{"id":141751,"date":"2023-09-24T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=141751"},"modified":"2023-09-21T12:30:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T19:30:22","slug":"review-molly-tuttle-city-of-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/review-molly-tuttle-city-of-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Molly Tuttle Leans into Her Flatpicking Roots on the Brilliant \u2018City of Gold\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s been a steady upward climb for 30-year-old acoustic guitar phenom Molly Tuttle<\/a>. The accolades came early: Back in 2017, Tuttle won the International Bluegrass Association\u2019s Guitar Player of the Year Award (amazingly, the first woman to do so). She repeated as winner the following year. Over time she\u2019s collaborated with many of the finest players in the bluegrass world, established herself as a formidable songwriter and emotive singer, and put out a series of excellent studio recordings.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Molly<\/a>
Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, <\/em>City of Gold <\/a>(Nonesuch Records)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was Tuttle\u2019s 2022 release Crooked Tree<\/a><\/em>\u2014her first with her bluegrass group, Golden Highway, along with such notable guests as Billy Strings, Margo Price, and Gillian Welch\u2014that launched her career into the bluegrass stratosphere. That record won the Best Bluegrass Album category at the 65th annual Grammy Awards in February 2023, and Tuttle was also among the ten nominees for Best New Artist\u2014the only acoustic\/country performer. It was also named Album of the Year at the 2023 International Folk Music Awards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway\u2019s second Nonesuch album, City of Gold<\/a><\/em>, was released at the end of July 2023, and it may very well eclipse the unexpected success of its predecessor. It certainly deserves to: In my view it\u2019s a stronger record in every way. The album, with producer Jerry Douglas once again at the helm along with Tuttle, was recorded in Nashville after Tuttle and Golden Highway had a year of touring together under their belts, so it really feels like more of a group effort than Crooked Tree<\/em>. The mysterious\u2014and essential\u2014telepathy that is a characteristic of the finest bluegrass bands is very much on display throughout City of Gold<\/em>, as Tuttle, fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, mandolin master Dominick Leslie, bassist Shelby Means, and banjo ace Kyle Tuttle (no relation) mesh beautifully, playing together as a flawless unit, singing perfect harmonies, and effortlessly passing the baton around for short, virtuosic solo bursts. Douglas adds his always-welcome dobro touch to three of the tunes, Dave Matthews sounds fantastic on a vocal duet with Tuttle (\u201cYosemite\u201d), and Jordan Perlson plays drums on \u201cNext Rodeo,\u201d an ode to \u201ctearing up the road with a five-piece band.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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