Billy Strings Unpacks A Lifetime of Trauma & Resilience On ‘Dopey Podcast’ [B.Getz on L4LM]
Sometimes, the things we carry become too damn heavy and we need a good friend who can listen when it’s time to let it all fly. That was the case when Billy Strings sat with David Manheim for the latest episode of Dopey Podcast. The audio-only version is available now on major streaming platforms, with a video release set for Monday.
Recorded during a recent visit to the New York metropolitan on Billy’s ongoing U.S. tour, Dopey Podcast Episode 558 unveils a brutally honest, delicately disarming, and ultimately heart-warming conversation unpacking a lifetime of colossal trauma in unprecedented depth.
As it turns out, Dave had been bugging Billy to come on Dopey Podcast for a good while. Dopey is a long-running, recovery-oriented pod on the dark comedy of “drugs, addiction, and dumb sh*t.” After Billy’s instant-classic GD60 “Wharf Rat”—an anthem for many recovering addicts in this subculture—Dave reached out to Billy once again. This time, Billy messaged back asking Dave for his phone number. Soon thereafter, a phone call took place, then another, and a beautiful friendship swiftly took root.
Thanks to that comfort between the two, when they finally sat down together to record the podcast, it didn’t take long for the the two-hour dialogue to get deadly serious, Dopey host David Manheim, a seasoned trauma-dump specialist for over 500 episodes, listens patiently and holds the requisite space for Billy Strings to work through the heaviest of past experiences. Still drifting between paralyzing pangs of guilt and despair in the tailwind of his mother’s recent passing, Billy walks Dave and Dopey‘s listeners through various horrifying trials, tribulations, and heretofore unspeakable memories. “My duty here is to live in my truth, tell my story, and see if I can help people along the way,” he explains in the episode.
With shockingly vivid detail, Strings unspools stream-of-consciousness recollections of things he lived through, locked away, endured, and eventually triumphed over—albeit at great cost and sacrifice.'”I was f—ing pissed. You know, just to me, it was just so f—ing stupid,” Billy vented about his mother’s tragic death at one point. “Unnecessary. Just f—ing dumb. Like, really? This is how my mom f—ing dies? This is f—ing stupid, man. It just was unnecessary. And I still don’t f—ing know really what the f— happened.”
The multiple-Grammy-winning, 33-year old bluegrass wunderkind has experienced a whirlwind couple of years both onstage and off, from his countless professional peaks to his marriage and the birth of his first son. But those monumental highlights were juxtaposed with the jarring tragedy of his mom Debra Apostol’s sudden death in June 2025 and his stepfather Terry Barber‘s close call shortly thereafter. These events in swift succession awakened a tidal wave of dormant trauma for the doting husband, young father, and superstar artist.
Even most casual fans are somewhat acquainted with Billy Strings hardscrabble beginnings. Raised in the Michigan wilds, the ballad of young Billy was a bluesy high-lonesome wail against a backdrop of poverty, drugs, and struggle, his childhood often obscured by the shadows of parental loss and addiction. Thanks to the vibrant inspiration of his mother and the musical tastes and influence of his stepfather (Billy’s biological father died of a heroin overdose when the kid was just 2 years old), the nascent axe-slinger found catharsis in creativity and sanctuary in the six-string. But the golden road, as it often does for those touched by the fire, made a hard and fast turn left. Living dangerously in relative squalor, high school became an afterthought for teenage Billy. He soon embarked on a wayward detour deep into the darkness himself.
View this post on Instagram
This harrowing chapter is one Billy has mostly avoided until recently, but he examines it in painful, painstaking detail on Dopey Podcast. To listen to the episode is to join Billy for storytime as he touches on growing up in trailer park trap houses with his older brother and sister while his mother smoked crack; taking his first drink at 8; years later smoking meth out of a lightbulb with his mom; recurring dreams about clouds of crack smoke; why blow still blows; how and why his attitudes about the disease of addiction have evolved; infamous/colorful/criminal characters of his youth; the twists and turns his siblings’ lives have taken in the smoldering ashes of their cataclysmic childhood; his true-story songwriting style; and his thoughts on The Sopranos vs. The Wire (Billy loves Paulie Walnuts!).
