Billy Strings used his day off to travel back to his hometown of Muir, MI to distribute 200 free guitars to local school children. The Grammy-winning bluegrass musician returned to Twin Rivers Elementary School, the same institution he attended as a child.
The singer-songwriter born William Apostol took a moment to address the crowd of 200 children along with teachers and school administrators before personally handing out the instruments.
“I used to go to this school when I was your age,” he told the kids, shouting out his music teacher Mrs. Mercer who was in attendance. “She showed me a lot about music, and I started playing guitar and guitar has always been a really cool friend of mine, even when times were really sad the guitar was my friend,” Strings said. “I wanted to give you guys some guitars that you could take home with you!”
Strings then personally handed the instruments to each child. The entire procession was streamed live on his Instagram account. After handing out the guitars, an emotional Strings simply said “wow. F*cking wow,” as he walked away. As JamBase points out, Strings previously returned to Twin Rivers in 2015 when he performed acoustically for an audience of schoolchildren. Strings’ tour continues on Wednesday with the first of two nights at The Fillmore Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. For tickets and a full list of tour dates click here.
Billy Strings donates guitars to kids at his old elementary school
[Video: Grateful.Billygoat33]
[H/T JamBase]