December 25, 2025 • 25 mins
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On this Top 5 of 2025 replay episode of Takin’ A Walk – Music History on Foot, host Buzz Knight is joined by Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist Molly Tuttle. Widely celebrated for her groundbreaking flatpicking technique and her unmistakably authentic songwriting voice, Molly has emerged as one of the most innovative and influential figures in Americana and modern bluegrass. In this conversation, she reflects on the winding journey that has shaped her artistry—from her early musical upbringing to the creative milestones that continue to define her career. Molly offers insight into the inspiration behind her newest music, the evolving sound she’s exploring, and the ways she balances honoring tradition while continually pushing the genre forward. From life on the road with her band Golden Highway, to candid thoughts on resilience, creativity, and staying connected to her roots, this episode offers a rich and personal look at Molly Tuttle’s story in her own words.
If this episode of Takin’ a Walk – Music History on Foot struck a chord with you, we invite you to keep the journey going by exploring the many other stories, conversations, and musical pathways waiting in our episode library. Every installment of the podcast opens a new door into the world of music—whether it’s a deep dive into a legendary artist’s creative process, a walk through the overlooked corners of music history, or a compelling conversation with the people who shape the soundtrack of our lives. There’s an entire universe of rhythm, narrative, nostalgia, discovery, and behind-the-scenes insight spread across our past episodes, each one crafted to make your next walk, drive, workout, or moment of downtime more meaningful, more memorable, and more connected to the music you love. So don’t stop here, take a few extra steps and check out the rest of the Takin’ a Walk – Music History on Foot catalog. The stories waiting for you are as timeless, surprising, and inspiring as the songs that have carried you through your life. Keep listening and discover your next favorite episode.
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exploring, and the ways she balances honoring tradition while continually pushing the genre forward. From life on the road with her band Golden Highway, to candid thoughts on resilience, creativity, and staying connected to her roots, this episode offers a rich and personal look at Molly Tuttle’s story in her own words.
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exploring, and the ways she balances honoring tradition while continually pushing the genre forward. From life on the road with her band Golden Highway, to candid thoughts on resilience, creativity, and staying connected to her roots, this episode offers a rich and personal look at Molly Tuttle’s story in her own words.
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#Music History
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#Music
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#Music Podcast
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#Molly Tuttle
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#History
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk on Buzzsnight and this is the Taking
a Walk podcast, And this is our top five of
twenty twenty five countdown. A great way to end an
amazing year. Now coming in at number two, This one
first played back in September of this year. An extraordinary talent,
she's redefining bluegrass for a new generation. Blli Tuttle the
(00:25):
first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's Guitar
Player of the Year Award. She's won that multiple times.
She joined me for an incredible conversation about her journey
from playing in her family's band to becoming one of
the most innovative acoustic guitarists in music today. She opened
up about the challenges and triumphs of her career, her
(00:48):
work with Golden Highway, and how she's inspiring countless young
musicians to pick up the guitar. This is a conversation
filled with authenticity, music history, insight, and the kind of
passion that reminds you why music matters. Coming up next,
here's Taking a Walk with the incomparable Molly Tuttle. Number
(01:10):
two on the Top five of twenty twenty five. Taking
a Walk Molly Tuttle We've been trying to get you
on this fangled podcast for a while, and now it's happening.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, I know, thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm so
excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Thank you so much. We're gonna get into a lot
of stuff, certainly the new work and what's been going
on with that. But I do want to ask you
first before we get into So Long, Little Miss Sunshine.
Since we call this podcast taking a walk, Molly, if
you could take a walk with somebody living or dead,
(01:50):
who might you take a walk with? And where would
you take that walk?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh wait, that's such a good question.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
The first person who kind of of popped into my
head would be Joni Mitchell taking a walk with her.
And my favorite place to probably take a walk would
be maybe somewhere like in Big Sir. That's like the
prettiest place to me. I love going on hikes there.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Not a bad spot for sure. Yeah, So congrats on
So Long, Little Miss Sunshine. Before I sort of dissect
it from your point of view, I thought it might
be interesting to give our listeners a glimpse into what's
on your personal musical playlist these days, because I think
(02:37):
that's often a window into the creative road people are taking.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Totally. Yeah, I think like I listened to all sorts
of stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I love going back and listening to, you know, like
music from the seventies and eighties and nineties and kind
of like people Like some of my favorite songwriters are
like Gordon Lightfoot and.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I loved the Eagles. I feel like some of the
new songs on.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
The record were inspired by them, Cheryl Crow, and then
my favorites from growing up were like Gillian Welch and
Hagel Sildickens and of course like traditional bluegrass music is
what I grew up listening to with my dad and
I still I love listening to that too, Like gol
Monroe and the Stanley Brothers are probably my favorite. As
(03:23):
far as like newer music coming out, I'm always kind
of listening to different albums as they come out. Like
this summer, I've been loving listening to the new Lucas
Nelson album and the new.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Tyler Childers album.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I kind of listened to a lot of records in
that sort of you know, country but a little more
throwback country or sort of I don't know, I guess
