CONCERT REVIEW: Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway embark on second U.S. Tour

It was a Thursday night and the forecast called for rain. I wasn’t sure I would be able to make the trip up to New Hampshire to see a relatively new group that had formed for the new album Crooked Tree set to release that very midnight. The tickets were $30 for the album release party, so I would have been a fool not to attend. I freed up my schedule, packed a few snacks, and rode up expecting to see the virtuoso Molly Tuttle on her Custom Thompson. The night turned out much different from what I was expecting.

On the lineup there listed a new and upcoming Canadian singer/songwriter who had just moved to Nashville, Bella White. On her website she is described as an artist who balances her old-soul musicality with a lyrical perspective that’s entirely of-the-moment, embracing an intense self-awareness as she documents her coming-of-age in real-time. I had never heard of her, but I did know the concert was set to go for three hours long. If my hunch was correct there would be an opening act, so I knew this would be something different. Opening night would take place at the 3S Art Space in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a non profit which opened to the public in March 2015. A small venue dedicated to presenting and supporting bold, emerging art and entertainment and “cultivating an informal space for the exchange of ideas and creativity.” This would be my first time attending and had no idea what to expect.

I made sure to arrive very early so I could get a good seat and catch the opening act. Driving into Portsmouth there was no traffic at all. It was as if everyone had gone home for the night. There was absolutely no sign of any event taking place, and that’s how I knew this was about to be something really intimate and special. When I arrived there were almost no cars around the venue. It was darkly lit, and there were more people in eating in the restaurant than there were walking into the stage area. There was no line at all and I walk right in after showing my COVID pass. I was asked if I would be buying drinks tonight, and I politely told them “no” and made my way into what appeared at that moment to be an almost empty room.

When I arrived 30 minutes before show time, you really wouldn’t have guessed a concert was about to start. I thought to myself, where are all the people? Don’t they know Molly Tuttle is coming to town? The size of the room could not have fit more than 60 people. To make this evident, Molly could easily sellout venues and festivals four times the size of this. They have made an emphasis on this tour to make stops in small clubs and bars, and backwoods barns. Completely ignoring the big concert halls and stadiums. Almost staying true to the roots of bluegrass, where you are so close you can smell the wood from the instruments and feel the vibrations like a wind of air as they wail on their instruments in front of your face. I soon realized there would not be a bad seat in the house. It was there I met a lady by the name of Bonnie who was there for the same reason. She had never heard of the opening act, had never seen Molly Tuttle. We both had no idea what to expect. I soon realized we were about to have a good time, so I turned right around back to the entrance way, and requested I change my bracelet to a red band to indicate I was old enough to buy alcohol. I walked over to the bar and bought a glass of IPA, and went back to my spot in front.

Out of the corner of my eyes walked over to the stage a woman in black leather high heel boots, psychedelic print paint suit, with glowing red hair. There was no applause. It was if the room had not noticed the show had already started. The young lady stepped up to the microphone and introduced herself to an extremely talkative room as sort of an ice breaker. In a soft voice she says “Hello my name is Bella White” and introduced herself by asking “What day is it??” as the room broke out in laughter. A selection of her songs she chose to sing had not yet been released, and parts of her setlist were pulled from her latest album Just Like Leaving. As soon as she started to sing the entire room was captivated towards her direction. All conversations stopped and everyone began to listen. The best way I can describe what you were hearing in that room of that night, was a vocal power that hit you. Bella had a very unique vibrato that very few musicians have, almost something like an Emmylou Harris or Linda Ronstadt with a Nasvhille twang.

She told funny stories, such as the time she was left home alone to watch her cat when her mother went away to celebrate Mother’s Day without her. It was there she noticed a Robin in her nest taking care of her babies. It was a song about birds that was really about moms, and called Rhododendron. She described the room as “very attentive and quiet”, to which she proclaimed “That’s very encouraging, and just a bit scary”. She swore that she was happy “most of the time”, even though most of her songs are about depressing topics. She called herself a self professed “crybaby” and by the end of her set she had the entire room both mesmerized and crying in laughter. It’s actually incredibly intimidating to get up on a stage with just your guitar and a microphone. You really expose yourself and there is no hiding your flaws, so you really have to be a natural at what you do. She was someone I never expected to see on that night, but she became one of many highlights for me. She brought an entire energy and mood to the stage to start us off. Someone who was a free spirit and taking names at 21 years old, who also hates Guy Clark, but don’t tell bluegrass and folk fans that.

