Billy Pilgrim (often stylized billy pilgrim) is an American

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

duo based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, composed of Andrew Hyra and

Kristian Bush Kristian Merrill Bush (born March 14, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim (band), Billy Pi ...

. The band's name was taken from the time-traveling antihero of

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

's novel ''

Slaughterhouse-Five ''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death'' is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to his ...

''. The name was adopted in 1994; prior to that the duo simply billed itself as Andrew Hyra and Kristian Bush. The band has released two albums on a major record label (''Billy Pilgrim'', ''Bloom'') and several independently. The songs "Get Me Out Of Here" and "Sweet Louisiana Sound" were released as singles.

History

Kristian Bush and Andrew Hyra (the brother of actress Meg Ryan) first began performing together in 1990 in Knoxville, Tenn. After about a year, they started recording their songs to tape. The self-release ''St. Christopher's Crossing'' was recorded in two days in a studio in

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and appeared in 1991
/ref> (credited to "Andrew Hyra & Kristian Bush") on cassette. The album was released on Compact Disc, CD in 1992 when

Amy Ray Amy Elizabeth Ray (born April 12, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls with Emily Saliers. She also pursues a solo career, releasing ten albums under her own name, and founded the independent ...

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duet (music), duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in Primary school, elementary school and began performing together as Secondary school, hig ...

helped them with the release costs. Playing hundreds of shows in the Southeast, their effort was noticed and they proceeded to record their second album ''Words Like Numbers'' under the indie label Sister Ruby. After this they signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

, naming the group Billy Pilgrim. In 1993 Billy Pilgrim recorded their debut album ''Billy Pilgrim'' at Nickel and Dime Studios, with Don McCollister producing and Hugh Padgham mixing the record. The eponymous album was a moderate success when released in 1994. With the next album, '' Bloom'', the band launched a fall tour, headlining larger venues than they had in the past. Yet in early 1996, the band was dropped by Atlantic. After releasing several albums through Internet only, the album ''In the Time Machine'' became their last effort to date, released on May 12, 2001. An update on the band's website indicates that Billy Pilgrim are not currently active, but no official disbanding has been announced. In 2016 Billy Pilgrim reunited during the annual Thanksgiving shows Kristian Bush gave in

Decatur, Georgia Decatur () is a city and the county seat of DeKalb County, Georgia, DeKalb County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, th ...

. It was the first time in 15 years they shared the stage. Their single "Insomniac" (written by Bush) has been a favorite of numerous a cappella groups. They reunited for several shows in 2023 and in 2024 the duo played the Grand Old Opry. Their tour included three sold-out shows at Eddie's Attic outside Atlanta, where the duo played frequently at the start.

Other projects

Both Hyra and Bush have released solo albums and worked with other musicians. Bush formed the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

group Sugarland in 2002 with

Jennifer Nettles Jennifer Odessa Nettles (born September 12, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer. Nettles is the lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush, and prior to this she fronted the Atlanta-based bands ...

and

Kristen Hall Kristen Hall (born October 24, 1962) is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and a founding member of the country music group Sugarland. She had a solo career and released several albums, formed the country band Sugarland, and more recently ...

(who left in 2006, reducing Sugarland to a duo). Hyra released a solo album, ''Lost Songs'', in 2006 and another, ''Curios'', in 2011. Hyra is now in a band with Brian Bristow called the Smokin' Novas.

Discography

Billy Pilgrim has released albums from 1991 - 2001.

Official albums

* ''Billy Pilgrim'' (January 1994) * '' Bloom'' (May 1995) - ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Heatseekers #37

Independent releases

* ''St. Christopher's Crossing'' as Kristian Bush & Andrew Hyra (1991, cassette; 1992 CD) * ''Words Like Numbers'' as Andrew Hyra & Kristian Bush (1993, 1994 re-issue) * ''Live From Wildhack, MT'' (September 1999) **recorded live at Eddie's Attic in

in December 1998 * ''beSides'' (May 2000) * ''Nine Twenty Three (09.23.00) '' (November 2000) **recorded live at Eddie's Attic in

on 23 September 2000 * ''In The Time Machine'' (June 2001; re-released September 2020)

Singles

*"Hurricane Season" (1994 USA) *"Insomniac" (1994 USA) *"Get Me Out Of Here" (1994, Germany) *"Try" (1994 USA Promo only) *"Sweet Louisiana Sound" (1995)

Other songs

*"The First Noel" (1995 on Atlantic holiday compilation "You Sleigh Me")

References

External links

Kristian Bush homepageAndrew Hyra homepageAndrew Hyra
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Billy Pilgrim American folk musical duos Musical duos from Georgia (U.S. state) Atlantic Records artists