Recorded Thursday, November 6, 2025
Charles Donelan
You’re listening to Air Time from UCSB Arts & Lectures. Today, I’m joined by celebrated bluegrass artist Molly Tuttle and Stella Frances, who’s joining me as co-interviewer. Molly Tuttle will perform at the Arlington Theater on Sunday, December 7, at 7 p.m. as part of the Highway Knows Tour for UCSB Arts & Lectures. Special guests that night include Kaitlin Butts and Meels. For tickets and information, call 805-893-3535, or visit artsandlectures.ucsb.edu. Tickets are also available through the Arlington theater at 805-963-9580, or on axs.com. Now here’s our conversation with Molly Tuttle.
Charles Donelan
Molly Tuttle, hello. Welcome to Air Time with UCSB Arts & Lectures.
Molly Tuttle
Hello, thanks for having me.
Charles Donelan
So excited that you’re going to be joining us on, when is it Stella? December 7, Sunday night at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara on the Highway Knows Tour We just listened to “Fairytale of New York” because it came out this week. Yeah, fill us in a little bit on that. What a great song.
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, that’s one of my favorites. We recorded it a year ago, and I’ve been really excited to put it out. I thought we were going to put it out last Christmas, but we didn’t, and we ended up saving it for this year. It’s a song by the Pogues’ Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl. It’s a great classic Christmas duet. So I sang it with Ketch Secor, and we actually first sang it together after Shane passed away, I think it was two or three years ago, made a little video of it, and then we started playing it at my yearly Christmas shows. The last couple of years, I’ve been doing holiday shows in my hometown, Palo Alto, and so, yeah, we’ve done it at a couple of those shows, and we thought it was time to put it out in the world as a recording. Hopefully people like it, and it kind of helps people get into the holiday spirit. I know it feels a little early for that still, but the day after Halloween is usually when you’re allowed to start putting up the Christmas trees and stuff.
Charles Donelan
First off, it’s just an absolute classic, one of my favorite holiday songs. Also, you released it on election day. I’m assuming that was a coincidence, but New York did have kind of a fairy tale election.
Molly Tuttle
That’s true. Yeah, we did. I didn’t even think about that, but totally it kind of goes with a big day in New York. It’s appropriate. So yeah.
Charles Donelan
And I’m going to use that as a transition. We’ve been talking all morning here, getting ready, first of all, about how much we love this record. It’s really beautiful. It’s really interesting. We’ve had such great conversations here about the lyrics and songwriting and speaking of politics, we’re going to start by asking about the opener, because it’s a bright, kind of fun pop song, but it’s also got a little bit of an edge to it. Do you want to talk about, what are the things that are burning in “Everything Burns”? Well, everything.
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, that one is one that we wrote during, like, 2020, when everything was shut down. And, you know, it’s kind of about, like, these authoritarian figures and just how, like, everything feels so divided, and just feels like there’s times when it’s like things reach a fever pitch, and yeah, so then four years after that, we felt like it was still relevant, so we went in and recorded it. Ended up being the first track on the record, but yeah, that’s one that, it’s kind of a darker song, but felt like it was still kind of relevant to our times.
Charles Donelan
Well, I think the darkness on this record is there, but it’s subtle. I love that because the thing is, I think that’s sort of stealth. It gets to this place where suddenly you’re like, oh, wow, that’s what that’s about,
Molly Tuttle
Right. Yeah, there’s so many happy songs on the record, but then there are some, like, kind of moodier moments, like that one. And, you know, the album is just kind of about, like, my thoughts and feelings the last few years. And, yeah, I think, like, for me, music is just a good way to kind of channel those feelings and ideas. And maybe, like, some of the songs are a bit political, and I feel like if I put it into a song, that’s kind of my way of expressing myself, better than, you know, writing a post online or social media where everyone’s just gonna get mad. And now I just kind of, you know, like to channel that into my art.
Charles Donelan
I’m gonna let Stella take this next question. Go ahead.
