Molly Tuttle

A virtuosic, award-winning guitarist with a gift for insightful songwriting, Molly Tuttle evolves her signature sound with boundary-breaking songs on her compelling debut album, When You’re Ready. Already crowned Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2018 Americana Music Awards on the strength of her EP, Tuttle has broken boundaries and earned the respect of her peers, winning fans for her flatpicking guitar technique and confessional songwriting. Graced with a clear, true voice and a keen melodic sense, the 25-year-old seems poised for a long and exciting career. When You’re Ready, produced by Ryan Hewitt (the Avett Brothers, the Lumineers) showcases Tuttle’s range and versatility, proving that she is more than simply an Americana artist.

Since moving to Nashville in 2015, the native Californian has been welcomed into folk, bluegrass, Americana, and traditional country communities—even as When You’re Ready stretches the boundaries of those genres. Over the past year, Tuttle has continued to accumulate accolades, winning Folk Alliance International’s honor for Song of the Year for “You Didn’t Call My Name” and taking home her second trophy for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year (the first woman in the history of the IBMA to win that honor).

Tuttle grew up in California in a musical family, performing at festivals with her father and two brothers. As a young girl, she took violin lessons but eventually grew more interested in playing guitar. By age 11, Tuttle was attending bluegrass jams and decided that she wanted to do more singing. She took voice lessons from one of her neighbors, a classical vocal coach who taught proper technique without sacrificing phrasing. As a young woman interested in bluegrass, Tuttle admired bold songwriters such as Hazel Dickens, and looked up to Bay Area bluegrass musicians such as Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick.

After graduating from high school in Palo Alto, Tuttle enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where she studied in the American Roots Music Program, focusing on guitar performance and songwriting.