Nashville, TN -- June 15, 2017 -- Award-winning songwriter and virtuoso instrumentalist Molly Tuttle turns a new corner with Rise, her debut as a solo artist, which hit #2 on Billboard's Bluegrass Albums chart this week. Produced by Kai Welch, the seven-song EP was independently released on June 2nd, and celebrated with a sold-out release show at Nashville's Station Inn on June 3rd.
Already
a familiar face in bluegrass circles and folk festivals, where she's
been performing since the age of eleven, Tuttle widens her reach with Rise.
"I wanted to push outside the box," she says of the EP, whose songs mix
the fiery fretwork of her acoustic guitar with banjo, fiddle, drums,
pump organ, electric guitar, and other flourishes. "It was a good step
to finding my own sound, and not staying tied to the traditional
bluegrass sound. I grew up playing bluegrass and I still love it, but
I'm influenced by other styles of music, too. I really wanted to create
something original."
Written during a period of intense change that found Tuttle moving from California to Boston to Nashville, Rise
covers a wide swath of ground, showing the full range of its maker's
abilities. She writes every song here, singing them in a voice that's
both pure and pointed. On an album that also features appearances by
several all-stars of the roots music world - including Kathy Kallick, Darrell Scott, The Milk Carton Kids, and Sarah Jarosz's longtime cellist, Nathaniel Smith - it's the 24 year-old Tuttle who shines the brightest.
"I've
always listened to a lot of songwriters who don't feel the need to
stick to any one genre," she explains. "Hazel Dickens was one of my
first influences. She was part of the bluegrass family, but her songs
stood out and just sounded like her. Growing up in the Bay Area, Laurie
Lewis was another inspiration. She's a great songwriter and a fantastic
instrumentalist. Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings were huge influence,
and I listened to them obsessively when I was starting to write songs."
Tuttle also lists Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and The Smiths as additional
influences, pointing to a record collection that's just as diverse as
her own music.
With Rise,
Molly Tuttle cements her place in the roots-music community. Recorded
in engineer Erick Jaskowiack's studio outside of Nashville, the record
is a tribute not only to her instrumental, vocal and songwriting chops,
but her storytelling ability, too. Tuttle has never defined her
ambitions so clearly, and with Rise, she's moving upward.
"I took the title from a line in Walden
from Thoreau, where he compares the human spirit to water," she says of
the EP. "He writes, 'The life in us is like the water in the river. It
may rise this year higher than man has ever known it.' That feels really
relevant to me. It describes how I'm feeling with my music, and where
I'm at with creating my own sound, and where we're at in the world right
now. I knew it needed to be the title of the record."
This summer, Tuttle will hit the road in support of Rise with
stops at key festivals including Middlebury Festival On The Green, Grey
Fox, Red Wing Roots, Sugar Maple Festival, Grand Targhee, Mountain
Song, and more.
For more information, please visit https://www.mollytuttlemusic.
Molly on the cover of Acoustic Guitar
Molly x American Songwriter
Molly x Nashville's News Channel 5
Molly x NPR
Molly x Bluegrass Situation
On tour:
July 12 - Middlebury Festival On The Green - Middlebury, VTJuly 14 - Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival - Oak Hill, NY
July 16 - Red Wing Roots Music Festival - Mount Solon, VA
Aug. 5 - Sugar Maple Festival - Madison, WI
Aug. 12 - Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival - Alta, WY
Aug. 16 - West Whately Chapel - West Whately, MA
Aug. 18 - Rockwood Music Hall - New York, NY
Aug. 19 - Long Island Bluegrass Festival - Copiague, NY
Sept. 7 - Theatre On The Green - Cheraw, SC
Sept. 8 - Motorco Music Hall - Durham, NC
Sept. 9 - Mountain Song Festival - Brevard, NC
Sept. 22 - Watermelon Park Festival - Berryville, VA
Sept. 24 - Amesbury Music Festival - Amesbury, MA
Oct. 19 - Wimberley, TX - Blue Rock Studios
Oct. 21 - Blooming Bluegrass Festival - Farmers Branch, TX
Nov. 3 - Stoughton Opera House - Stoughton, WI
Nov. 16 - Fingerlakes Live - Geneva, NY
Nov. 17 - Hudson Valley Bluegrass Assoc. - Poughkeepsie, NY
Nov. 18 - Fire In The Kitchen Concert Series - Madison, CT