But even after metaphorically unpacking all of that, the most emotional segment of the episode comes when Billy opens up and digs through a briefcase filled with his late mother’s raw and rapturous poetry. Despite the decades of pain, poverty, drugs, and degradation trips, Billy still leads with love, reverence, and gratitude when remembering his beloved mother. “After I lost my mom, my whole idea of addiction is different now. I thought I knew what it really was, and I really had no idea,” he reflects.
Why did Billy Strings pick the comparatively niche Dopey to unleash his most gripping and personal interview to date? Addiction has shaped his life in indelible ways, a fact that often rears its head in his interviews. “How it’s affected my life and my mind, my heart and soul throughout my life. How it shaped me,” Billy explains in the episode. “Next thing you know, I’m talking about smoking crack or some s—, and everybody’s going, what the hell, man? So I’m just like, maybe I should just go on a podcast that’s about that stuff and talk about it, you know?”
For years, Dopey Podcast has presented raw, unvarnished chronicles of the cultures, landscapes, and human experiences found within drug addiction and recovery. Born from the shared, shaky sobriety of two former heroin addicts, Dopey’s humble origins took root with a basic, defiant premise: telling war stories about depraved, hilarious, “dumb sh*t” they got into (and out of) while still severely strung out, with an intentional aversion to the saccharine sentimentality of typical recovery programs.
Quintessential New Yorker David Manheim is the sharp-witted, resilient co-creator and beloved host of Dopey. He bravely transformed his own catastrophic, long-term heroin and methadone addictions into a vital recovery resource and tight-knit community. Before Dave became a major-league podcaster and reluctant hero to addicts in recovery, he was a TV producer working for Lorne Michaels‘ Broadway Video and MTV2, gigs that ultimately fizzled out as dope took hold of his life. He candidly admits to being high on heroin while interviewing the likes of The Flaming Lips, Ween, and Bob Weir.
A series of flailing detox attempts followed, until a “eureka” moment struck him at 35 with a young daughter, and he started working the 12 Steps with intention. Dave found his professional, personal, and recovery calling in a rather unlikely nexus: the smoking pit of a Connecticut rehab facility, where he made the acquaintance of Chris O’Connor. Together, they launched a fledgling iteration of Dopey in 2016. The podcast—their silly salvation—organically gave way to a “Dopey Nation” of listeners who resonated with their unfiltered honesty, a community that somewhat mirrors the dedicated denizens of jam band fanbases.
In July 2018, Dave and the Dopey Nation had their world rocked when, after nearly five years of sobriety, Chris O’Connor tragically relapsed and died of a fentanyl overdose. This devastating loss chased the death of another close friend and show regular named Todd. This pair of excruciating losses prompted Dave to re-evaluate and evolve Dopey into something more philosophical and profound.
Now sober for over a decade, David Manheim has now hosted the show solo every single Friday for far longer than he shared the same space with his fallen partner. Dave’s journey from a life nearly destroyed by substance use disorders to becoming a respected and valued voice in the recovery diaspora is as admirable and compelling as any pod guest who “brings the Dopey” (wild war stories told on the show). For a beautiful telling of the Dopey origin tale, check out the 2019 feature on This American Life 667: Wartime Radio.
Dave’s narrative arc, not unlike Billy Strings, is a testament to finding purpose amidst the wreckage of a life once consumed by chaos—and their gripping Dopey Podcast conversation is a light that can hopefully provide hope to those still facing the perils of addiction.
Bravo Billy MF Strings, thank you Dave, & toodles for Chris.
Listen to Episode 558 of Dopey Podcast featuring Billy Strings below. Find more episodes of Dopey Podcast here. Grab tickets to an upcoming Billy Strings concert here.
Dopey Podcast – Episode 558 w/ Billy String – Full Episode
Dead & Company w/ Billy Strings – “Wharf Rat” – Golden Gate Park – 8/1/25
words: B.Getz