they used to call it all the Country.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
But I know.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
There's so much discussion about like what do we call
these people who aren't on like the mainstream commercial country track,
But yeah, I love that type of music.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I love listening to Charlie Crockett, Sierra Farrell.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
But yeah, I also like some of the music I
listened to a lot leading up to making this record
was like indie rock stuff like I love the Boy
Genius album that came out a couple of years ago,
and Phoebe Bridges is one of my favorites. In high school,
I listened to a ton of Emmy I rock like
The National is one of my favorite bands, and I
love Bonie Vere.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So those are the albums that sort of I guess.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
When you're like at that age, maybe fourteen to sixteen,
I feel like the music you listen to then leaves
like a really big impression on you. And I was
really into like indie rock stuff in high school, so
I still listen to that a lot too.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
See that sheds a light on someone who's a tremendous
creator like you, who is not afraid to take different
twists and turns. So yeah, I want you to describe
your creative evolution to those insanely territorial bluegrass fans who
are so fixated. I love them to death, but they're
(04:58):
so fixated on certain things. So describe your creative evolution
certainly for this project.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, I mean, this project was kind of it felt
like a continuation of what I had been doing prior
to making my last two bluegrass records, Crooked Try and
City of Gold. It was like I knew I wanted
to make some traditional not traditional, but like make some
real bluegrass records at some point, and then all of
a sudden, I started writing all these bluegrass songs and
(05:27):
I put together the band Golden Highway, and that was
like so much fun. But at the same time, I
had this other project I had been cooking up at
the same time, which became my new record, So Long
Little Miss Sunshine, and the music that I kind of
made like I did a cover record during the pandemic
where I recorded all my parts at home and it
(05:47):
was called but I'd Rather Be with You, And then
my record When You're Ready. They're both kind of in
the more like, you know, singer songwriter, indie folk realm,
I guess a little more so.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
This one.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Felt like I was kind of returning to making a
solo record, Whereas my last two records felt like I
really wanted to make them have that kind of band
feel like Crooked Tree. I didn't record with my live
band Golden Highway, but I still wanted to have that
kind of like playful like energy if you're just at
a bluegrass jam. And then we made the second record,
City of Gold with the live touring band, and then
(06:23):
we had kind of even gelled more as a band,
so we had more of that kind of back and forth.
But this record, I kind of wanted to, you know,
step out as like a solo.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Artist a bit more. So.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
One thing that I've struggled with the most is like
figuring out how does my guitar playing fit into like
maybe a different style, because when I'm playing bluegrass, it's
so in my wheelhouse to just like, I know, you know,
I know how to play a bluegrass guitar solo. Maybe
I work at my solos really hard to make them
(06:55):
good on the record and like work out like a
complicated solo or complicated lik here and there, but I
generally know how that goes. So it's kind of like
a fun challenge for me to write these songs that
are more in the like kind of you know, singer
songwriter realm, and then still figure out how do I
take like a virtuosic guitar solo mid song because that's
(07:17):
not like something that you hear a lot on this
type of music. So that was something I felt like
I did, like better than ever before on my new record.
And it was really fun working with Jay Joyce because
he's a great guitar player and he had all these
ideas for me on how to like kind of weave
my guitar playing into these songs and into this production
style that is a little more like rock, country, pop,
(07:37):
whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I feel like we came up with a sound.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
That I have a hard time really like saying what
genre it is, but yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
It was a fun experience.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
But I think that's cool that it's not, you know,
this particular genre you know definition. I love that about it.
I love that about this work that you've done. Can
you talk about the themes stories that you explored on
this new album and how you sort of got to
those stories.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah, it's definitely an album about kind of becoming yourself,
being like unafraid to be yourself, and some of the
songs are like sort of have a coming of age
theme to them, Like the last song on the album
Story of My Soul called Life, I was just kind
of going through these little moments that I remember throughout
my life that were moments when I learned something, or
I grew as a person, or like became who I
(08:28):
am now.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
In like golden state of mind.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
That song is all about kind of, you know, accepting
where you're at and and still seeing like the positive
side of life. So I think there's definitely that's one
of the themes. Definitely, travel and like road trips and
explore exploration of both yourself and the world around you
is a theme as well that shows up on a
couple of songs.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
But I think like one song.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
That I felt like sort of encapsulated it for me
was when we wrote Old Me New Wig. It's all
about just kind of stepping into yourself and saying goodbye
to like your insecurities or something you need to let
go of that you've been maybe holding on too for
too long. So this album is just kind of about
being unafraid to be yourself.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
How much in your life did these jam sessions these
family jam sessions that I think there's so many people
wish they were a fly on the wall for that's
your family jam sessions. How much did those impact you
then and when you think about your world now impact you.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Now, Yeah, they had a big impact on me, even
just stuff that I take for granted, like playing with
my brothers and my dad growing up. It's like you
just learn how to play with other people. Listen, listen
to other people, Listen to the bass and make sure