Stella Frances
Yeah so this record, So Long Little Miss Sunshine, has been years in the making, as you just mentioned. First of all, congratulations on the release. Really exciting.
Molly Tuttle
Thank you.
Stella Frances
How does it feel for this album to finally be out there?
Molly Tuttle
It feels good. Yeah, I made it about a year ago, so there was kind of a long lead up time of just writing the songs and getting everything ready, and then once we recorded it, we spent a long time kind of planning it out, getting all the photos and the visuals together, and that was a really fun process. So yeah, it’s definitely like, I’m super proud of it. I’m glad it’s out there. It’s been fun playing the songs on the road this fall, and I think I’m just kind of excited for what’s next, but also this was just a record that I put, like, probably more time and energy into than any album I’d done previously, and I was really proud of it, and I’m proud that it’s out there in the world.
Stella Frances
You mentioned how fun it is to play these songs on the road. What’s it like? What’s it like playing these songs live? Are there songs that you particularly look forward to when you’re doing a live show?
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, there’s, I mean, I love playing all the new songs. And for me, it’s like, whenever I have a new record out, there’s just period of time where there’s still this, like, fresh, exciting energy that I feel on stage and I love it because over time, you see more and more people singing along, and like the first couple of shows after the record comes out, people haven’t really had a chance to sit with it as much, and so maybe they’re kind of singing along with the older songs and just kind of listening to the newer songs. But now it’s gotten to the point where it’s been out for a few months, so it’s just cool to see that progression since we started the tour in September. But yeah, I think, like, songs from the new record that we’ve been having so much fun with live are, like, “Rosalee”. We’ve been kicking off most of the shows with “Everything Burns,” like we had talked about before. Like, that’s just a fun way to kind of kick things off too, with like, a big guitar solo. And, you know, it’s kind of like a moodier song, but it is kind of this high energy, like there’s an intensity to it. And then “Old Me (New Wig)” is a really fun one to play live as well, because that’s kind of just a high energy, you know, it’s almost like an acoustic punk song. So, yeah.
Charles Donelan
Fantastic. You know, this record explores a lot of genres that are maybe a little further afield than certainly bluegrass, which is where you came up, but you still retain this extreme virtuosity as a guitar player. You know your technique, if you can talk about a little bit, it’s like in bluegrass, you’re jumping off from a certain kind of a platform, certain strum patterns, certain rhythms are typical bluegrass, but now you’re kind of all over the map. But you’re still the same, or, I don’t know, are you still the same guitar player when you’re playing this music? And how do you bring the kind of virtuosity that you won awards for as a bluegrass player into play when you’re performing songs from this record?
Molly Tuttle
Yeah. I mean, I think this record is more of like a guitar record than my last few that were more in the bluegrass vein. I think, like in bluegrass music, one of the cool things is that, like, everyone’s passing around solos and trading back and forth on this record, we just tried to center all the songs around guitar playing. So I was the only real soloist on the record. So yeah, we spent a lot more time figuring out the different guitar parts. I think it helped me, you know, grow as a guitar player. I don’t think my playing style changed drastically, but it just kind of, you know, pushed me into new territory. I had to come up with new ways to keep the playing melodic and keep your attention with the guitar on the record. So yeah, I spent a lot of time at home just coming up with little instrumental hooks and solos and working in the studio. We spent probably the most time on the guitar playing as well as, like, you know, the arrangements and the songwriting, I was editing the songs going into recording it. But yeah, we spent a lot of time in the studio working on these guitar parts as well.
Charles Donelan
Yes, and it shows, and I know that your guitar nerd fans are going to nerd out on exactly that, because they’re beautiful, those little fills.
Molly Tuttle
Thank you.
Charles Donelan
The details are all just perfect on this record. One thing that we really had a lot of fun talking about is, well, you’ve been doing covers for a while and slipping them in, and they always have this kind of, I was saying it’s like, almost a sly quality. They’re not funny exactly. They’re not ironic in an obvious way, but they’re never like straight covers, they’re always kind of well, you want to talk about “I Love It”? Because it’s a great cover, but it’s not at all like the original.
