chuckv97 - Posted - 01/06/2023:  23:48:27

Anytime a banjo pops up on a national television program I think it’s noteworthy. Molly Tuttle and her band performed “Crooked Tree” from her latest album this evening on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Edited by - chuckv97 on 01/06/2023 23:50:23

banjoy - Posted - 01/07/2023:  00:00:50

You beat me to it Chuck. I came here to post this too, still listening to it as I type.

I love this. Molly is another torch bearer, spreading this music worldwide and keeping it alive.

Most Excellent.

chuckv97 - Posted - 01/07/2023:  00:07:37

Yeah Frank,,, say, that banjo had no name on the peghead,, did you catch what make it is?

banjoy - Posted - 01/07/2023:  04:01:20

No I didn't, that's Kyle Tuttle on banjo who, as I understand, is not related to Molly (??) ... but somewhere out there are some close-ups of his banjo. think it's a custom instrument.

Molly is right up there with Billy Strings in my opinion. Just putting out some fantastic music and the new crop of fans are lovin' it.

banjoy - Posted - 01/07/2023:  04:02:52

Chuck, I just noticed you didn't post a lik to the video in your OP, so here it is

banjowannabe - Posted - 01/07/2023:  04:16:34

Great song. When did she put this band together? I hate them - all young, talented, and good looking.

NotABanjoYoda - Posted - 01/07/2023:  07:06:36

Kyle Tuttle, first banjo player on the moon?

 

MoJoBanjo - Posted - 01/07/2023:  07:14:07

I applaud Molly and her new band. Being a fan of Mile 12, the addition of Bronwyn Keith-Hynes was a stroke of genius. After Mollys album featuring Wes Corbett, her next two efforts strayed away from bluegrass and her strengths and moved towards Taylor Swift. Very disappointing.This new collaboration truly showcases her amazing talents, along with the bands.

Bob Buckingham - Posted - 01/07/2023:  07:43:26

A couple observations. Kids today are not as taken with the old names in the instrument business as they have far more choices than we old boomers had. If they have good old instruments they don't travel with them and play the rigs that are electrified. They don't have to content with single mic systems and usually don't play small bars as bigger named acts. And I ain't never heard any first generation bluegrass singer sing a song with that depth of rumination behind it. Not saying that stuff wasn't good, because that was my music and I spent many years playing it. Things are changing, these kids face another world from the one we lived in. What was a concern for us is a reality for them. Molly and Billy are the future of bluegrass in this old man's way of thinking.

restreet - Posted - 01/07/2023:  07:58:16

youtube.com/watch?v=hr7wG16MHJA

youtube.com/watch?v=A6JUYH3xBnA

youtube.com/watch?v=oZ1011nskNI

youtube.com/watch?v=8iDu_HyIS08

banjoy - Posted - 01/07/2023:  08:33:48

I'm pretty sure a huge chunk of this audience (on tv and at home) has never heard anything like this, it's all new to them, and there's no way they won't be touched by it's organic authenticity. And acoustic at that. My sense is, this stuff opens up a lot of ears...

restreet - Posted - 01/07/2023:  10:06:51

Bio
International Banjo Champion Kyle Tuttle is shredding his way through the jamgrass scene. Since moving to Nashville in 2012 Kyle has shared the stage with many epic performers, most notably as a member of the Jeff Austin Band for 3 years. Kyle has also worked closely with Jamgrass legends Larry Keel, Travelin’ McCourys, Leftover Salmon, Greensky Bluegrass, Billy Strings, and Railroad Earth. In addition to being seen around the jamgrass circuit, Kyle is a studio musician in Nashville, and recently produced the Chain Station album ‘Backroads’. Currently on tour with Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway!!

A few words from Jeff Austin about Kyle,

“He’s one of a kind, I’m telling you. If there’s a better banjo player then show them to me. It’s a rare gift when somebody can connect theoretical musical depth, like knowing what phrasing you’re using, or what key you’re in, or what variation on the chord you’re using with, f***ing balls of f***ing steel. To just be able to dig in like he does and play his ass off, it’s amazing.”

