{"id":3021,"date":"2025-06-22T19:25:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T19:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/billy-strings-announces-moms-death-kentucky-concert-1236004735\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T19:25:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T19:25:41","slug":"billy-strings-announces-moms-death-kentucky-concert-1236004735","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/billy-strings-announces-moms-death-kentucky-concert-1236004735\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Strings Shares Heartbreaking News of His Mom\u2019s Death at Kentucky\u00a0Show"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/billy-strings\/\">Billy Strings<\/a> paid tribute to his mother during a concert in Kentucky, just hours after learning of her passing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tEarly in his sold-out show at Lexington\u2019s Rupp Arena on Friday (June 20), the 32-year-old bluegrass star told the audience that his mother, Debra Apostol, had died in her sleep following his hometown performance at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival in Lansing, Michigan, the day before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cAfter our set we drove through the night and I finally fell asleep when we got parked here in Lexington, probably about 5:40 this morning or so,\u201d Strings <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/wook_chuck\/status\/1936215582195749046\" target=\"_blank\">told the audience<\/a>, holding only a microphone. \u201cI might have got three hours of sleep and I was in a deep sleep. My wife woke me up this morning and told me that my beautiful mother, Debra Apostol, passed away in her sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tStrings, visibly fighting back emotion, recalled wandering through Lexington in the early morning hours, seeking solace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI just put my shoes on and started walking,\u201d he said. \u201cI walked until I saw this old country church and it was like a beacon, and I went there and knocked on the door and this kind lady let me in and she stayed with me and prayed with me for a while, and eventually gave me a ride back to where I was staying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tDespite the devastating news, Strings made the decision to move forward with the show, saying it\u2019s what his mother would have wanted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cIt was my decision to carry on with tonight\u2019s show because that\u2019s what my mom would have wanted me to do,\u201d he said, as the crowd responded with supportive cheers. \u201cShe really loved this group of people. She loved you all so much and for the last couple of years were some of her happiest because of a lot of you folks right here. You all became some of our best friends, and I really want to thank you for that. The reason I decided not to go home and be with my family right now is because I already am.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWith his head bowed, Strings promised the crowd he\u2019d do his best to get through the performance. He then asked, \u201cSo please, instead of a moment of silence, can you please make as much noise right now for my mom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAfter the emotional speech, Strings welcomed his band to the stage and opened the set with a powerful rendition of \u201cI\u2019ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages.\u201d He went on to deliver a two-and-a-half-hour performance featuring a mix of originals and covers, including songs by The Beatles and Pearl Jam.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tJust a day earlier, Strings had performed alongside his father, fellow bluegrass musician Terry Barber, at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival. Apostol did not attend that show and passed away in the early morning hours of June 20, according to the <em><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lansingstatejournal.com\/story\/news\/local\/2025\/06\/20\/billy-strings-mother-debra-apostal-dies\/84295141007\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lansing State Journal<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tStrings is scheduled to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billystrings.com\/#tour\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">continue his tour<\/a> with concerts in Australia and New Zealand in July, followed by a run of U.S. dates beginning in August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billy Strings paid tribute to his mother during a concert in Kentucky, just hours after learning of her passing. Early in his sold-out show at Lexington\u2019s Rupp Arena on Friday&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,216,96,94,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concerts","category-genre-country","category-music","category-music-news","category-nsfs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}