“I’m a big crybaby, and most of my songs are sad. I’m happy 90% of the time, but it’s funny that people think I’m a sad person just listening to my music.” — Bella White

By the end of her set the room had now begun to fill up, all wanting to hearing the glimpse of the opening act. Towards the end of her set as the room is left speechless, she says “now the moment you’ve all be waiting for. Molly Tuttle will be out shorty”. She packs up her Epiphone guitar and walks backstage. Now we are left with some time to consume what we had just witnessed. If this was just the opening act, what would be coming next? One by one as the night progressed, a stage hand began setting up the instruments with help from the band. Out first walks Shelby Means in fray leather, an upright bass virtuoso born and raised in Wyoming. Her work in Americana, country, folk and acoustic bluegrass music earned her a Grammy nomination, garnered her performances at the Grand Ole Opry, on NPR, and at festivals such as Bonnaroo, Telluride, and MerleFest. On that night though I had no idea who these people were. It was all new to me. I decided to take a photo just as the blue lights from the stage were reflecting off a Chadwick Folding bass. That is a real fine touring instruments right there.

I knew showtime was drawing near when the curtains behind the stage started to move. All of a sudden the lights dimmed, and out popped the entire crew. Dominick Leslie carrying with him a $20,000 custom made Gilchrist mandolin. Bluegrass violinist virtuoso Bronwyn Keith-Hynes carrying her new fine German violin. Out next pops Kyle Tuttle (who just happens to share the same last name out of complete coincidence), on a Gibson banjo with a custom neck. Last but not least Molly gracefully steps onto the stage with her own custom built Pre-War acoustic, and the mood instantly becomes laid back and fun. She says “I’m so glad you got to meet Bella, and proclaims “She has been a fashion inspiration. She let me borrow her pleather pants, and now I showed up and bought both of those things after burrowing hers on our last tour.” At that moment, someone in the audience yells out “Play Backyard!” Backyard is one of the new songs off their new debut album Crooked Tree, which at the time had not yet been released. Molly replies “I’ve never had that request before.”, and the entire place breaks out in laughter. She goes onto describe New England…

“You’ll have a billboard for a gun store, and next one’s saying that you’re going to go to hell, and then there’s like a porn store billboard, and here it’s just trees and forests. It’s real refreshing. — Molly Tuttle (describing New England)

With serious eyes she looks at the rest of her bandmates and says “ready?”, and like a match the rocket takes off and there is no stopping them now. Within in instant I felt a physical force of music being pressed against my body. The thumping bass, the wailing violin, and Molly’s guitar all in synchronous. They began with an old time extended jam called Wheel Hoss. I happened to capture on video, and my expectations at that point were completely blown away. What I was witnessed was a stage full of virtuosos.

Some of the musicians on stage were graduates of Boston’s Berklee School Of Music. In particular Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, who got her start in the Boston bluegrass scene before moving to Nashville. It was really cool to witness a local legend who had blossomed into a full fledged music career. The show would have been noticeably absent without her fiddling. Boston and the Northeast has a small but really devoted bluegrass scene. With hotspots such as the Cantab Lounge on Washington Ave in Cambridge, a 45 year old bar which had just been recently saved from closing during the pandemic. The younger college crowd in particular, has been keeping this genre alive. It’s making a huge comeback. I think it’s sort of a response to the electronic music you hear on the radio. It’s nice to take a break from that and hear real acoustic instruments again.

“My expectations at that point were completely blown away. What I was witnessed was a stage full of virtuosos.”