you're playing at the same tempo as them, and you know,
(09:50):
trade around the solos, and you learn to just kind
of listen and react to what's happening.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Maybe someone is playing their solo.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
And accidentally skipped to a different part of the song,
and you learn to just kind of like go with
them and you know, try to do what's best for
the song.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
And also we started playing shows when.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I was like eleven or twelve years old, and just
even basic things like you need to make a set list,
you need to rehearse the whole set before you play
it on stage.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
That kind of like I feel lucky that I learned
it as a little kid. I didn't have to, you know,
learn it by trial and error later on when I
was playing with my own band. But yeah, I think
anyone who's like trying to get better at music, I
just say, like, go find anyone else to play with,
because playing with other people is such a good way
to kind of improve. Even if you're like playing with
(10:41):
people who maybe aren't as advanced as you, you're still
learning something. You're learning how to play, you know, maybe
slower than you normally would. You're learning how to listen
and be supportive to someone who might not be at
your level. But also I think finding people who are
more advanced than you is is really helpful too. And
that happened to me when I was a kid and
I would play with my dad's other students who were
(11:02):
maybe a couple of years older than me, and they
were more advanced, and that made me want to work
really hard and practice more so that I could improvise
like they could and take solos like they could. So yeah,
and I remember too as a kid, I ended up
going to Nashville and doing kids on Bluegrass thing where
I met people like Sierra Hall, who is like now
one of my close friends here in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
But seeing her play when she was maybe the twelve
or so and being like.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Wait, I have never heard a kid who's around my
same age just absolutely shredding like that. That kind of
was the moment where I was either gonna quit playing
all together or like double down and be like, you know,
maybe I'll never play exactly like her, but like it
inspired me to want to work hard so that I
could play with her someday.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I think it's so amazing what's going on, this revolution
with you and Sierra and of course Billy and so
many others that is is bringing this music and this
intersection of genres to a wider audience. Could you have
ever imagined when you started out that this revolution would
(12:12):
be taking place that I think we're in the middle of,
which I think is just so tremendous.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, it's so exciting. Yeah, I mean, I guess when
I was a kid.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
We had like, oh, brother Artau came out, and that
felt like its own kind of revolution. Where my dad
is a bluegrass teacher. He teaches all the bluegrass instruments
and does private lessons so you can even go. I'm
always giving him shout outs even though he's trying to
slow down on the teaching. These days, you can go
to his website and even sign up for like an
online lesson with him Jack Tuttle. But I remember when
(12:47):
that movie came out, suddenly my dad was busier than
ever with students.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Everyone wanted to learn bluegrass.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So it's kind of like a similar thing happening now
where the music has sort of popped into more of
the mainstream awareness.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And I think it's.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Great because it's such a good way for people to connect,
like in real life. And you know, I went to
like Billy's Billy Strings show here in Nashville at Bridge
Stone Arena and hearing like this music, like he's playing
like a Bill Monroe song to like ten thousand people,
And I just wish that like my grandfather, who played
the banjo and kind of started that love of bluegrass
(13:21):
in my family, could have been there, because you wouldn't
have believed that he would have been absolutely dumbfounded advice
seeing that. But it's it's just cool to see the
community and people just all getting together to share this
love of music. And so many of the fans play
bluegrass themselves, so that's another way for people to connect.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I think we need that more than ever.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
In our current world when we're also online and glued
to our phones, and you know, people are writing comments
online and getting into fights, and then they meet up
in real life and.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Maybe they would actually get along.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
So yeah, everyone should pick up a banjo and go
to their local bluegrass jam.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
We'll be right back with more of the tape Can
a Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So was there any unexpected challenges with this new project
or breakthroughs while creating new material, any particular with certain
songs that were in these aha moments?
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, like, I think certain songs just really I can't
think of any like massive challenges. But we definitely went
back and forth a lot about like who is gonna
play on the record, Like what is the instrumentation? How
far removed are we gonna take it from the work
I'd done before. We brought in my partner, Catch Secor
(14:45):
to play a bunch of fiddle and banjo and mandlin
because we still wanted to have those stringed instruments on
the album. And then certain songs like I Remember the
Highway Knows That one took a long time for me
to write and I was just gonna write it from
this simple fingerpick to guitar part that I thought of
that I thought was cool, but it took forever for
(15:05):
me to figure out, like how do I put words
to this?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
And then when we got into the studio.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
That was one where like it was like a nice
song and kind of like just chugged along, but then
Jay was he came up with this whole other part
that you hear midway through where suddenly I'm switching to
flat picking and I'm taking this big solo on it.
So there were songs like that that just took, you know,
a couple months to kind of slowly develop and make
(15:33):
it into their final form that ended up on the album.
Another one was like everything Burns. I think we just
I was so on the fence about like the song itself.
I'm like, do we record it? Do we not record it?
