Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway ~ Crooked Tree Album Review 01Apr22

This whole track wreck was awful. Twangin' and strummin' all over the spectrum. MT returned to greengrass with a lame assemblage of incompetents and leads them with modest writing and stilted lead vocals and dull lead guitar. Uh... April Fools.

I was fortunate to catch Molly Tuttle and her new bluegrass band recently live at Fox Theater and was blown away at the new material from the just dropped Crooked Tree album. She's leaning heavy back into bluegrass for this release and it is all way good. The record is often better than concert live simply because the studio tracks include a who's who of collaborators in her sphere. She co-produced this album with Jerry Douglas and wrote or co-wrote all of it. So good. The colaborators weren't strictly needed because of her own mad skills, and those of Golden Highway, but I sure bet they wanted these collaborations - and it's evident. I don't think Crooked Tree is better than Rise (1st EP) or When You're Ready  (1st LP) but it is quite different, very good, and just goes to demonstrate MT's wicked range. Click through the cover for the whole album on YouTube.

Here's a play-by-play...

1. She’ll Change - Rousing rapid picking from across the band. I think this is about herself.
   
2. Flatland Girl feat. Margo Price - Price on the fiddle adds fire. Concerns selling the family farm that shaped a girl in youth.
   
3. Dooley’s Farm feat. Billy Strings - Always stellar picking with Strings & Tuttle together. Moonshine baby.
   
4. Big Backyard feat. Old Crow Medicine Show - Upbeat multi-instrumental; come together under one sky.
   
5. Crooked Tree - Great title track; introspection and direction for all who don't fit in.
   
6. Castilleja - Indian paintbrush flower; homage to California IMO.
   
7. The River Knows - My fav of this album is super thought-filled, especially for bluegrass.
   
8. Over the Line feat. Sierra Hull - Always a tasty mandolin add.
   
9. Nashville Mess Around - Hoedown swing.
   
10. San Francisco Blues feat. Dan Tyminski - Awesome melodies.
    
11. Goodbye Girl - Classic bluegrass.
    
12. Side Saddle feat. Gillian Welch - Singing with your vocal idol is cool.
    
13. Grass Valley - Love the imagery; again thought-filled retrospective on being a kid in bluegrass.