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Molly Tuttle

By Paul Greig

Molly Tuttle

Molly Tuttle (born 1993) is a vocalist, songwriter, banjo player, and guitarist, recording artist and teacher in the bluegrass tradition, noted for her Flatpicking, clawhammer, and crosspicking guitar prowess. She has cited Laurie Lewis, Kathy Kallick, and Hazel Dickens as role models.

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In 2017, Molly Tuttle was the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year award. In 2018 she won the award again, along with being named the Americana Music Association’s Instrumentalist of the Year.

Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tuttle began playing guitar at age 8, and at age 11 played onstage with her father Jack Tuttle, a bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and instructor. At age 15, she joined her family band The Tuttles with AJ Lee. Her siblings Sullivan (guitar) and Michael (mandolin), and mandolist AJ Lee is also in the band.

In 2006, at age 13, Tuttle recorded The Old Apple Tree with her dad, an album of duets. In 2011, the Tuttles self-released they’re Introducing the Tuttles album and the Endless Ocean album in 2013.

2012 was a breakout year for Tuttle. She:

  • was awarded merit scholarships to the Berklee College of Music for music and composition
  • received the Foundation for Bluegrass Music’s first Hazel Dickens Memorial Scholarship
  • won the Chris Austin Songwriting Competition at the Merlefest Music Festival
  • was named Best Female Vocalist and Best Guitar Player by the Northern California Bluegrass Society
  • appeared with her dad on A Prairie Home Companion

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