Molly Tuttle continues to reveal surprises. The former IBMA “Guitar Player of the Year” and 2028 American Music Award winner for “Instrumentalist of the Year” proved last year with her debut When You’re Ready that she’s more than a capable singer-songwriter. Now, with “…but I’d rather be with you” she shows us her unique takes on a rather eclectic range of covers, at least three of which have already been released as singles. The ten songs were recorded during quarantine and produced with the help of Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, Andrew Bird). In March of this past year, the Nashville-based Tuttle experienced the devastating tornado that tore through much of East Nashville, followed by the global pandemic. While sheltering at home, she found solace by revisiting favorite songs. An idea for an album emerged, to be recorded with Los Angeles-based Berg despite being over two thousand miles apart.
Tuttle taught herself how to use Pro Tools and then recorded and engineered all her parts alone at home before sending them to Berg. The renowned producer recruited legendary session musicians – including drummer Matt Chamberlain and keyboardist Patrick Warren – to add instrumentation from their respective home studios, with guest vocals contributed by Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith as well as Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor. This inventive collection of songs crosses genres decades, from iconic artists spanning FKA Twigs (“Mirrored Heart”), to Cat Stevens (“How Can I Tell You”), Rancid (“Olympia, WA”), to Karen Dalton (“Something’s On Your Mind”), to the Stones (“She’s a Rainbow’) and The Grateful Dead (“Standing on the Moon”) all cohesively tied by Tuttle’s clear voice, astonishing range, and stellar guitar playing. And, excepting the occasional flat-picking runs, they stray far from the bluegrass music that established her initial reputation.
The album opener was also the first single and accompanying video, her timely version of The National’s epic song “Fake Empire.” Tuttle provides some insight into her bent for being challenged, saying, “… This song has a super cool four-over-three polyrhythm throughout. The piano part is super fun on guitar if you can train your thumb to play in three and your index and middle fingers to play in four!” She also found the song to be timely in this period of social unrest.
“Olympia, WA” is one she learned on tour and later performed as a duo with Keith Secor, who also sings harmony here. The other single is from The Grateful Dead no less. Although Tuttle confesses not listening to much Grateful Dead growing up, their music was pervasive in the environs of The Bay Area where she grew up. Thus, this anecdote, “Our specific family lore was that Jerry Garcia had gone to my high school (Palo Alto High) and my mom’s older sister, my Aunt Titia, knew them and used to take guitar lessons from Bob Weir in Menlo Park. That’s a roundabout way of explaining that this song means so much to me because it brings me back to my roots. Even though I love Nashville, sometimes I do feel like I’m standing on the moon wishing I were with my friends and family in San Francisco. The line, ‘A lovely view of heaven, but I’d rather be with you’ is my favorite and it’s why I named the album …but I’d rather be with you. Life is messy and imperfect, but I’d rather be here in it with all of you!” Tuttle earned immense admiration from Goldsmith by taking a Dead song and completely transforming it into her own style. His and Secor’s harmonies are a major part of why it works so well.
Her other interpretations, not yet mentioned, include her lilting acoustic take on Arthur Russell’s “A Little Lost,” the joyous “Zero” from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs and the contemplative “Sunflower Vol. 6” from Harry Styles. The closing “How Can I Tell You” from Cat Stevens is one of the album’s spare cuts, as Tuttle is accompanied just be her own guitar fiddle, and cello. It’s gorgeous and a great way to wrap up this album, which is a testament to technology, as much as anything else, given that every musician was in their own home studio contributing to the sound. Maybe studios will become a pandemic casualty too. If one didn’t know, it would be difficult to guess this was done “as the astronauts do it.”
Tuttle’s intent was to bring us some joy and the album does brim with that kind of vibe. She intends to do another with her own material before the year is out which will likely just push her rising trajectory even higher. This is what this writer said about last year’s album in another outlet, “It’s as if the album title is posing the question of readiness – is the music world prepared for her boundless talents? Tuttle’s guitar chops, writing, and superb vocal chops have her primed well for major takeoff.” Perhaps we say now that rocket has taken off and orbit is well underway.
