with mood-altering instrumentation ideally balanced to appeal to an ever-broadening bluegrass audience.