MOLLY TUTTLE APPEARS to be everywhere. She’s the toast of her adopted hometown in Nashville, and she’s developing a deepening obsession with the most iconic classic rock band from her home ground near San Francisco, the Grateful Dead. While she’s fluent in an array of Americana settings, Tuttle’s potent bluegrass chops make her a singular force of nature on six strings. Her latest album, 2022’s Crooked Tree, feels like taking a wild hayride with her blazing band, Golden Highway. From the high-octane kick-off cut “She’ll Change” through the rollicking roll of “Goodbye Girl,” her fretboard fireworks create sonic spectacles. Tuttle’s crosspicking solos flow as fluently as banjo rolls, and she deftly applies clawhammer banjo technique to her guitar foundation on “The River Knows.” The album even features an array of A-list guests, including contemporaries Billy Strings and mandolin maiden Sierra Hull as well as luminaries Dan Tyminski, Gillian Welch and Dobro icon Jerry Douglas, who produced the whole affair.
“TO PLAY WITH BOB WEIR WAS SUCH A FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT. I DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS GOING TO BE THERE”
New Tuttle goodness continued to roll out at the close of her banner year. A deluxe version of features four choice bonus cuts, including a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Dire Wolf”