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, that was Jay Joyce, who produced the record and had that idea one day. We were planning on just recording my originals. Like, we didn’t plan to put a cover on the record, but one day, we had finished up kind of pre-production for the day, and I was leaving the studio, and he was like, just, kind of, we were just bouncing ideas around. He was like, it would be so fun to do a cover of “I Love It.” And he played a bit of the song. And I was like, “Yeah, I’ve been hearing that one around lately” because Charli XCX has obviously been blowing up in the past year, so I feel like people are digging up her older stuff as well. So he suggested that one, and he was just saying he wanted to sometime work on a cover of it, just in general, with someone. So I was like, I’ll go home and learn it. I came in the next day, and his idea was to slow it down and make this kind of trippy version of it where you don’t really recognize what song it is. And that’s kind of like my approach too to covers sometimes, is like, you know, finding a different way to come at the song and maybe help people hear the song in a different way. So I like that one too. It’s really fun to play live, because we see the audience and people slowly kind of recognize what song it is, and it always surprises people. And when I play the record for people too, it’s like, it gets to that song, and suddenly they’re like, “Oh, it’s this and yeah.” So for me, that was just kind of a fun moment. And then we realized, like, the lyrics sort of tie in with some of the other songs on the album as well. And then, yeah, I wasn’t sure if we were gonna put it out as part of the album, or, you know, save it for something else. And it just sort of worked in the sequence with everything else. So, yeah, it was just kind of a fun surprise, I think.
Charles Donelan
Another conversation that we had this morning that was really fun was about the cover art.
Molly Tuttle
Oh, thanks.
Charles Donelan
Do you want to ask, Stella, what you were the one who kind of got this conversation going?
Stella Frances
Yeah, well, I was looking at it for so long while I was listening to your record, and I’m wondering about the process of crafting the album cover. We see a bunch of different Mollys. Who are all these Mollys? Was it the result of a, you know, dressing room session you’re trying on all the wigs, or are they intentional: are these different characters, or different sides of yourself? Who are the Mollys?
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, it was, we had to plan it all out, because the whole shoot was like, if we didn’t have the wigs ready to go and the different looks already planned, it would have kind of been a disaster. It took like 12 hours to get all that stuff photographed, and you know, you have to do it very meticulously, like the same exact lighting, the same exact angle and everything. So I worked with this amazing photographer, Ebru Yildiz, and we spent time brainstorming the different looks and just kind of drawing from the songs on the record and the different moods that you hear throughout the album. And the initial idea came from a line on the album that’s in the song, “Old Me (New Wig).” That’s “I got a new wig to get you out of my hair.” And that’s kind of the first time I’ve, like, explicitly written about my experience with alopecia and losing my hair when I was a kid and wearing wigs, so I thought that would be fun to just kind of incorporate that into the cover somehow. And when I was thinking about the music on the album, I was also like, well, it’s kind of an eclectic record. It has all these different feelings and genres and sounds to it, so it could be cool to kind of reflect that in the different cover photos. And the main thing I knew I wanted was to feature a picture of me without my wig, because I had never done that on one of my record covers before. So that’s where it started, and then it just kind of evolved into that idea. And working with Ebru, we just brainstormed on the different looks that we wanted to have and what the balance would be of all these different styles and how to make them all look different and almost create these like different characters.
Charles Donelan
So great. I’m going to continue in this direction a little bit further, because I’m a huge fan of the music videos that you’ve been putting out.
Molly Tuttle
Oh, thanks.
Charles Donelan
They’re so interesting. They’re like little movies. Fletcher Moore is the name that I kind of dug up from looking at the credits, but it really feels like you’re acting in these. How does that work? How do you come up with those? Do you come up with the ideas? Is it more Fletcher?