Kyle’s debut album ‘Bobcat’ was released in 2016. Pete Wernick of Hot Rize says about the record,

“Precious few banjo players have both solid mastery of traditional Scruggs style and also the impulse and ability to make eclectic excursions using high-challenge techniques. On Bobcat, that combination creates a likeable “anything might happen” feeling that pulls the listener in. Kyle’s tone and execution are clean and attractive, and help sell his musical choices to the listener. In all, Bobcat is a welcome debut, introducing us to a banjo player who deserves our attention.”

banjoy - Posted - 01/07/2023:  10:15:56

Speaking of Kyle Tuttle, and Billy Strings, here is a video I came across of Billy's band in performance, with an extra guitar and extra banjo picker. it's just a long shot, no closeups, It took me about a Nashville minute to figure out who that thin banjo picker is dancing around stage, that's Kyle no doubt, his body language and on stage presence is a real tell. I have no idea who the extra guitar picker is, maybe some seeing it can identify who he is.

This in a great live performance, Kyle apparently sitting in with Billy Strings

restreet - Posted - 01/07/2023:  11:26:31

This is my favorite Molly Tuttle video:

youtube.com/watch?v=E5fBEQQtf2I

banjo1930 - Posted - 01/07/2023:  11:54:21

For the person that asked, Kyle's banjo is an Ode style C with a radiused Robin Smith neck. It’s a very nice one.

Edited by - banjo1930 on 01/07/2023 11:55:18

Alex Z - Posted - 01/07/2023:  13:14:35

The Kimmel video may be playing a pre-recorded audio version.  At the beginning, banjo player is not playing, but the sound of the banjo is there.

Nothing wrong with that on a TV program.  It's not a concert stage.  They want to get the full and even sound of the recording out to the audience without half a day's working setting up the sound processing and microphones.

It's a good sound.  

banjoy - Posted - 01/07/2023:  14:01:33

I'd have to respectfully disagree. I hear no banjo at all ... he is diddling with some harmonics which are barely in the mix but you can hear and see what he's doing. Rolling banjo starts around :44. I hear a droning note n the guitar that sounds like it could be banjo, but it's the guitar.

Then when Kyle takes the lead, he kinda gets ahead of himself, ahead of the beat around 2:10 for a few beats, and you can hear and see what he doing which all look live, to me. I guess opinions may vary...

Alex Z - Posted - 01/07/2023:  14:51:46

You could be right.  The sound sound on my speakers is low.

Banjo player has right hand motionless and left hand off the neck around :31-37, but the pulsing, ringing notes  continue.

But Ms. Tuttle is a superb and smooth player.  She could be making those even, ringing notes with strums.

Brian Murphy - Posted - 01/07/2023:  20:24:38

A really good profile by PBS of Molly Tuttle:  youtube.com/watch?v=WP5vYHoghwY

chuckv97 - Posted - 01/07/2023:  20:31:19

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjo1930

For the person that asked, Kyle's banjo is an Ode style C with a radiused Robin Smith neck. It’s a very nice one.

---

Thanks, Gabe.  I have a Style C,, now on closer inspection I see the ODE flange holes,, different tailpiece though. 

gratefulbiker - Posted - 01/08/2023:  10:38:28

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjoy

Speaking of Kyle Tuttle, and Billy Strings, here is a video I came across of Billy's band in performance, with an extra guitar and extra banjo picker. it's just a long shot, no closeups, It took me about a Nashville minute to figure out who that thin banjo picker is dancing around stage, that's Kyle no doubt, his body language and on stage presence is a real tell. I have no idea who the extra guitar picker is, maybe some seeing it can identify who he is.

This in a great live performance, Kyle apparently sitting in with Billy Strings

---

The other guitarist is Julian Davis who also played with Kyle in the Jeff Austin Band. Jeff had a knack for getting incredibly talented musicians together and getting weird in the greatest possible ways. 

eagleisland - Posted - 01/08/2023:  16:06:49

There are so many people here on the Hangout who think that the development of bluegrass stopped with Jimmy Martin. Which amazes me, because when Earl first played with Monroe on the Grand Ol' Opry, it was as radical as the first punk rock performances.

Folks, you may love the idea, or you may hate it. But performances like this one will preserve bluegrass for at least two generations. Molly Tuttle is having a great year, as is Billy Strings. Long may they wave!

