UCSB Arts & Lectures Presents Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway
Grammy-Winning Bluegrass Band Set to Debut New Album in Santa Barbara
Incorporating traditional roots of musicianship, as well as harmonies with sounds inspired by everything from Western swing to Jefferson Airplane, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway have pioneered bluegrass for the 21st-century listener.
The band was endowed with two consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Bluegrass Album in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Tuttle is also the first woman to be named Guitar Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association, attesting to the outstanding pedigree of the band.
Released in 2023, City of Gold is the band’s second studio album and another tribute to the group’s exceptional unified sound. The new album features enduring fables about gold miners and fortune tellers, touching on emotive tales about love and loss.
A Northern California native, Tuttle revealed the true inspiration behind City of Gold as the place where she grew up. She cites a field trip to Coloma, California, as where she got her pivotal understanding of folk and introduction to bluegrass. Tuttle shares, “I’ll never forget the dusty hills and the grizzled old miner who showed us the gold nugget around his neck — just like gold fever, music has always captivated me and driven me to great lengths to explore its depths.”
Tuttle said that City of Gold “celebrates the music of my heart, the land where I grew up, and the stories I heard along the way.”
The Guardian (U.K.), wrote of Tuttle & Golden Highway, a critical favorite, “Renowned for her acrobatic skill with the guitar, effortlessly moving from crosspicking to flatpicking and clawhammer strums …she plays it with the ease of meeting an old friend.”
UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway on Friday, December 6, 8 p.m., at UCSB’s Campbell Hall. Tickets and additional information are available at artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.
