The July Cover Story: Molly Tuttle

In true Molly Tuttle style, it was wig-off and full tilt as she played to an appreciative crowd at the iconic music venue Tipitina’s in New Orleans. The show in early May was a stop along her ambitious tour that will stretch into the late fall, followed by a Cayamo cruise out of Miami February 26-March 5, 2027. With a new band and a GRAMMY-nominated album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine, Molly is taking her dynamic roots music blend of bluegrass, Americana, pop, and rock to venues across the country and abroad, and her fans are showing up in a big way. 

The opening act for the show was Maggie Rose, a powerhouse performer in her own right. The Grand Ole Opry regular (over 100 appearances) opened strong in New Orleans, singing a mixture of country covers as well as many of her well-written originals, most inspired by the birth of her son. Joining Maggie Rose on stage was a special guest,16-year-old keyboard phenom River Eckert, who was born and reared in New Orleans. 

With the crowd appropriately warmed up, Molly Tuttle took the stage with her new band. Golden Highway, her band for the 2022 album Crooked Tree, and their follow-up album, City of Gold, dissolved in May 2025, with many of the band members pursuing solo careers. Molly assembled a new all-girl band soon after. 

Tipitina’s, located on the corner of Napoleon and Tchoupitoulas Streets in New Orleans, has been a popular music venue since the early 1970s. Nothing fancy, but the venue has a kind of broken-in feel that comes with age and plenty of great music over the years. There are no seats – audiences stand on the floor in front of the stage, and with that comes plenty of dancing. The huge tour buses pulling trailers parked out front were the tip-off that this was going to be a big show. And it was. Molly embraced the Big Easy and performed as if she were playing to a huge stadium crowd. New Orleans turned out, and they loved her. 

One after another, Molly sang songs from So Long Little Miss Sunshine. From the fast and frenetic “Everything Burns,” with its masterful picking and haunting violin, to the mesmerizing and macabre lyrics of “I Love It,” she sang her way through the album. The single, “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark,” was particularly well-received. (If you haven’t seen the video, now’s your chance.) “Golden State of Mind” is an ode to California, where Molly was born and reared. 

The album cover features nine photos of Molly, eight in which she is wearing different wigs. The center photo is a more natural photo without a wig. She was diagnosed with alopecia areata when she was three years old, and the condition quickly progressed to alopecia universalis. It’s almost like Molly has a different alter-ego for each song on the album, and the wigs help define the personalities. The wigs range from a punk-style black wig to a Dolly Parton-esqe blonde wig to a red-headed femme fatale. Molly signed copies of the album after the show along with other merch for sale.

Throughout the show, Molly’s guitar skills shone. From her incredible flatpicking to clawhammer playing to cross-picking, she showed up and showed out. There is a reason Molly was the first woman to win the IBMA’s Guitar Player of the Year award in 2017, and again in 2018. She was named the Instrumentalist of the Year by the Americana Music Association the same year. Crooked Tree was awarded a GRAMMY for the Best Bluegrass Album in 2023, and Molly was nominated for the Best New Artist award. The album also garnered the 2023 IBMA award for both Album of the Year and Song of the Year, and Molly was awarded the Female Vocalist of the Year.

Molly had a solid musical start. Her father, Jack Tuttle, was a multi-instrumentalist and music instructor. Growing up in Palo Alto, California, Molly started playing guitar at age eight, performed on stage at age 11, and recorded her first record with her father when she was 13. She was awarded the first Hazel Dickens Memorial Scholarship by the Foundation for Bluegrass Music. 

Molly got engaged to Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show in December. The two have written songs together and occasionally perform together as well. 

Tuttle’s summer and fall tour will take her to many large venues and events, she still fits in more intimate settings where her fans can be close enough to express their admiration for the talented artist. Such was the case in New Orleans in May, and for those who were there, it is a performance they’ll remember for a long time to come. I know I will. 

https://www.mollytuttlemusic.com/

https://tipitinas.com/