Bluegrass wunderkind Billy Strings gears up for three-night New Year's Eve run in Pontiac

The words “bluegrass” and “prodigy” are not often found in a sentence together but when it comes to describing Michigan-born Billy Strings, it’s not merely music critic hyperbole, it’s a fact.

Now, at the age of 26, Billy Strings (born William Apostle) has garnered praise from Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, and PBS, and will ring in 2019 with a three-night run at the Flagstar Strand Theater in Pontiac. While bluegrass purists may roll their eyes at a young experimental virtuoso like Strings, what he’s made clear is that he is his own brand as evidenced by his debut record, 2017’s Turmoil & Tinfoil, a carefully curated blend of his earliest influences — Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Jimi Hendrix, and Black Sabbath — with a whole lotta strings.

Billy Strings will perform starting at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 29 and Sunday, Dec. 30, and 8 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 31 at the Flagstar Strand Theatre; 12 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac; 248-309-6448; flagstarstrandtheatrepontiac.com; Tickets are $29.50.

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