And then when Jay came in one day, he was like,
I was up til four am, and I made this
whole instrumental section midway through, and I have ideas we totally.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Rewrote the chorus and this and that.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
So songs like that they really transformed and became pretty
different both lyrically and like just arrangement wise than they
were before. So it was really fun to spend a
couple of months last fall just every day going into
the studio and kind of developing these songs slowly.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Your guitar playing it's it's renowned for its precision, it's
tremendous emotion. How do you balance the technical skill with
this heartfelt expression.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, I think that's something that like, I find to
be a challenge because I don't want to like shoehorn fast.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Guitar likes into every single song.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
But at the same time, it's like such a big
part of what I do is I'm a guitar player,
and I want to be able to express myself on
the instrument as well as like through my lyrics and
my singing. So yeah, I think this was a record
where I felt like that was what we spent the
most time on. Was we had the songs, but then
(16:58):
we would spend so much time on the game titar
parts because we knew we wanted them to be Even
if I'm not taking like face melting solo with a
million notes in each song, we at least wanted them
to be interesting and kind of.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Catch your ear in a way.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So yeah, I think ultimately I always want to like
serve the song first and like play what is going
to make the song sound good and kind of fit
the emotion of the song. But I do try to,
you know, come up with parts that are a little
more kind of sophisticated than just you know, when I'm
writing a song, usually I'm just kind of strumming chords
(17:34):
and not really playing much on the guitar, and then
that's kind of the last part that comes like, Okay,
well what do I what am I going to.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Play on the guitar?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
So I'm not just kind of strumming strumming along, But
if you listen to like any of my first demos,
it's just I'm not even like holding a pick. Sometimes
I'm just kind of like the guitar is such an
afterthought when I first write the songs. Except on the
ones where I'm coming up with the guitar part first,
There's like a few where I'll come up with the
guitar part I really like and then write the song,
But usually it's kind of the other way around.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, how do you maintain creativity and motivation when you
face the pressures of touring and of an industry that
is so incredibly you know competitive.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, it's it's definitely like a it's a lot to
be touring so much and then you want to be
recording your best work when you're home, but it's hard
to like stay constant with the writing songs and going
into the studio and so rarely you have a very
(18:39):
long chunk of time at home, at least for me,
and I play like at least one hundred dates most years,
but that's not even including all the days that you're
traveling in between shows.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So yeah, it can be really tough. But for me,
like I.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Generally try to remember that, like I'm the only real
reason I'm doing this is to try to make people happy,
you know, bring like joy to people's lives. Like I
go out there and I love seeing the audience having
a good time. And I also try to kind of
with my music. I try to have a message too
of like for me, it's like really important to kind
(19:14):
of bring this message of like it's okay to be
who you are, be yourself because that's like a journey
that I've been on personally, and I write a lot
about it in my songs. So that's basically what keeps
me going, is like even if I'm tired, I'm at
least trying to do my best to brighten someone's day,
spread a little love throughout the world. And even if
(19:37):
I'm really tired, even if I'm I have a cold
or this or that, like, I'm just gonna get on
stage and do my best.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And yeah it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
It's like I don't think a lot of people essentially,
when you're starting out in like the roots music or
the blue grass or any world that's not like, you know,
main a mainstream genre. Most of us aren't getting into
this because we want to be famous or we want
to make the most money or sell the most records.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Like we genuinely love music.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And I would be playing music no matter what, even
if like I was teaching music or just working at
a venue or playing in other people's bands this or that.
I just kind of you know, I love playing music
and that's I'm gonna do that as long as I can.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So. And you love finding interesting covers throughout your career.
You really you blow people away with your execution as
some of these covers. Over time, there's a cover I
want you to talk about on the new album.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yes, yeah, it's like I can't even escape it now
like I didn't after I made a cover record during
the pandemic, I think I can't. I think maybe recorded
ten tracks on that, so ten covers. I was like,
I'm done with covers. I'm not going to record any
more covers. And then on this record, one day, Jay
Joyce was like, I really want to cover that song.
I love it and I just heard it like on
(20:58):
I forget where i'd heard it, but it had really
hot my ear, and I was like, oh, I remember
that song. I loved that song, So it felt kind
of fortuitous that he then like the next day I'd
mentioned he wanted to do like a slow down, kind
of trippy version of it, so I.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Was like, yeah, let's do it, like, I'll learn it tonight.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
So I learned it that night and we came in
and recorded just in a couple hours, just me and
him and the catch played some banjo. A couple of
weeks later, we actually tracked the record for real, and
then when he sent me the whole thing, he had
put that one in the middle and I listened down.
I was like, hey, I actually like it works like
I'm down, Let's let's put it on the album and
(21:33):
It's been such a fun little surprise for people like
who both listen to the record and then when we
do it. We've been doing it live and I just
like watching people's faces because they don't know what song
it is at first, and then they're like wait what
and they try to sing along, but it's like pretty
different than the original version. So that's Charlie's Icona Pop
(21:54):
and Charlie x X.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
But I love it.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yes, Yeah, well, yeah, I love how you're expression of
kind of wonderment comes out when you're thinking about people going,
I know that song. Wait a minute, she's twisting it
up a little bit differently. Yeah, you're finding her way,
which is so so cool. Yeah, for someone who's been
such a risk taker and continues to be, I want
(22:18):
I want to close with this question. I know for you,
there's got to be some influential people who have been
risk takers who clearly influenced you and your risk taking.
Who are some of those people?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Ooh yeah, I mean I like so many of my
heroes kind of play all different genres and styles, like
people like Bailaflex you're in Nashville've gotten to play with him,
and he like I think I heard that he's one
Grammy's in the most different categories of anyone else, and
(22:54):
so someone like that, especially as I'm releasing this new record,
that is sort of a different stylistic jump for me. Like,
I really admire people like that who just kind of
follow their heart and experiment with different sounds whenever they want.
I did watch the Bob Dylan movie this spring, and
he is definitely like a risk taker as well that
I admire. I've been a big Bob Dylan fan as
(23:16):
long as I've been. He was kind of the first
person who I listened to his music and I was like,
maybe I could write a song.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
And he kind of inspired me to start songwriting.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I know. I mentioned Joni Mitchell earlier, and she's one
of my favorites as well, another person who like wasn't
afraid to mix up her sound and take risks. But yeah,
there's too many to count. I'm trying to think another
hero of mine, and like she doesn't really mix up
(23:46):
her sound as much as others as Gillian Welch here
in Nashville. I feel like she's kind of carved her
own thing that's so different from what anyone else is
doing and that's kind of brave in its own way,
is just sticking truly to who you are and crafting
your own So that's uniquely you. I got to see
her play at the Rhyman earlier this spring, and it
was like one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
It was so cool.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
But yeah, all right, there's one more person I want
to ask you about who I know must have had
some influence or does have an influence. It's Jerry Douglas.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yes, I love Jerry. He produced both Cricketry and City
of Gold with me. We co produced them together. It
was so much fun working with such a musical hero
like that. And he's just like been such a great
mentor to me as well, Like if I ever have
career questions or unsure about this or that. Like he's
(24:38):
done so many different things. He's led his own band,
he's been a band member of like Alison Krausen Union Station,
He's produced albums, He's played on so many different albums.
