Paper trails
A few weeks after Milwaukee — after the Reddit wave, the interviews, the late-night research spirals — a white envelope showed up at my door. The return address was Brooklyn. Inside was a stack of zines: my first set of Train Songz back issues.
They weren’t slick.
They weren’t algorithmic.
They weren’t designed for virality.
They were handmade. Physical. Thoughtful.
And I felt something I didn’t expect the moment I opened them: recognition.
A Zine in 2024? Somehow It Makes Perfect Sense
I came of age in the 90s, when zines were the lifeblood of indie culture. Punk zines, hardcore newsletters, Maximum Rocknroll — all proof a scene existed. So when I learned there was a zine orbiting the Billy Strings universe, I subscribed immediately.
But Train Songz isn’t retro for nostalgia’s sake.
It’s vital — a handmade archive of a fan community refusing to exist solely online.
What Train Songz Is — and Why It Matters
Train Songz traffics in the kind of content that has always made zines essential:
• fan essays
• illustrations
• inside jokes
• reflections
• collage-like experimentation
It reaches beyond Brooklyn, pulling in contributors from around the country. They even crowdsource envelope-stuffing duties — a tiny, perfect example of how this fandom collaborates.
It’s the scene documenting itself, in its own voice, with its own obsessions:
• railroads
• setlist statistics
• the vast universe of old-time music
• and, naturally, songs about trains
In a world where everything is “content,” Train Songz feels defiantly human.
What the Zine Taught Me
First: this scene is about myth-making.
Train Songz articulates the railroad mythology that runs through Billy’s music and American roots culture.
Second: the fandom cares deeply about preservation.
This mirrors the archival instinct behind fan projects like BillyBase and the broader culture of tapering and documentation.
Third: the scene contains multitudes — thinkers, writers, observers, data analysts, historians, jokesters.
Fourth: Billy’s audience has more in common with punk and DIY ethos than people realize.
There’s the same spirit of self-publishing, self-organizing, and self-understanding.
A Bridge Between My Past and This Project
Beyond being an education, Train Songz reminded me that what I’m making shouldn’t feel sterile. It should feel lived in. Handheld. Messy. Alive.
Like a zine.
I reached out to the folks behind Train Songz, and plan to feature this unique expression of Billy life in the film. It’s too honest, too smart, too lovingly strange not to include.
If Milwaukee showed me the size of this story, Train Songz gave me a glimpse into its soul.
