Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway

The Grammy-nominated City of Gold follows Tuttle’s acclaimed 2022record, Crooked Tree, which won Best Bluegrass Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards and led NPR Music to call her “a female flat picker extraordinaire with agility, speed, and elegance who distinctively brings American roots music into the spotlight” adding that the album “marries the improvisatory solos of traditional bluegrass with singer-songwriter sophistication.”

Produced by Tuttle and Jerry Douglas and recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios, City of Gold was inspired by Tuttle’s constant touring with Golden Highway these past few years, during which they have grown together as musicians and performers, cohering as a band. Reflecting on the project, Tuttle shares, “When I was a kid, we took a field trip to Caloma, CA, to learn about the gold rush. I’ll never forget the dusty hills and the grizzled old miner who showed us the nugget around his neck. Just like gold fever, music has always captivated me, captured my heart, and driven me to great lengths to explore its depths. On my new album I dug deep as a songwriter (with Ketch Secor) and co-producer (with Jerry Douglas) and surfaced with a record that celebrates the music of my heart, my life, the land where I grew up, and the stories I heard along the way. I made this record with my band Golden Highway after playing more than 100 shows across the country last year. On the road and in the studio, we are inspired by artists such as John Hartford, Gillian Welch, and Peter Rowan, to name a few, whose records are like family albums to us. Just like them, on this album we chart some new territory along with some old familiar ground. The songs span from breakdowns to ballads, fairytales and fiddle tunes, from Yosemite up to the Gold Country and out beyond the mountains. That visit to Coloma, site of California’s first gold strike, is where I first heard about El Dorado, the city of gold. Playing music can take you to a place that is just as precious.”

Raised in Northern California, Tuttle moved to Nashville in 2015. In the years since, she’s been nominated for Best New Artist at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, won Album of the Year at the 2023 International Folk Music Awards, Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2022 International Bluegrass Music Awards, Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2018 Americana Music Awards, and Guitar Player of the Year at the IBMAs in both2017 and 2018, the first woman to receive the honor. Tuttle has performed around the world, including shows with Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Hiss Golden Messenger, Jason Isbell, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Dwight Yoakam as well as at several major festivals including Newport Folk Festival and Pilgrimage.