The setlist included a mixture of old songs, but also new songs no one had ever heard before. The show opened with the powerful and heavy “before you know it” She’ll Change. The best was yet to come. Castilleja was an absolute highlight of the show for me. It’s unfortunate that it’s not one of the songs I captured on video. What you hear on the studio version is nowhere near what you get live. Just when you thought the song was going to end, the entire band breaks into an extended jam between Kyle and Bronwyn, dueling banjo and violin, with a mixture of Spanish rhythm. I noticed for the entire time my mouth refused to close. It left me speechless. Molly wrote, “I grew up near an all girls school named Castilleja and later found out that the word is the name of a flower that grows in the desert.”. Halfway into the show the pace is slowed down for a mellow tune. Molly looked to the audience and asked… “Have any of you ever been to a bluegrass festival”. Of course I raised my hand because I didn’t want to be the outcast in the group. “Grass Valley is a real special tune.” Molly said. “It’s a song I wrote about my Dad, the first time I ever went to a music festival, in Grass Valley California. This one hold a very special place in my heart”. Then we heard for the first time Crooked Tree, the title song where the idea came that when forests are cut down, they leave the crooked trees. Molly proclaimed “this is for all the crooked trees in the audience”.

The show went for a whopping three hours with no breaks or intermission. The only thing giving them the energy was the pure love and passion of performing, and maybe a few beers. You could not help but smile at how much they were enjoying themselves, and the audience fed that back. You could feel the energy in the small room on that night, and it only pushed them to play louder and faster. Shelby Means had her debut singing performance of Side Saddle. For a Neil Young cover of Helpless, they invited back Molly White to the stage, a duet that was sure to pull you by the heartstrings. Before you knew it we had completely lost track of time. It was past 11 o clock and the music was still going. It was now time for the encore. The entire place was rowdy as ever, screaming and banging to hear them back on the stage. I don’t think the band could have made it out alive without performing another song. I noticed something peculiar at that moment. The stage crew were unhooking the PA system. I could have sworn the show was over and they were packing up. It couldn’t be though because the lights were still dimmed.

It was at that moment they plugged in one single microphone, and one by one the members started walking back onto the stage completely unplugged. This had now turned into a complete acoustic set, in the tradition of bluegrass. The big closer was Backyard, and the dude in the audience finally got his wish. They all joined and danced around one microphone, as the sound was noticeably quieter but more intimate and exposed. You could really hear the natural instruments fill up the room, as Kyle broke out in laughter starring directly at my camera. It was just a really fun closer. Just like that, the final note had been sung. The band closed out in a jam instrumental, to the crowd cheering. I looked over at my new friend Bonnie, both in complete disbelief at what we just saw. She remarked to me “Boy was it worth coming!” It was standing room only, and we had stood the entire time on concrete floors for a whopping 3 1/2 hours. It was worth the pain.

As crowds of people began to shuffle out, I noticed a woman go up to another woman giving each other a giant hug. Then it dawned on me who it was. That was Bella White who stepped out into the audience after the show, hugging her fans. One of her fans was in tears and thanked her for her performance. I walked over to the table where they were selling albums and t-shirts. I had no cash in my wallet or I would have bought the entire table. We were given exclusive “one hour” early access to her album it was joked. The chance to listen to vinyl and CDs before the stroke of midnight.

The room that night was filled with audience as old as 70 and as young as early 20s (like myself). Whether you were a bluegrass enthusiast or just a casual fan, there was something there for everyone. This was my first experience around the genre, and first time getting the chance to see Molly in concert. What better introduction than with a new band. We were all there for the love of one thing, both captivated and inspired by the art of performance and music. To share that among peers was a reminder of what we had missed during the pandemic. That’s what made the night so special. Wouldn’t you know, the weatherman got it wrong and there was no rain. It seemed like the perfect night.

A few days after the event I started getting a sore throat, and as fait would have it, I tested positive for COVID. It was gladly worth it, and I would do it over again in a heartbeat. To be fair to the venue, we were all required to show proof of vaccination. Following this show they made trips to the Bull Run in Shirley, Massachusetts two days later.

“Molly and the band absolutely tore the house down. The energy and musicianship put out by Molly and Golden Highway has to be seen to be believed. Anyone who watched the Grammys missed the REAL show. Can’t get Castilleja out of my head.” — Evan Smith (4/3 Bull Run Attendee)

This tour is something you don’t want to miss. The chance to see them in a small and intimate setting. They are making their rounds across New England right now, and will be making their way to the Deep South by this Summer. The tour official ends on June 17th before they switch to festivals. If you’d like to watch the concert recording made, you can search out the YouTube channel Cousin Benny, to see 18 minutes worth of footage.