Brian Murphy - Posted - 01/08/2023:  17:37:30

quote:

---

Originally posted by eagleisland

There are so many people here on the Hangout who think that the development of bluegrass stopped with Jimmy Martin. Which amazes me, because when Earl first played with Monroe on the Grand Ol' Opry, it was as radical as the first punk rock performances.



Folks, you may love the idea, or you may hate it. But performances like this one will preserve bluegrass for at least two generations. Molly Tuttle is having a great year, as is Billy Strings. Long may they wave!

---

Fifty years ago, some hippies paid homage to traditional bluegrass and probably saved it.  I think Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, and bands like Steep Canyon Rangers, etc. are saving and advancing the music just like NGDB did half a century ago.  There are more good young players now playing bluegrass than ever.  Hopefully, another Elvis doesn't show up and ruin it all again :-)

chuckv97 - Posted - 01/08/2023:  17:57:37

Quote : “ Hopefully, another Elvis doesn't show up and ruin it all again :-)”

youtu.be/s-jKAIYmyVQ

Edited by - chuckv97 on 01/08/2023 17:59:10

phb - Posted - 01/09/2023:  04:33:41

quote:

---

Originally posted by Alex Z

The Kimmel video may be playing a pre-recorded audio version.  At the beginning, banjo player is not playing, but the sound of the banjo is there.

Nothing wrong with that on a TV program.  It's not a concert stage.  They want to get the full and even sound of the recording out to the audience without half a day's working setting up the sound processing and microphones.

It's a good sound.  

---

If the banjo sounds on the recording just like in the TV appearance, I'd scratch my head why they apparently used a pickup instead of a mike. While the playing is superb, the banjo sounded to me almost like the banjo setting on some MIDI-pianos.

Edited by - phb on 01/09/2023 04:34:06

BrendanD - Posted - 01/09/2023:  05:08:13

I can hear Laurie Lewis's influence and inspiration so strongly in both Molly Tuttle's songwriting and in her singing, in this song in particular! Laurie has done so much to generously mentor, nurture, and encourage many young female musicians, directly or indirectly, over the years, and it makes me happy to hear the continuity of that musical and personal thread passing on to a terrific new generation of young and amazingly talented female musicians. I mean this in no way to detract from Molly's own formidable creative and musical talents; I just wanted to give kudos to Laurie for her part in helping Molly bloom so beautifully!

Edited by - BrendanD on 01/09/2023 05:09:22

banjowannabe - Posted - 01/09/2023:  05:13:03

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjoy

I'd have to respectfully disagree. I hear no banjo at all ... he is diddling with some harmonics which are barely in the mix but you can hear and see what he's doing. Rolling banjo starts around :44. I hear a droning note n the guitar that sounds like it could be banjo, but it's the guitar.



Then when Kyle takes the lead, he kinda gets ahead of himself, ahead of the beat around 2:10 for a few beats, and you can hear and see what he doing which all look live, to me. I guess opinions may vary...

---

Yeah, and I thought Molly was a little flat on a couple notes in the opening measures. But I'd have to listen to the actual recording to tell for sure.   In any case it's a great song. May bluegrass live long and prosper.  And I kind of thought the glitter was an homage of sorts to the early bands with coordinated suits and the occasional sequins.

banjoy - Posted - 01/09/2023:  06:02:55

Yeah, that's what I mean when I say "organic." Ain't no AutoTuned robots here!



Molly and Billy and this new crop are real, not synthetic, I think folks respond to that, it reaches deep inside, kind of like primordial memory. It goes there.

Edited by - banjoy on 01/09/2023 06:05:20

steve davis - Posted - 01/09/2023:  16:34:27

And we can hear Doc Watson in Billy's playing.

The Old Timer - Posted - 01/10/2023:  07:53:14

I've never seen Molly live, nor do I know anyone in the band except Bronwyn (from the New England bluegrass scene, and she's a serious BLUEGRASS fiddler). I wish them all the very best. No doubt they're earning their popularity.

This particular band formed a year or so ago, I believe to support Molly's new recording Crooked Tree (which used Nashville session bluegras musicians).

Bronwyn uses a mini-mic on her fiddle instead of a pick up. I agree with the few posters above who've pointed out the use of pick-ups. I only wish their pick ups didn't distort the hard-earned TONE of their instruments. The banjo tone was just awful. Guitar not too good.