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, it really depends. So the first one, I actually made the first one without Fletcher. That was with Ebru, who took the cover photos. We went to New York, and that was her idea to kind of make a little character study of like the person in the song. So that was for “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark.” And it was just, you know, this character who’s kind of like, she’s like disheveled, but effortless. And Ebru kind of pushed me to do a little light acting in that one, and then the rest I’ve done with Fletcher, and he actually is coming over to my house soon. We’re going to make some more just social media videos. But I’ve worked with him for years. He works at my management company, and so he’s great to work with. And he had lots of, from the minute when I sent him the record and he heard the songs, he was like, having all these ideas for videos. So the “Old Me” video that we did that started from I texted him one day, and I was like, I think this would be a great song to incorporate some of the characters from the album cover, because I want it to tie in, I want, like, the visuals for that video to tie in with the album cover. So what if we, each line, we kind of have a different character from the album cover, wearing all these different wigs, and just have it be almost like these mini screens, like, snapshots that you see that tell the story of the song and the lyrics. And he kind of ran with that and created this whole video and planned it all out. So that was one that was really fun. We did “The Highway Knows” together. He had the idea for that. It’s pretty simple. I was just kind of like driving around in this old vintage pickup truck in Nashville, and then the latest one we did was for “I Love It,” and that was more his idea. He wanted to kind of do a play on the original Icona Pop music video, which is all these, like crazy party scenes, but he thought it would be fun because my cover is a little more laid back and mellow, just to kind of make it look like the party is over and you’re just kind of sitting there, you know, almost like you’re a little bummed out that everyone left and you’re sitting alone in this bar. So we went and filmed that at a place in East Nashville, Low Bar, which is below The Basement East which is a cool venue here in town. So yeah, that was a fun one to make, too. And, yeah, I think, I don’t know what we’re going to do next, but those have all been great to work on.
Charles Donelan
Well, yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing you in the movies, because I think you’ve got a career ahead of you, an actor. We are so happy. First of all, with this booking last year, your show at the Campbell Hall, the on campus venue, was one of our best events of the whole season, totally sold out, people just loved it. So now we’re moving – you’re playing a much bigger room, but still a really great venue in Santa Barbara, and this organization, UCSB Arts & Lectures, is just having a fantastic time with a whole group of artists that we feel like you’re a part of, who are bringing bluegrass, and I guess Americana is one of the terms people are using. But you know, we had Sierra Ferrell last year. Sierra Hull is coming. We started the season this year with I’m With Her. How are you feeling about this? And the way that bluegrass is kind of at its biggest moment since, I mean, I’m old. I grew up in the like last century and and when I was a high school and college kid, you know, we were listening to David Grisman and Tony Rice, and that was kind of the last time that I remember this kind of string music having an impact on mainstream music. But now it’s happening again. And honestly, it feels even bigger this time around, because I feel like there’s more… something. Personality? Anyway, the potential is, it really feels strong.
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, it’s great. Like all those people you mentioned, like, I really admire and, yeah, it just kind of feels cool to be part of this new wave of the music becoming popular and kind of reaching, like poking into the mainstream awareness a little bit. When I was a kid, I remember, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” was a big moment for bluegrass music as well. So that’s sort of the stuff that I listened to when I was growing up. And my dad, he grew up playing bluegrass as well, and he was just a really big fan of David Grisman and Tony Rice, and that brought him out to California and the Bay Area. So, yeah, it’s just been kind of, like, there’s all these waves of, like, people innovating within that tradition, and I’m just really thrilled to be part of it. And, you know, making my own sort of way within that style. I think it’s really fun and exciting.
Charles Donelan
It’s been so great. Also, I’m a transplant, but I’ve been here 25 years, so I think I’m beginning to count as a local, but Stella’s from Petaluma.
Molly Tuttle
Oh, cool.
Charles Donelan
So, and one of the things that she does with her radio show, I don’t want to talk too much for you, but she brings on local young bands from the college scene all up and down the state of California. And I’m always kind of amazed at how many of these bands are now string bands rather than rock bands.
Molly Tuttle
Oh, cool. Yeah, that’s great. I think the West Coast has such a great scene for roots music and old time music and bluegrass and folk. It’s cool to see that.