So he's kind of, you know, worn all these different
hats in the music industry. And so that's someone I
really look up to as well. And he always has
the best advice and it's just always such a joy
(24:59):
to get to play with.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Here to say, he's a bit of a savant, don't
you think.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah, yeah, he just knows exactly what to play at
all the right times to make the song sound that
much better.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I dare say, Molly Tuttle, I consider you a savant
as well. Thank you, thank you for being on. Congrats
on so long, little miss Sunshine, and I'm so grateful
that you took the time to be on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Thank you God, thanks for having me. I'll see you
next time.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk on Buzzsnight and this is the Taking
a Walk podcast, And this is our top five of
twenty twenty five countdown. A great way to end an
amazing year. Now coming in at number two, This one
first played back in September of this year. An extraordinary talent,
she's redefining bluegrass for a new generation. Blli Tuttle the
(00:25):
first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's Guitar
Player of the Year Award. She's won that multiple times.
She joined me for an incredible conversation about her journey
from playing in her family's band to becoming one of
the most innovative acoustic guitarists in music today. She opened
up about the challenges and triumphs of her career, her
(00:48):
work with Golden Highway, and how she's inspiring countless young
musicians to pick up the guitar. This is a conversation
filled with authenticity, music history, insight, and the kind of
passion that reminds you why music matters. Coming up next,
here's Taking a Walk with the incomparable Molly Tuttle. Number
(01:10):
two on the Top five of twenty twenty five. Taking
a Walk Molly Tuttle We've been trying to get you
on this fangled podcast for a while, and now it's happening.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Well, I know, thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm so
excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Thank you so much. We're gonna get into a lot
of stuff, certainly the new work and what's been going
on with that. But I do want to ask you
first before we get into So Long, Little Miss Sunshine.
Since we call this podcast taking a walk, Molly, if
you could take a walk with somebody living or dead,
(01:50):
who might you take a walk with? And where would
you take that walk?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Oh wait, that's such a good question.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
The first person who kind of of popped into my
head would be Joni Mitchell taking a walk with her.
And my favorite place to probably take a walk would
be maybe somewhere like in Big Sir. That's like the
prettiest place to me. I love going on hikes there.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Not a bad spot for sure. Yeah, So congrats on
So Long, Little Miss Sunshine. Before I sort of dissect
it from your point of view, I thought it might
be interesting to give our listeners a glimpse into what's
on your personal musical playlist these days, because I think
(02:37):
that's often a window into the creative road people are taking.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Totally. Yeah, I think like I listened to all sorts
of stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I love going back and listening to, you know, like
music from the seventies and eighties and nineties and kind
of like people Like some of my favorite songwriters are
like Gordon Lightfoot and.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I loved the Eagles. I feel like some of the
new songs on.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
The record were inspired by them, Cheryl Crow, and then
my favorites from growing up were like Gillian Welch and
Hagel Sildickens and of course like traditional bluegrass music is
what I grew up listening to with my dad and
I still I love listening to that too, Like gol
Monroe and the Stanley Brothers are probably my favorite. As
(03:23):
far as like newer music coming out, I'm always kind
of listening to different albums as they come out. Like
this summer, I've been loving listening to the new Lucas
Nelson album and the new.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Tyler Childers album.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I kind of listened to a lot of records in
that sort of you know, country but a little more
throwback country or sort of I don't know, I guess
they used to call it all the Country.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
But I know.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
There's so much discussion about like what do we call
these people who aren't on like the mainstream commercial country track,
But yeah, I love that type of music.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I love listening to Charlie Crockett, Sierra Farrell.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
But yeah, I also like some of the music I
listened to a lot leading up to making this record
was like indie rock stuff like I love the Boy
Genius album that came out a couple of years ago,
and Phoebe Bridges is one of my favorites. In high school,
I listened to a ton of Emmy I rock like
The National is one of my favorite bands, and I
love Bonie Vere.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So those are the albums that sort of I guess.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
When you're like at that age, maybe fourteen to sixteen,
I feel like the music you listen to then leaves
like a really big impression on you. And I was
really into like indie rock stuff in high school, so
I still listen to that a lot too.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
See that sheds a light on someone who's a tremendous
creator like you, who is not afraid to take different
twists and turns. So yeah, I want you to describe
your creative evolution to those insanely territorial bluegrass fans who
are so fixated. I love them to death, but they're
(04:58):
so fixated on certain things. So describe your creative evolution
certainly for this project.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, I mean, this project was kind of it felt
like a continuation of what I had been doing prior
to making my last two bluegrass records, Crooked Try and
City of Gold. It was like I knew I wanted
to make some traditional not traditional, but like make some
real bluegrass records at some point, and then all of
a sudden, I started writing all these bluegrass songs and
(05:27):
I put together the band Golden Highway, and that was
like so much fun. But at the same time, I
had this other project I had been cooking up at
the same time, which became my new record, So Long
Little Miss Sunshine, and the music that I kind of
made like I did a cover record during the pandemic
where I recorded all my parts at home and it
(05:47):
was called but I'd Rather Be with You, And then
my record When You're Ready. They're both kind of in
the more like, you know, singer songwriter, indie folk realm,
I guess a little more so.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
This one.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Felt like I was kind of returning to making a
solo record, Whereas my last two records felt like I
really wanted to make them have that kind of band
feel like Crooked Tree. I didn't record with my live
band Golden Highway, but I still wanted to have that
kind of like playful like energy if you're just at
a bluegrass jam. And then we made the second record,
City of Gold with the live touring band, and then
(06:23):
we had kind of even gelled more as a band,
so we had more of that kind of back and forth.
