#kyle tuttle

Song Review: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “She’ll Change” (Live, July 27, 2024)

Whether self-referential, advice for a besotted pal or both, “She’ll Change” finds Molly Tuttle depicting a luminous - and potentially dangerous - character in high-test song.

She can paint the sun at midnight/roll out the moon at the break of day/one woman, many wonders/one road, many ways/just when you think you know her, she’ll change, Tuttle & Golden Highway sung July 27 when performing the number in Maine.

The resulting pro-shot video finds MTGH - guitarist Tuttle, fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, bassist Shelby Means, mandolinist Dominick Leslie and not-related banjo picker Kyle Tuttle - reminding listeners Billy Strings isn’t the only one preserving bluegrass’ future with original songs and reverence for old-time musical traditions.

And if there’s any justice in the world, this band, too, will soon be an arena act. Displays such as this at the Ossipee Valley Music Festival are part of the reason why.

Grade card: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “She’ll Change” (Live - 7/27/24) - A-

Grammy–winning singer, songwriter, and musician Molly Tuttle and her band, Golden Highway, will release their new album, City of Gold, July 21, on Nonesuch. You can pre-order and hear the track “El Dorado” now here.

Song Review: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “Queen of Hearts” (Live, July 27, 2024)

Molly Tuttle has the Juice - Newton that is.

Tuttle & Golden Highway are one of those acts that can take a lame-ass song like “Queen of Hearts” and make it kick ass.

And that’s just what they did July 27 at Maine’s Ossipee Valley Music Festival. As captured on video and recently released, it features strong harmonies between Tuttle, bassist Shelby Means and banjo picker Kyle Tuttle and solos from fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and mandolinist Dominick Leslie, which is to say MTGH took that sad song, rolled it in bluegrass and made it better.

Much better.

And, this is the kicker, they did so without a hint of irony.

Grade card: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “Queen of Hearts” (Live - 7/27/24) - B+

Song Review: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway with Maya DeVitry and Joel Timmons - “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” (Live, July 27, 2024)

Molly Tuttle ceded partial lead-vocal duties to her Golden Highway bandmates Kyle Tuttle, Dominick Leslie and Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and Shelby Means alongside guests Maya DeVitry and Joel Timmons when the expanded band performed “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” at the 2024 Ossipee Valley Music Festival.

Captured on video July 27 in Maine, the performance reveals Tuttle is the only true lead singer in the group. Fortunately, however, the joy that’s evident as the musicians, gathered around a single mic, decide on the fly who is going to sing and/or play a solo transcends the flat vocal deliveries of Tuttle’s collaborators.

And when the full band and audience sing Bob Dylan’s infectious chorus in unison after Tuttle herself delivers the final verse, the foregoing vocal sins are (almost) forgotten.

This one’s about the atmosphere.

Grade card: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway with Maya DeVitry and Joel Timmons - “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” (Live - 7/27/24) - B

Song Review: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “San Joaquin” (Live in Studio)

Making their bluegrass instruments mimic a train, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway are heading down the line to sell some weed in “San Joaquin.”

A Tuttle/Ketch Secor co-write, the high-test track follows “El Dorado” and “Next Rodeo” from City of Gold, out July 21.

The track burns down the track in three minutes, leaving just enough time for solos from Tuttle’s axe, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes’ fiddle, Dominick Leslie’s mandolin, Kyle Tuttle’s banjo and Shelby Means’ upright bass as Tuttle sings the smuggler’s story:

Riding on the San Joaquin/bringing in some Humboldt green … /when I get to Richmond I’ll be gold/soon as this suitcase is sold/’til then I’m rolling down the line/just looking for the next high time/riding on the San Joaquin

“San Joaquin” is not a lyrical masterpiece. But the music is mighty.

Grade card: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “San Joaquin” (Live in Studio) - B

Song Review(s): Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “El Dorado” and “San Joachin” (“Austin City Limits”)

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway have the chops. They’ve got the vocal harmonies. But the songs aren’t quite there yet.

Guitarist Tuttle and her band - fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, mandolinist Dominick Leslie, banjoist Kyle Tuttle and bassist Shelby Means - recently split an episode of “Austin City Limits” with Margo Price (it’s now streaming) and two tracks from that performance were released independently.

Songs about the Gold Rush and a green rush, respectively, “El Dorado” and “San Joachin” - the latter with band intros - both appear on 2023’s City of Gold. And though Tuttle & Highway add some heft to the songs when rendered live, it’s material, and material only, that is holding them back.

Molly Tuttle and Leslie are virtuosos and the rest of the band are also stellar. And, man, can they harmonize. When the songs come - and they almost certainly will - this band will be unstoppable.

Grade card: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “El Dorado” and “San Joachin” (“Austin City Limits”) - C/C+

Song Review: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “El Dorado” (Live)

With City of Gold moved back a few weeks - it’s now set for a July 21 release - Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway put out a live-in-studio version of the nominal title track, “El Dorado.”

This was a wise move as Tuttle, fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, mandolinist Dominick Leslie, banjoist Kyle Tuttle and bassist Shelby Means sparkle brightest when left to their own devices.

As on the previously released album track, the vocals and ensemble and solo playing are flawless. But this “El Dorado” is just a bit more powerful owing to its just-in-time delivery.

Grade card: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - “El Dorado” (Live) - B+

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Release Live Version of “Crooked Tree” to Mark End of Alopecia Awareness Month

That Molly Tuttle doffed her wig is the least-remarkable thing about a freshly released live version of “Crooked Tree.”

It’s the performance that’s remarkable, silly.

Recorded during Golden Highway’s March 28 gig at Nashville’s Station Inn, the video was issued to mark the last day of Alopecia Awareness Month.

“I wrote this song with Melody Walker about embracing the things that make us unique and different,” Tuttle said in a statement. “Losing my hair at age 3 taught me over time that it’s OK to be a crooked tree.”

The track finds guitarist Tuttle trading solos with Dobro master Jerry Douglas as she and her youthful band - which also includes fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, mandolinist Dominick Leslie, banjoist Kyle Tuttle and bassist Shelby Means - prove bluegrass’ future is secure as they sing about the beauty in being true to oneself.

Who am I to wish I wasn’t just the way I am, Tuttle sings.

And it’s obvious she means it.