A Grammy Award-winning bluegrass musician from Michigan has done quite well and now he's paying it forward to his Michigan hometown school.

Normally when I think of bluegrass, Kentucky pops in my mind seeing as how it's the bluegrass state. Not all bluegrass musicians come from Kentucky anymore.

Bluegrass star Billy Strings is from Muir, Michigan. Muir is about seven miles east of Ionia.

Billy Strings won a Grammy for "Best Bluegrass Album Of The Year" for his album Home.

According to WOOD, Strings said, "the guitar was always a good friend of mine all throughout my life and it's led me to a lot of amazing places and it's always been a good friend."

That is something I can relate to. I have played guitar since I was six years old and mine has been a lifelong friend and taken me places I thought I would never see. To this day the guitar is something that helps keep me balanced in life.

Strings, along with his band members, hauled 200 brand new guitars and gave them to students at his hometown school, Twin Rivers Elementary School in Muir.

I have to say that is really huge that Strings remembered where he came from and how the guitar has helped him throughout his life and now he's giving back in hopes one of these guitars will help another child will find a friend in the guitar as he has.

Strings said, "this is the coolest thing I've ever done. Winning a Grammy is cool, but giving back to your community, especially to children, is a lot cooler."

Two decades ago Strings, aka William Apostol, had a tough childhood while attending Twin Rivers Elementary. It was the guitar the kept him distracted from some of the other things that were going on in his life at the time.

When Strings was in school as a child, there was a music teacher that really inspired him and her name is Sari Mercer.

Mercer helped Strings connect with Twin Rivers to distribute the guitars.

It is pretty special that Strings didn't forget where he came from and the teacher who inspired him and hopefully this inspiration will be passed down to another student and music teacher moving forward.

Here is Billy Strings talking about life in West Michigan:

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