But this record, I kind of wanted to, you know,
step out as like a solo.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Artist a bit more. So.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
One thing that I've struggled with the most is like
figuring out how does my guitar playing fit into like
maybe a different style, because when I'm playing bluegrass, it's
so in my wheelhouse to just like, I know, you know,
I know how to play a bluegrass guitar solo. Maybe
I work at my solos really hard to make them
(06:55):
good on the record and like work out like a
complicated solo or complicated lik here and there, but I
generally know how that goes. So it's kind of like
a fun challenge for me to write these songs that
are more in the like kind of you know, singer
songwriter realm, and then still figure out how do I
take like a virtuosic guitar solo mid song because that's
(07:17):
not like something that you hear a lot on this
type of music. So that was something I felt like
I did, like better than ever before on my new record.
And it was really fun working with Jay Joyce because
he's a great guitar player and he had all these
ideas for me on how to like kind of weave
my guitar playing into these songs and into this production
style that is a little more like rock, country, pop,
(07:37):
whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I feel like we came up with a sound.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
That I have a hard time really like saying what
genre it is, but yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
It was a fun experience.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
But I think that's cool that it's not, you know,
this particular genre you know definition. I love that about it.
I love that about this work that you've done. Can
you talk about the themes stories that you explored on
this new album and how you sort of got to
those stories.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah, it's definitely an album about kind of becoming yourself,
being like unafraid to be yourself, and some of the
songs are like sort of have a coming of age
theme to them, Like the last song on the album
Story of My Soul called Life, I was just kind
of going through these little moments that I remember throughout
my life that were moments when I learned something, or
I grew as a person, or like became who I
(08:28):
am now.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
In like golden state of mind.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
That song is all about kind of, you know, accepting
where you're at and and still seeing like the positive
side of life. So I think there's definitely that's one
of the themes. Definitely, travel and like road trips and
explore exploration of both yourself and the world around you
is a theme as well that shows up on a
couple of songs.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
But I think like one song.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
That I felt like sort of encapsulated it for me
was when we wrote Old Me New Wig. It's all
about just kind of stepping into yourself and saying goodbye
to like your insecurities or something you need to let
go of that you've been maybe holding on too for
too long. So this album is just kind of about
being unafraid to be yourself.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
How much in your life did these jam sessions these
family jam sessions that I think there's so many people
wish they were a fly on the wall for that's
your family jam sessions. How much did those impact you
then and when you think about your world now impact you.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Now, Yeah, they had a big impact on me, even
just stuff that I take for granted, like playing with
my brothers and my dad growing up. It's like you
just learn how to play with other people. Listen, listen
to other people, Listen to the bass and make sure
you're playing at the same tempo as them, and you know,
(09:50):
trade around the solos, and you learn to just kind
of listen and react to what's happening.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Maybe someone is playing their solo.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
And accidentally skipped to a different part of the song,
and you learn to just kind of like go with
them and you know, try to do what's best for
the song.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
And also we started playing shows when.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
I was like eleven or twelve years old, and just
even basic things like you need to make a set list,
you need to rehearse the whole set before you play
it on stage.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
That kind of like I feel lucky that I learned
it as a little kid. I didn't have to, you know,
learn it by trial and error later on when I
was playing with my own band. But yeah, I think
anyone who's like trying to get better at music, I
just say, like, go find anyone else to play with,
because playing with other people is such a good way
to kind of improve. Even if you're like playing with
(10:41):
people who maybe aren't as advanced as you, you're still
learning something. You're learning how to play, you know, maybe
slower than you normally would. You're learning how to listen
and be supportive to someone who might not be at
your level. But also I think finding people who are
more advanced than you is is really helpful too. And
that happened to me when I was a kid and
I would play with my dad's other students who were
(11:02):
maybe a couple of years older than me, and they
were more advanced, and that made me want to work
really hard and practice more so that I could improvise
like they could and take solos like they could. So yeah,
and I remember too as a kid, I ended up
going to Nashville and doing kids on Bluegrass thing where
I met people like Sierra Hall, who is like now
one of my close friends here in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
But seeing her play when she was maybe the twelve
or so and being like.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Wait, I have never heard a kid who's around my
same age just absolutely shredding like that. That kind of
was the moment where I was either gonna quit playing
all together or like double down and be like, you know,
maybe I'll never play exactly like her, but like it
inspired me to want to work hard so that I
could play with her someday.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I think it's so amazing what's going on, this revolution
with you and Sierra and of course Billy and so
many others that is is bringing this music and this
intersection of genres to a wider audience. Could you have
ever imagined when you started out that this revolution would
(12:12):
be taking place that I think we're in the middle of,
which I think is just so tremendous.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, it's so exciting. Yeah, I mean, I guess when
I was a kid.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
We had like, oh, brother Artau came out, and that
felt like its own kind of revolution. Where my dad
is a bluegrass teacher. He teaches all the bluegrass instruments
and does private lessons so you can even go. I'm
always giving him shout outs even though he's trying to
slow down on the teaching. These days, you can go
to his website and even sign up for like an
online lesson with him Jack Tuttle. But I remember when
(12:47):
that movie came out, suddenly my dad was busier than
ever with students.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Everyone wanted to learn bluegrass.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
So it's kind of like a similar thing happening now
where the music has sort of popped into more of
the mainstream awareness.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And I think it's.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Great because it's such a good way for people to connect,
like in real life. And you know, I went to
like Billy's Billy Strings show here in Nashville at Bridge