I know "it can be done". Anyone who listened to the Marty Stuart show on RFD tv would LOVE to have the tone he got with some kind of a mini-mic on the old Charlie Monroe D45 he played (you could see the wire taped along the fingerboard extension to the sound hole). Bass fiddles have it figured out (usually). Mandolins seem to have accomplished it. Ned Luberecki gets the best amplified banjo tone I've heard.

As a lover of good playing on great sounding instruments, I really wince that amplified bluegrass often sounds like CRAP, no matter how well played, or not.

Bahhhhhhhh! Just the opinion of an old mossy fig with crossed poison oak cluster.

steve davis - Posted - 01/10/2023:  10:21:20

I'm not surprised that New York City latenighjt tv might not know much about mixing good banjo tone.It was rather thin.A Jones pickup can be mixed better than that.
The strong response from the audience went a long way toward acceptance.Nice performance,otherwise.

KCJones - Posted - 01/10/2023:  12:11:32

Well we're a couple pages into another thread about young musicians and amazingly there's been no accusations of satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, or the selling of souls.

So I guess that's an improvement?

banjowannabe - Posted - 01/16/2023:  04:39:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by KCJones

Well we're a couple pages into another thread about young musicians and amazingly there's been no accusations of satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, or the selling of souls.



So I guess that's an improvement?

---

On that point, Billy collected his parents and put them through rehab, and his latest album is with his stepdad (honor thy father and mother). He went through a lot of hell as a kid.  One of my nieces went to school with him, and said he'd just disappear for a couple of weeks, and the kids in his class constantly worried about him. No doubt, that plays into his ability to write songs that touch true emotions, but most people just cave under that experience.  I'd say he's a good argument for redemption.

banjowannabe - Posted - 01/16/2023:  04:57:38

quote:

---

Originally posted by steve davis

I'm not surprised that New York City latenighjt tv might not know much about mixing good banjo tone.It was rather thin.A Jones pickup can be mixed better than that.

The strong response from the audience went a long way toward acceptance.Nice performance,otherwise.

---

I was irritated by the sound of the banjo, but I don't think the younger audience cares (or knows) what the acoustic properties would be.  I get tired of the acoustic sound of my banjoes sometimes, so I've got one that I run through a processor.  On the point of being able to hear Doc in Billy String's playing, he is indeed, a fan of Doc.  There are a couple  youtube videos of him expounding on Doc's playing.  If I remember correctly, he was invited to one music festival to give a short seminar on Doc's playing and history.  I could be wrong on this, but I think he gave an interview where he thought he might be distantly related to Doc.

Eric A - Posted - 01/16/2023:  05:39:13

I went to a bluegrass festival last summer, and there was a band that has been in business for a couple of decades, long time banjo player. And he was playing a Deering Goodtime. Sort of validated my theory that if you are all mic'd up, amp'd up, and mixed, why worry about flathead, archtop, tone hoop, thick rim, thin rim, the minutiae of this tone ring or that, this flange or that, this neck or that.

Just mic it properly, and turn the dials just the right way, et viola!

This heresy, if extrapolated, would put a website like BHO right out of business, and bring the prices on Pre-War Gibsons (and all the clones) down considerably.

steve davis - Posted - 01/16/2023:  06:58:59

Today's "kids" aren't buying many Flatt and Scruggs albums anymore.They want something new and are responding well.

sandyhookflash - Posted - 01/16/2023:  20:38:41

Does anyone know what kind of picks that Kyle uses? He's awesome.
Thanks,
John Lewis

steve davis - Posted - 01/17/2023:  09:32:15

I believe the best combination is to have a traditionally oriented parent/family to learn from and then explore your own tangents.A new direction first needs a solid foundation ala Billy Strings or Molly.

Helix - Posted - 01/20/2023:  02:26:15

Molly Tuttle looks like an empowered version of Taylor Swift, except she plays and plays and plays.



Form falls away, content is the cargo.

Some people mow grass, whether green or blue.  Others protect it like it's their own private sod.  then the rain comes and grows everybody, roots get tangled like roots do.

Enjoy the new blossoms, there's a new crop. 

Edited by - Helix on 01/20/2023 02:32:16

Some girls like to dance

Some girls like to sing

Some girls like to bob their hair, honeysuckle do they wear and do most anything