Charles Donelan
So, speaking of bands, how does this new group shape what you’re doing, especially live? I mean, we love Golden Highway, and honestly, we were really happy to see they got a credit on the “Fairytale of New York.” Because, like I told you before, we had a fun time talking to Kyle. There’s a whole new group of people around you this time. How is that going? What do you want to say about it?
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, it’s been so much fun. I mean, yeah, obviously, like, I’ve had such a blast last couple years playing with Golden Highway. And, you know, I miss playing with them as well. But like, the new band is really fun, also. And I think just with this new record, like, it had such a different instrumentation and sound to it that I kind of knew I was going to need to tour it a little bit differently. So it worked out, timing wise, that like it was kind of time for us to wind down with Golden Highway. And so I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to kind of do something new, put this new band together, and it’s been going great, and we still do so much of the older bluegrass and the songs of my last couple records as well. I knew that was going to be, like, an important and challenging part of putting together another band is like, how do I still feature that part of what I do? And like, do an acoustic set, do a bluegrass portion of the show, play a lot of the material off all my different records. So yeah, I was lucky to find people who can kind of, you know, play stuff off my new record, but also are multi-instrumentalists and can do the more acoustic sound as well. So I think it just creates for a really dynamic and exciting show where we’re kind of going on this musical journey of songs that are a little more rock, a little more Americana country, and then breaking down and doing like a just kind of barn burner bluegrass tune, and it’s been really fun. And I think it surprises people, too.
Charles Donelan
For our audience who are guitar nerds, maybe you could tell us what guitars you’re bringing and what you’re having fun playing right now? Any special instruments that you really love?
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, I’ve been bringing out some really great guitars with me on the road. Two of them are from the Pre-War Guitar Company in North Carolina. Those are kind of my main road guitars. One that I primarily play is a Brazilian rosewood Dreadnought, and then the other one is a mahogany Dreadnought. And then one guitar that I’ve been having a lot of fun with is this double neck that I got from Martin. So it’s a 12-string and a 6-string guitar with two necks. So that’s like, great for when I play “Everything Burns” the opening riff, you hear it kind of sounds like a 12-string, and I can play that, and it has the high octave, so it has that 12 string sound to the opening part. And then when I go to the guitar solos in the song, I’m playing it on the sixth string. So that’s been kind of the most exciting guitar development lately. I’ve been taking that one out for a couple weeks now, because I got it about a month ago, and then the last guitar I’ve been playing is one I’ve had for a couple years now by LR Baggs, and it’s, I only play it on one or two songs a night, but it’s kind of like an acoustic electric guitar, and I use it for when I play Clawhammer guitar. It’s called an acoustic electric and it kind of sounds like an acoustic guitar, but louder, and just has more of, like, that kind of rock edge to it. I guess it’s hard to explain, but yeah.
Charles Donelan
This is so cool because this is exactly what I kind of guessed. There might be some good material. Yeah, two-neck Martin for the opening song. Like no one else has that guitar, right?
Molly Tuttle
Um, well, actually, I heard about it because I was going to get my guitar repaired from this guy in town. And he was like, showing me one. And he said, this is Billy Strings’ new guitar. It’s a double neck. You should really try to get one of these. And I was like, the second I saw it, I was thinking, oh, “Everything Burns.” That would be perfect for that song because we kind of use studio magic to, like, get this 12-string sound at the beginning. But then I was like, playing it all mostly on my 6-string. And I had just been, like, toying with, like, how do I get this to sound like the record live? Like, do I need an effects pedal, or what, this and that? So, yeah. So that was like, when I saw that guitar, I was like, I do actually need that for like, one specific song. So I think Billy has been playing his on the road, and maybe a couple other people too have been playing them. I’m not really sure, but I think they’re just starting to get going with them. So I was kind of excited and honored.
Charles Donelan
That’s very cool. We had Billy on one of our series a few years ago, he was amazing. Yeah, in the interview afterwards, he just talked about bass fishing.
Molly Tuttle
Haha, nice.