Stone Arena and hearing like this music, like he's playing
like a Bill Monroe song to like ten thousand people,
And I just wish that like my grandfather, who played
the banjo and kind of started that love of bluegrass
(13:21):
in my family, could have been there, because you wouldn't
have believed that he would have been absolutely dumbfounded advice
seeing that. But it's it's just cool to see the
community and people just all getting together to share this
love of music. And so many of the fans play
bluegrass themselves, so that's another way for people to connect.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I think we need that more than ever.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
In our current world when we're also online and glued
to our phones, and you know, people are writing comments
online and getting into fights, and then they meet up
in real life and.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Maybe they would actually get along.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
So yeah, everyone should pick up a banjo and go
to their local bluegrass jam.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
We'll be right back with more of the tape Can
a Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So was there any unexpected challenges with this new project
or breakthroughs while creating new material, any particular with certain
songs that were in these aha moments?
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, like, I think certain songs just really I can't
think of any like massive challenges. But we definitely went
back and forth a lot about like who is gonna
play on the record, Like what is the instrumentation? How
far removed are we gonna take it from the work
I'd done before. We brought in my partner, Catch Secor
(14:45):
to play a bunch of fiddle and banjo and mandlin
because we still wanted to have those stringed instruments on
the album. And then certain songs like I Remember the
Highway Knows That one took a long time for me
to write and I was just gonna write it from
this simple fingerpick to guitar part that I thought of
that I thought was cool, but it took forever for
(15:05):
me to figure out, like how do I put words
to this?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
And then when we got into the studio.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
That was one where like it was like a nice
song and kind of like just chugged along, but then
Jay was he came up with this whole other part
that you hear midway through where suddenly I'm switching to
flat picking and I'm taking this big solo on it.
So there were songs like that that just took, you know,
a couple months to kind of slowly develop and make
(15:33):
it into their final form that ended up on the album.
Another one was like everything Burns. I think we just
I was so on the fence about like the song itself.
I'm like, do we record it? Do we not record it?
And then when Jay came in one day, he was like,
I was up til four am, and I made this
whole instrumental section midway through, and I have ideas we totally.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Rewrote the chorus and this and that.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
So songs like that they really transformed and became pretty
different both lyrically and like just arrangement wise than they
were before. So it was really fun to spend a
couple of months last fall just every day going into
the studio and kind of developing these songs slowly.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Your guitar playing it's it's renowned for its precision, it's
tremendous emotion. How do you balance the technical skill with
this heartfelt expression.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, I think that's something that like, I find to
be a challenge because I don't want to like shoehorn fast.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Guitar likes into every single song.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
But at the same time, it's like such a big
part of what I do is I'm a guitar player,
and I want to be able to express myself on
the instrument as well as like through my lyrics and
my singing. So yeah, I think this was a record
where I felt like that was what we spent the
most time on. Was we had the songs, but then
(16:58):
we would spend so much time on the game titar
parts because we knew we wanted them to be Even
if I'm not taking like face melting solo with a
million notes in each song, we at least wanted them
to be interesting and kind of.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Catch your ear in a way.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So yeah, I think ultimately I always want to like
serve the song first and like play what is going
to make the song sound good and kind of fit
the emotion of the song. But I do try to,
you know, come up with parts that are a little
more kind of sophisticated than just you know, when I'm
writing a song, usually I'm just kind of strumming chords
(17:34):
and not really playing much on the guitar, and then
that's kind of the last part that comes like, Okay,
well what do I what am I going to.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Play on the guitar?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
So I'm not just kind of strumming strumming along, But
if you listen to like any of my first demos,
it's just I'm not even like holding a pick. Sometimes
I'm just kind of like the guitar is such an
afterthought when I first write the songs. Except on the
ones where I'm coming up with the guitar part first,
There's like a few where I'll come up with the
guitar part I really like and then write the song,
But usually it's kind of the other way around.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, how do you maintain creativity and motivation when you
face the pressures of touring and of an industry that
is so incredibly you know competitive.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, it's it's definitely like a it's a lot to
be touring so much and then you want to be
recording your best work when you're home, but it's hard
to like stay constant with the writing songs and going
into the studio and so rarely you have a very
(18:39):
long chunk of time at home, at least for me,
and I play like at least one hundred dates most years,
but that's not even including all the days that you're
traveling in between shows.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So yeah, it can be really tough. But for me,
like I.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Generally try to remember that, like I'm the only real
reason I'm doing this is to try to make people happy,
you know, bring like joy to people's lives. Like I
go out there and I love seeing the audience having
a good time. And I also try to kind of
with my music. I try to have a message too
of like for me, it's like really important to kind
(19:14):
of bring this message of like it's okay to be
who you are, be yourself because that's like a journey
that I've been on personally, and I write a lot
about it in my songs. So that's basically what keeps
me going, is like even if I'm tired, I'm at
least trying to do my best to brighten someone's day,
spread a little love throughout the world. And even if
(19:37):
I'm really tired, even if I'm I have a cold
or this or that, like, I'm just gonna get on
stage and do my best.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And yeah it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
It's like I don't think a lot of people essentially,
when you're starting out in like the roots music or
the blue grass or any world that's not like, you know,
main a mainstream genre. Most of us aren't getting into
this because we want to be famous or we want
to make the most money or sell the most records.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Like we genuinely love music.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And I would be playing music no matter what, even
if like I was teaching music or just working at
a venue or playing in other people's bands this or that.
