r/BillyStrings

10/3/26 - Billy’s 34th bday show - will be one people wished they had seen.

Maybe a bit of hyperbole, definitely a bit of recency bias (the jam took place 2 and a half hours ago), but this is genuinely one of the greatest jams of Billy’s career.

The initial drop into Meet Me at the Creek was energetic as hell and you could tell the boys were on a mission from the start.

Alex Hargreaves pissed my pants for me and reached one of the most transcendent peaks I’ve ever seen. What follows is a blur of some of the most exploratory shit Billy’s ever done, and yet also some of the most locked in. Superior to the 12/8/23 version. The boys really tore creek a new and improved asshole.

Pyramid Country and Must Be Seven were beautiful as always, and the drop back into Creek was one of the most satisfying musical moments of any concert I’ve ever seen.

Truly an incredible night, it’s 1:20 am and my jaw is still on the floor and my stomach is still in my nuts.

Cheers.

Edit: I’m about to rewatch the show on nugs and I put a diaper on in preparation. One thing I forgot to mention is how insane the crowd was, absolutely insane vibes all around.

Cassidy!!

First of all, Happy belated Birthday, Billy. ❤️

Yesterday, October 3, 2026, my husband Josh and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.

And honestly, there was a time just a few weeks ago when I wasn’t sure I would ever get to say those words again.

I’ve gone back and forth about writing this because I know you probably receive messages from people all the time. You may never see this. You may never know who we are.

And that’s okay.

But there is something I need you to know.

Your music has been a part of our lives for years.

Josh and I have been blessed enough to see you 18 times since we became fans. We’ve brought our children to some of your concerts. We listen to your music every single day, and we can probably sing along to just about every song.

Your lyrics have always meant something to us.

Sometimes it feels like you somehow climbed inside our lives, saw our story, and wrote songs about it.

Meeting you has been at the very top of our bucket list for years.

But on September 5th, our bucket list suddenly didn’t matter anymore.

Because on September 5th, I almost lost my husband.

My husband.

My best friend.

My person.

Josh had a seizure while coming home from work. That seizure caused him to aspirate, which led to a heart attack.

And they lost him.

He had to be shocked several times. CPR was performed. He was without a pulse and without oxygen to his brain for almost 20 minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes where I had no idea if the man I had loved for 11 years was ever going to come back to me.

Eventually, they got his heart beating again.

He was intubated in the ambulance and rushed to the hospital, where he spent 11 days in the MICU on a ventilator.

Eleven of the longest days of my life.

I slept beside machines. I watched numbers on monitors. I prayed until I didn’t know what else to pray.

I held his hand.

I talked to him.

I told him how much I loved him.

And I played your music.

Every chance I got.

Because even though Josh couldn’t open his eyes, couldn’t answer me, couldn’t tell me he could hear me…

I believed he could.

So I filled that hospital room with the music that had filled our home for years.

Your songs became part of my prayers.

On day 11, they finally took the ventilator away.

And then came the moment I had been praying for.

Josh woke up.

But we didn’t know what kind of Josh was waking up.

We didn’t know how much of him was still there.

We didn’t know what the lack of oxygen had taken from him.

The first thing he asked for was something to drink.

Then he asked for his dad, who passed away in 2022.

And that’s when it hit me.

The memories were gone.

Some of them, anyway.

And I remember thinking, That’s okay.

I’ll help you find them.

I’ll tell you our stories over and over again.

I’ll show you our pictures.

I’ll remind you about our children.

I’ll remind you about our life.

I’ll fall in love with you all over again if I have to.

Just stay.

Just stay with me.

Then I asked him a simple question.

I asked him if he wanted to listen to Billy.

And in that weak, raspy voice, he said,

“Of course.”

So I pressed play.

And something happened that I will never, ever forget.

This man who had spent 11 days heavily sedated…

This man whose brain had been deprived of oxygen…

This man who couldn’t remember so many things…

started dancing in his hospital bed.

And then he started singing.

He knew the words.

Every. Single. Word.

I stood there and watched the man I thought I might lose forever sing your songs.

And I cried.

Because in that moment, I realized something.

His brain had forgotten so many things.

But somehow…

it hadn’t forgotten you.

It hadn’t forgotten the music that had been part of our marriage.

It hadn’t forgotten the songs we had listened to together.

It hadn’t forgotten the memories attached to those songs.

Maybe somewhere inside that beautiful, broken, healing brain of his was a little piece of us that was still holding on.

And your music found it.

That moment was a miracle to me.

It was proof that even when everything seemed lost, something was still there.

Bless his heart, he has even told people that he left me at home twice to go to New York and hang out with you, and that you were the coolest dude he knew.

😂

Of course, that never happened.

It’s part of the confusion from his anoxic brain injury.

But honestly?

I’ll take it.

I’ll take every strange story, every repeated question, every forgotten memory, every frustrating day.

Because he’s here.

He’s home.

After 23 days, several setbacks, and even a few escape attempts, Josh finally came home to our family.

And yesterday, October 3rd, we celebrated 11 years of marriage.

I looked at my husband yesterday and realized just how precious the words “my husband” really are.

Because there was a moment when I thought I might have to learn how to live without them.

I don’t take that for granted anymore.

Not for one second.

We are still healing.

We’re still fighting.

We’re still figuring out what our new normal looks like.

There are hard days ahead.

But we’re here.

Together.

And Billy, your music has been there through all of it.

You’re going to be in Huntsville in October, so close to us.

I know you probably receive requests like this constantly. I know I’m just one person sending a message into a very big world.

But if there is any possible way for Josh and me to come to your concert and meet you, I honestly don’t know if I could ever explain what that moment would mean to us.

I don’t want to meet you just because you’re someone we admire.

I want Josh to meet the man whose music was playing while he fought his way back to me.

I want to stand beside my husband and tell you,

“This is Josh. He almost died. He forgot so much. But he remembered you.”

And maybe, just maybe, you could give him a hug.

Because I promise you, that would be a moment neither of us would ever forget.

And if you never see this…

That’s okay.

If this disappears into the thousands of messages you receive, that’s okay too.

Because I didn’t write this expecting anything.

I wrote it because you deserve to know.

You deserve to know that your music wasn’t just background noise in our lives.

It wasn’t just something we listened to in the car.

Your music became part of our marriage.

Part of our memories.

Part of our family.

And when I thought I was watching my husband slip away from me…

your music was one of the things I used to try to reach him.

And when he finally came back…

your music was one of the things that reached him first.

I will never forget that.

Thank you for every lyric.

Thank you for every song.

Thank you for giving people music that becomes part of their lives and stays there, even when everything else is falling apart.

Thank you for unknowingly helping me hold onto my husband.

And thank you for giving us something beautiful to hold onto during the darkest days of our lives.

We love you, Billy.

Happy Birthday.

And if you ever wonder whether your music makes a difference…

Please remember Josh.

Because after everything his brain forgot…

he remembered your songs.

And I will forever believe that was a little piece of the miracle that brought my husband back home to me.

❤️ Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

You are truly AMAZING.

Yeesh you guys.

In light of the recent drama around these parts I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone and to all the community members.

I found Billy in 2018/2019 in one of th lowest points of my life and if it wasn’t for his music , I probably would not of have had the fortitude (loss of beloved ones) to make it through COVID.

And with all this violent talk it makes me sad , this is never what the scene was about , or what Billy was about , or what the community has stood for.

Let’s all remember to keep the blinders on and respect and remember why we are here. Thank you to the mods , to the band and to Billy.

Buy the ticket, take the respectful ride!

Let’s be respectful of each other and share

✌️ and ❤️
- Agile