Charles Donelan
All right, we just got a little time left. Stella, you want to go through? We got a couple of quick, like fun questions for the end.
Stella Frances
First one, really quick. What’s your favorite venue you’ve ever played?
Molly Tuttle
Oh, that’s a good question. I think last year we did a show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and that’s just like one of my all time favorites. So, yeah, I think that’s, that’s what initially came to mind. I’m super excited for our tour closer, this year we’re going to the Fillmore, which is a venue I grew up going to and seeing shows in San Francisco, and I played a benefit show there last year, but it wasn’t like my own headline show. So this will be my first time headlining it. I’m really excited for that one. That, to me, is similar to the Ryman where, like, so many of my heroes have played there, I’ve been to so many amazing shows there. And so, yeah, that, that one I’m really looking forward to as well, so. But yeah, I think as far as, like, the shows I’ve done so far, headlining the Ryman was definitely a huge highlight.
Stella Frances
Very cool. That’s a classic.
Charles Donelan
Okay, I’m going to take the next one because it’s kind of a stock one. Who is your dream duet partner, but we don’t want to get you in trouble, because we know that your dream duet partner you just did a duet with. I wanted to mention this, Arts & Lectures booked the 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde tour.
Molly Tuttle
Oh, cool.
Charles Donelan
With Old Crow Medicine Show.
Molly Tuttle
That’s awesome!
Charles Donelan
One of the most memorable shows that I’ve attended in the whole 25 years I’ve lived in Santa Barbara.
Molly Tuttle
That’s amazing.
Charles Donelan
But yeah, go for it. If you don’t mind mentioning somebody else. I mean, or you could just say Ketch.
Molly Tuttle
Oh, like, he’s certainly like one of my dream duet partners. Let’s see. I mean, trying to think who would be another one I’d love to sing with. I’ve gotten to sing with a lot of, like, my dream duet partners, like I did a duet with Del McCoury last year. That was so much fun. I would love to do a duet sometime with, like, Emmy Lou Harris. She’s one of my absolute favorites. I’ve gotten to sing with her once or twice live. It would be so fun to do a song together sometime. You mentioned the Blonde on Blonde, singing with Bob Dylan would be crazy. That would be so cool.
Charles Donelan
I hear a Bob Dylan influence on this, on this record, if I’m not mistaken.
Molly Tuttle
Yeah, totally.
Charles Donelan
Maybe a follow up on that would be, can we look forward to hearing some great harmonies? I bet we can.
Molly Tuttle
Oh, yeah, definitely, yeah, there’s we have so much fun with the harmonies, and we’ve added kind of a bunch of different vocal parts that aren’t on the record. When I recorded the album, I just sang a few, few harmony parts, but we kind of wanted to keep it sort of sparse vocally, so there’s not a ton of harmony on the album, and most of it I’m just singing. So then it was fun to work it up for the live show and really have these lush three part harmonies with Vanessa and Mary, who are in the band, are great singers.
Charles Donelan
Excellent. Well, Molly Tuttle, we have taken our allotted time, and it’s been so much fun. We’re looking forward to seeing you Sunday, December 7, and I just wanted to make sure you saw that you’re the cover of our calendar.
Molly Tuttle
That’s so cool, yay! I’m so excited, and it’s gonna be a great night. I can’t wait to come back to Santa. Barbara, thank you.
Charles Donelan
Thank you so much for talking to us. Take care.
Stella Frances
Thanks, Molly.
Molly Tuttle
See you guys later. Bye, thank you, bye, have a great day.
Charles Donelan
Thanks for listening to Air Time. Don’t Miss Molly. Tuttle, live at the Arlington theater on Sunday, December 7, at 7pm as part of The Highway Knows Tour. Special guests include Kaitlin Butts and Meels. For tickets and information, call 805-893-3535 or visit artsandlectures.ucsb.edu, tickets are also available through the Arlington Theater at 805-963-9580, or on axs.com. Thank you so much until next time. This is Charles Donelan for Air Time, thank you.
You must be logged in to post a comment.