I just kind of you know, I love playing music
and that's I'm gonna do that as long as I can.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
So. And you love finding interesting covers throughout your career.
You really you blow people away with your execution as
some of these covers. Over time, there's a cover I
want you to talk about on the new album.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yes, yeah, it's like I can't even escape it now
like I didn't after I made a cover record during
the pandemic, I think I can't. I think maybe recorded
ten tracks on that, so ten covers. I was like,
I'm done with covers. I'm not going to record any
more covers. And then on this record, one day, Jay
Joyce was like, I really want to cover that song.
I love it and I just heard it like on
(20:58):
I forget where i'd heard it, but it had really
hot my ear, and I was like, oh, I remember
that song. I loved that song, So it felt kind
of fortuitous that he then like the next day I'd
mentioned he wanted to do like a slow down, kind
of trippy version of it, so I.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Was like, yeah, let's do it, like, I'll learn it tonight.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
So I learned it that night and we came in
and recorded just in a couple hours, just me and
him and the catch played some banjo. A couple of
weeks later, we actually tracked the record for real, and
then when he sent me the whole thing, he had
put that one in the middle and I listened down.
I was like, hey, I actually like it works like
I'm down, Let's let's put it on the album and
(21:33):
It's been such a fun little surprise for people like
who both listen to the record and then when we
do it. We've been doing it live and I just
like watching people's faces because they don't know what song
it is at first, and then they're like wait what
and they try to sing along, but it's like pretty
different than the original version. So that's Charlie's Icona Pop
(21:54):
and Charlie x X.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
But I love it.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yes, Yeah, well, yeah, I love how you're expression of
kind of wonderment comes out when you're thinking about people going,
I know that song. Wait a minute, she's twisting it
up a little bit differently. Yeah, you're finding her way,
which is so so cool. Yeah, for someone who's been
such a risk taker and continues to be, I want
(22:18):
I want to close with this question. I know for you,
there's got to be some influential people who have been
risk takers who clearly influenced you and your risk taking.
Who are some of those people?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Ooh yeah, I mean I like so many of my
heroes kind of play all different genres and styles, like
people like Bailaflex you're in Nashville've gotten to play with him,
and he like I think I heard that he's one
Grammy's in the most different categories of anyone else, and
(22:54):
so someone like that, especially as I'm releasing this new record,
that is sort of a different stylistic jump for me. Like,
I really admire people like that who just kind of
follow their heart and experiment with different sounds whenever they want.
I did watch the Bob Dylan movie this spring, and
he is definitely like a risk taker as well that
I admire. I've been a big Bob Dylan fan as
(23:16):
long as I've been. He was kind of the first
person who I listened to his music and I was like,
maybe I could write a song.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
And he kind of inspired me to start songwriting.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I know. I mentioned Joni Mitchell earlier, and she's one
of my favorites as well, another person who like wasn't
afraid to mix up her sound and take risks. But yeah,
there's too many to count. I'm trying to think another
hero of mine, and like she doesn't really mix up
(23:46):
her sound as much as others as Gillian Welch here
in Nashville. I feel like she's kind of carved her
own thing that's so different from what anyone else is
doing and that's kind of brave in its own way,
is just sticking truly to who you are and crafting
your own So that's uniquely you. I got to see
her play at the Rhyman earlier this spring, and it
was like one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
It was so cool.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
But yeah, all right, there's one more person I want
to ask you about who I know must have had
some influence or does have an influence. It's Jerry Douglas.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yes, I love Jerry. He produced both Cricketry and City
of Gold with me. We co produced them together. It
was so much fun working with such a musical hero
like that. And he's just like been such a great
mentor to me as well, Like if I ever have
career questions or unsure about this or that. Like he's
(24:38):
done so many different things. He's led his own band,
he's been a band member of like Alison Krausen Union Station,
He's produced albums, He's played on so many different albums.
So he's kind of, you know, worn all these different
hats in the music industry. And so that's someone I
really look up to as well. And he always has
the best advice and it's just always such a joy
(24:59):
to get to play with.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Here to say, he's a bit of a savant, don't
you think.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Yeah, yeah, he just knows exactly what to play at
all the right times to make the song sound that
much better.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I dare say, Molly Tuttle, I consider you a savant
as well. Thank you, thank you for being on. Congrats
on so long, little miss Sunshine, and I'm so grateful
that you took the time to be on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Thank you God, thanks for having me. I'll see you
next time.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
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