Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway @ Cervantes ~ So Good 21Oct23

I headed up to Denver's Cervantes Masterpiece Theater for the Molly Tuttle concert. Sure I've seen her many times now but she never disappoints. She did 100 minutes of great bluegrass stuff with her band Golden Highway. Most of the tunes were from her latest album City of Gold, but she does keen covers and did so tonight with Dire Wolf and White Rabbit. She always offers some "Alice In Wonderland" references and sings songs about weed like "San Joquin" (bringin' in that Humbolt green) or "Down Home Dispensary." The sound was good at Cervantes and I arrived in line early enough to score a good listening spot right in front of the sound man. I was thankful the mix was good as I had forgotten ear plugs. I got a bit of the lay from a guy in line who is local and mainly sees stuff at Cervantes. Molly Tuttle's recent two albums are bluegrass and the band she's assembled is astounding and chock full of stars. Bronwyn Keith-Hines is a multi-year fiddle player of the year; Kyle Tuttle, Molly's cousin, is a killer banjo player and party-vibe guy with plenty of his own shows; Shelby Means is a mean bassist but contributes gorgeous backing vocals in Golden Highway as well; Dominick Leslie is a fine mandolin player from right in Colorado (his parents were at the show). Molly Tuttle herself is incomparable... she's a flatpicking wizzard regularly winning guitarist of the year but her vocals are just as good, and she's complimenting her leads with killer songwriting.

This show was outstanding; Denver was the last she'll play in the west on this City of Gold tour and I've never seen her stronger and with more power in her vocals or playing. It's fun to see her face flip into hyper-focus on some of the more complex picking parts she conceives... and then hop back to the mic to belt some more clever lines. Molly Tuttle is a national treasure and as a bandleader of outsized musicians named Golden Highway, she's crushing it ~ these shows and their albums and videos should not be missed. That is of course unless you must have drums, 'cause this stuff doesn't need percussion.

She did display her super-power, her alopecia, for several songs at the end of the show. One can only imagine being bald and hairless as kid ~ it undoubtedly helped shape the super-skills she now wields for us on stages and in studios around the world. Her song-writing and playing has always been stellar... I like the occasion when she sings stuff from back-catalog. I couldn't do the recording justice so I'll leave that for you to listen to the pro sets and house sounds.

Christina Vane, also now a Nashville singer-songwriter by transplant, was the excellent opener. She's obviously friends with Golden Highway band members and her set included some folks joining her for some songs, as well as excellent, original solo songs with sharp playing on a resonator guitar and solid vocals.